Dynamics Community Forum Thread Details

It is extremely difficult to find an account when creating a new opportunity from the opportunity screen. When searching for an account, there are only 2 options. Enter a name and hope you hit on a match or click on the "Advanced" link to open a larger account screen. The problem is this search screen does not have the same filters available as if you were to search directly from the account list. How do you turn on column filters, specifically "filter by" where you can choose:

Equals
Does not equal
Contains data
Does not contain data
Contains
Does not contain
Begins with
Does not begin with
Ends with
Does not end with

We have over 190K accounts and it is very time consuming or sometimes impossible to identify the correct account when creating a new opportunity this way. This leads to our team selecting incorrect accounts and/or creating dummy account to assign to themselves.

Categories:

Dynamics 365 Sales

Hi BS-11051315-0,

1) Issue
In Dynamics 365 Sales, it is extremely difficult to find and select the correct account when creating a new opportunity from the opportunity form.

Observed behavior:
- Account lookup only allows basic keyword search by name
- Advanced lookup opens a separate search window with limited filtering capabilities
- Missing column-level filtering options such as "filter by" with operators like equals, contains, begins with
- With a large dataset of over 190,000 accounts, users struggle to locate the correct record
- Users sometimes select incorrect accounts or create duplicate or dummy accounts to proceed

2) Reason
The issue is caused by limitations in how lookup controls and advanced lookup experiences are configured and used in Dynamics 365.

Potential contributing factors include:

A) Standard lookup control limitations
- The default lookup field on forms uses simplified search
- It is optimized for quick search rather than advanced filtering
- Does not support full column filter experience like grid views

B) Advanced lookup not using modern experience
- The legacy advanced lookup dialog does not support full grid filtering
- Missing modern "filter by" operators and column filtering UI

C) Quick Find view configuration
- Lookup search relies on the entity’s Quick Find view
- Limited searchable columns restrict matching accuracy
- If key identifiers are not included, search results become incomplete

D) Missing relevance search or Dataverse search usage
- Without Dataverse relevance search enabled, search is less flexible
- Limits ability to search across multiple fields efficiently

E) Suboptimal account form and view design
- Account lookup does not expose contextual or filtered views
- No prefiltered or role-based views applied during opportunity creation

F) Large data volume without optimization
- High record count increases search difficulty
- Lack of indexing and optimized filtering impacts usability

3) Resolution
Step 1: Enable modern advanced lookup experience
- Activate the modern Advanced Lookup in Power Platform settings
- This enables richer filtering and improved UI compared to legacy lookup

Step 2: Optimize Quick Find view for accounts
- Navigate to Account entity views
- Edit Quick Find view
- Add critical searchable columns such as:
- Account Number
- Email
- Phone
- City
- External IDs
- Publish changes to improve lookup search results

Step 3: Enable Dataverse relevance search
- Go to Power Platform Admin Center
- Turn on Dataverse search
- Configure searchable fields for Account entity
- This allows broader and faster keyword matching across multiple fields

Step 4: Customize lookup view and filters
- Configure lookup view to show relevant columns
- Apply custom views with predefined filters such as:
- Active accounts only
- Region or business unit specific accounts
- Use "Lookup view selector" if enabled for better filtering options

Step 5: Use custom lookup dialog via PCF control
- Implement a Power Apps Component Framework control for advanced lookup
- Enable full grid filtering with operators like contains, begins with, equals
- Mimics standard grid filtering experience inside lookup

- Additionally, use Java Script (.js) to change the search

Step 6: Introduce account selection assistance
- Use business rules or Power Automate to suggest accounts based on:
- Customer email domain
- Existing relationships
- Reduce manual searching

Step 7: Improve data quality and governance
- Enforce duplicate detection rules
- Prevent creation of dummy accounts
- Standardize naming conventions and key identifiers

Step 8: Train users on alternative search approaches
- Use global search or account area first before opportunity creation
- Leverage pinned views or favorites for frequent accounts

Step 9: Consider performance and indexing improvements
- Review Dataverse indexing for key fields
- Ensure frequently searched columns are optimized

For a more detailed answer, please provide more information.

Rg,

Alexander

*Due to the complex and different possibilities of deploying Dynamics 365 I highly recommend not to setup the application without some expert/partner or support. (For more information contact me under anassl@inno-solutions.info or visit www.inno-solutions.de)

*The Information comes directly from the manufacturer or provider and are validated (not guaranteed) up to date of creation of the posting.

References:

Microsoft Licensing Guide
Microsoft Doc`s/Learn

Community site session details

Advanced Search for Account from an Opportunity

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