Customise App for Outlook

Having configured the Outlook app or add-on in the previous steps, this step will show us how we can customise our installation to match our specific needs.

Dynamics 365 App for Outlook is a PowerApps model-driven app pre-configured to run in the context of Microsoft Outlook including Outlook Web Access.

You may find that the default configuration isn’t ideal for your deployment because it shows too many things or doesn’t show the right things for your users.

You can customise this app using the same app designer you use to build other model-driven apps. You can choose to do this customisation at any time, often it is desired to be done prior to enabling the app for users.

The following are the common types of customizations that are supported:

• Remove default entities from the app that aren’t used.
• Enable a custom entity to show up in the app.
• Configure which views appear in the App for Outlook.
• Configure searching on custom fields.
• Customise the track regarding card.

The following customisations are not currently supported and may result in an unstable app:

• Customisation of the site map for the App for Outlook app module.
• Changing the App for Outlook default dashboard.

Controlling What Entities Appear in the App

From the list of Apps in your environment locate the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook app and select edit. Once the app has loaded in the designer you should see something like the following image:

Selecting Entities in the right Components panel you can see the list of what is included and what is not and make the edits necessary for your requirements.

The most important thing to remember is this app is shared with all users so any change you make impacts all users in that environment.

For example, if you have some users that need access to an entity and others that don’t, app customisation is not an appropriate tool and you would be better off using security roles to control entity visibility.

If you are adding new custom entities to show in the quickly create list make sure the entity has Quick Create enabled and there is a properly configured quick create form.

In order for custom entities to appear in the Regarding lookup of a tracked item, you must have the custom entity enabled for Activities.

Configuring Views

To increase the app usability, remove the items the users don’t need or use. Many times applications have several views that are available but not all of them make sense in the context of working with the App for Outlook.

By locating the entity in the main canvas of the designer and clicking on Views you can configure which views are included in the App for Outlook.

Configure Custom Field Searching

The App for Outlook uses the Lookup View to determine which fields it searches for when you do a search to set the regarding on the activity.

For custom fields on an entity, you must edit the Lookup view that is generated and add any custom fields you want to be searched to the view.

In the next step you’ll have the ‘Outlook Integration’ Hands-on Lab for this week where you’ll be tasked with reviewing security roles, enabling and using the App for Outlook. Then you will enable activities for the knowledge assessment entity created in previous lessons and customise the App for Outlook.