Document management
Dynamics 365's document management capabilities are limited to adding file attachments to notes on individual records. While this does provide the ability to associate documents with Dynamics 365 records, it isn't a true document management solution. It doesn't provide capabilities such as change tracking and versioning. For this reason, many organizations will use Microsoft SharePoint to create websites where you can more securely store, organize, share, and access information from any device. By leveraging SharePoint users have a single space to collaborate on documents and are provided with features such as change tracking and versioning.
Dynamics 365 provides the ability to leverage the document management capabilities of SharePoint within Dynamics 365 customer engagement apps. Folders can be created to save and manage documents in customer engagement apps from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Dynamics 365 Field Service, Dynamics 365 Marketing, and Dynamics 365 Project Operations. The documents are seamlessly stored in SharePoint.
While the documents are stored in SharePoint, you can access them directly from the SharePoint site and from Dynamics 365 records, as shown in the following image.
When you use SharePoint Online with customer engagement apps, you can:
Create, upload, view, and delete documents that are stored in SharePoint from within customer engagement apps.
Use the SharePoint document management abilities within customer engagement apps, such as checking in or checking out the document and changing document properties.
Enable noncustomer engagement apps users, such as customers who want to review a bid, to directly access the SharePoint documents (if they have the appropriate permissions).
Before you get started learning how to set up the functionality, you'll need to understand how the integration works. The documents are stored and accessed through SharePoint, and they're not accessed directly from Dynamics 365. When in Dynamics 365 customer engagement apps, you're essentially looking at an IFrame that's connected to your SharePoint site and is formatted to look like Dynamics 365. For this reason, anyone who will be accessing the documents in SharePoint, whether directly from the SharePoint site or from within Dynamics 365 apps, will need to assign specific permission levels to individual users or groups from within SharePoint.
To share items, go to the Microsoft 365 admin center and sign in by using Microsoft 365 Global administrator credentials.
Open the Microsoft 365 app launcher and then select SharePoint. On the left menu, typically located at the bottom of the screen, select Team Site. On the Home page, select SHARE (upper-right corner).
You can view the default permissions for your team site by selecting lots of people. By default, all users in your Microsoft 365 organization can add and edit documents on the team SharePoint site. To invite others, select Invite people and then add people who are external to your organization to share documents with them.
For more information about SharePoint permissions, see Introduction: Control user access with permissions.
Set up a new organization
By default, document management isn't set up in new environments. If your organization hasn't deployed document management, when a system administrator signs in, an alert message will be displayed to enable server-based SharePoint integration. If you want to enable server-based SharePoint integration, you can select Enable Now. After you've set up server-based integration, the alert will no longer appear.
If the message doesn't appear, you can still set up the functionality through the Power Platform admin center. In the Power Platform admin center, select an environment that you want to set up, go to Settings > Integration > Document management settings, and then select Enable Server-Based SharePoint Integration. This action will direct you to a configuration wizard that will assist you in setting up server-based SharePoint integration.
You'll need to define whether you're connecting to an Online or an On-Premises SharePoint site. Based on the option that you select, you'll need to supply extra information. For example, if you're connecting to an Online SharePoint site, you'll need to provide the URL of the SharePoint site that you want to connect to, such as https://contoso.sharepoint.com.
Define tables to use with document management
After you've enabled server-based SharePoint integration, you'll need to set up the tables that you want available for document management integration. For example, if you want to store documents in SharePoint for specific accounts or contacts, you'll need to make sure that you enable those respective tables for document management.
After you've completed the initial setup, you might be asked if you want to go directly to the document management settings. If not, you can access the settings from the Microsoft Power Platform admin center. After selecting an environment that you want to work with, select Settings > Integration > Document management settings > Document Management Settings.
You'll need to select which tables you want to use to manage SharePoint documents. If a URL isn't already specified, you'll need to enter the URL of the SharePoint site where the document locations and folders for storing documents will be created.
As you go through the document management configuration wizard, you can define the folder structure that you want to use. If you don't select anything at this point, when someone first uses the integration for a record, they'll be prompted to create the folder to store the data. If you select the Based on entity option, document libraries and folders that are based on the Account or Contact entity are automatically created on the SharePoint site. Users won't be prompted to create them.
For more information, see Enable document management on entities.
After you've enabled server-based SharePoint integration, you can further enhance the integration by enabling OneNote and OneDrive for Business.
OneNote - When this feature is enabled, you'll have the benefit of using OneNote to take or review customer notes directly from customer records. For more information, see Set up OneNote integration.
OneDrive for Business - When this feature is enabled, users can create and manage private documents by using OneDrive for Business. For more information, see Enable OneDrive for Business(online).
Use document management
After you've set up SharePoint integration, you can start adding documents to records. When you open a document management-enabled record, such as an account, a Documents option will display when you select the Related tab.
When the Documents tab opens, the Document Associated Grid will display, which will provide you with the following options:
New - Allows you to create a new document directly from within the window. You'll be able to create a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, OneNote notebook, or PowerPoint presentation. You can also create a new folder to store documents.
Upload - Allows you to upload an existing document directly to the SharePoint site.
Document Location - Allows you to specify which document location that you want to view documents from. You might have multiple locations set up for different types of documents.
Open Location - Lets you open the SharePoint document location directly from the subgrid so that you can take advantage of all available options.
Add Location - Allows you to add an extra document location for storing documents.
Edit Location - Lets you make changes to the existing document location that you're working with.
Refresh - Refreshes the document location.
For more information, see Using Document Management.