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Completely remove fields with same name in separate apps

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Posted on by Y_A

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Hi all,

We have 2 separate apps published on AppSource and we ended in a situation where a field with the same name in the same table extension exists in both the apps.

Upon installing the app this is failing due to this issue as it finds the same field in the same table twice.

We have obsoleted the field in one of the apps with Obsolete State set to REMOVED and published to AppSource. Upon installation, the same erorr is still being returned.

What is the best way to proceed in this case? Can the field be completely removed (i.e. remove the code) from the app in which we have obsoleted it?

Thanks in advance.

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Teagen Boll 1,013 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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The fields should be set as different names. But you can make them have the same Caption - Caption property - Business Central | Microsoft Learn

And it's recommended that you also set the Visible property to false for the older field - Visible property - Business Central | Microsoft Learn

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Gregory Mavrogeorgis 901 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi,

Why it still fails: ObsoleteState = Removed doesn’t drop the field. The installer still sees two fields with the same technical name/ID on the same table → collision.
Best fix now: Pick which app “owns” the field. In the other app, rename the legacy field’s technical Name (and, if needed, change its ID) to something unique, keep it Removed and hidden, and add a tiny upgrade codeunit to copy any data to the owned field. Publish that.
Can we fully delete it? Physically removing a field is a breaking schema change on AppSource and usually blocked unless you go through Microsoft’s breaking-change process. Safer to keep the legacy field hidden/removed.
Future-proofing: Use a unique prefix per app and enable AppSourceCop/CodeCop to prevent cross-app name clashes.

If you have found this help full please mark it as verified

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Jainam M. Kothari 15,666 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hello,

The best approach is to completely delete the field from the app where it's no longer needed—remove its declaration and all references, then republish the updated app.

This ensures the field is fully removed from the schema, eliminating the conflict.

Also, verify that no upgrade or data migration logic depends on the field before removal.

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YUN ZHU 98,012 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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The only solution is to completely delete the field; the Obsoleted field is also stored in the table.

However, this problem generally won't occur if you use a right prefix or suffix.

Thanks

ZHU

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Khushbu Rajvi. 21,573 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Marking a field as Removed doesn’t physically delete it from the database. To fix the duplicate field issue, you must either rename the field (add a prefix or suffix) in one app or make one app depend on the other so only one defines the field. Complete removal isn’t allowed on AppSource without a breaking schema change.

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OussamaSabbouh 10,972 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hello,

ObsoleteState = Removed doesn’t delete the field , it still exists and causes conflicts.

To fix this:

Completely remove the field in a new app version (requires uninstall + schema sync).

Or move the field to a shared dependency using MovedFrom / MovedTo.

Always use unique field names and IDs

Regards,

Oussama Sabbouh

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Aman Kakkar 2,977 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi,

As other experts have already mentioned, the only practical solution is to remove the field entirely from the extension where it is no longer needed.

For future development, it’s best practice to add one extension as a dependency in the app.json of the other. This way, if both define a field with the same name, you’ll get a compile-time error instead of discovering it post-deployment. It also helps ensure consistent schema ownership across apps.

Hope this helps.
Aman K

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Y_A 429 on at

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Hi all,

Thanks for your input - much appreciated.

We are having some difficulties to remove the field - when we remove the field completely from the extension (i.e. remove the code), submission to AppSource fails saying that the field present in the previous version is now missing.

How can we achieve the complete removal of the field, please?

@Aman Kakkar @OussamaSabbouh @Jainam M. Kothari @Gregory Mavrogeorgis

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Jainam M. Kothari 15,666 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hello,

May this can help : https://community.dynamics.com/forums/thread/details/?threadid=9d65c900-f969-ef11-bfe3-000d3a8af07a

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