Dynamics 365: Disable Attachments in Notes

Dynamics 365 Notes attachment feature is quite useful. It requires no integration and users can start uploading documents. However, in certain scenario, you may require to prohibit users from attaching documents. Imagine we have integrated Dynamics 365 with SharePoint for better document management, and we need to make sure users upload all the documents to SharePoint instead of Notes.

There are few options to achieve this:

• Revoke Note entity create privileges: this way users can’ create a note at all. This is not an ideal solution. We would like users to create notes.
• Block Known MIME Types (file extensions): admins can block certain file types as Attachments in the system settings. Again, this is not a fool proof solution.
• Use a real-time process to block attachments: we can use real-time workflow to stop users from attaching files along with notes. This will allow user to only create Text Notes. For this post, we will focus on this approach.

Problem

Block attachments in the Notes Entity.

Solution

Create a real-time workflow on Notes entity to throw an error if File Size is greater than zero (this means file is attached).

Here are the steps to follow:

• Go to Advanced Settings -> Processes.
• Create a new Workflow (Realtime) for Note entity.

• Trigger the workflow on:
  1. Create
  2. Update (before): select File Size field.

• Run the workflow in Organization scope (depends on your requirement and security configuration).
• Add following steps:
  1. condition if Note Size is greater than 0.
  2. Stop Workflow as Cancelled (set error message in properties)

• Activate the workflow.

Now users can create or update notes but cannot attach files.

That’s it, quite easily done.