Office integration is another excellent feature in D365FO that can cut down many customization requests related to user productivity. The Excel Data Connector add-in makes Excel a seamless part of the user experience within the user interface. The application uses data entities and OData services to interact with Office add-ins and to provide the ability to export static data available on the page and perform template-based export. Moreover, you can modify the data in Excel and push it back.
The following screenshot shows various Excel integration options in Finance and Operations:
The preceding screenshot shows three options to export or edit data in Excel:
- Open lines in Excel: These are the options that are added by code using the export API. These options can be custom-generated exports or custom template exports.
- OPEN IN EXCEL: These options are automatically added to the data entities and entity-based templates that share the same root data source as the current page. These options make it easier to read data in Excel and publish the data changes back to the Finance and Operations application using OData services.
- EXPORT TO EXCEL: These options are automatically added to all of the visible grids on the page. These options are static exports of data from a grid.
Excel integration can be used as an option to fill the gaps related to data import/export and ad hoc reporting done by business users. You can also use these features by building data entities for the custom features in you build as part of your solution. The documentation provides in-depth coverage of the concept, features, and how you can extend the solution to add open lines in Excel, at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/operations/dev-itpro/office-integration/office-integration.