Dynamics Community Forum Thread Details

Hello LP-29042225-0,

Unfortunately, Dynamics 365 Advanced Find and most standard filtering mechanisms do not directly support entering multiple "Contains" values as a single comma-separated string within one filter row.

The way Dynamics 365 filtering is designed, each condition in a filter row typically evaluates a single field against a single value or a set of values using a specific operator.

Why it doesn't work like Salesforce:

Salesforce's filter logic sometimes allows for a more natural language-like input where it can implicitly understand "OR" conditions within a single text field for certain operators. Dynamics 365's FetchXML-based filtering is more structured, requiring explicit "AND" or "OR" groups for combining multiple conditions.

Your Current Approach is the Standard Way in Dynamics 365:

Creating a separate row for each "Contains" condition and grouping them with an "OR" operator (as implied by the "AND" group at the top and the individual rows) is the standard and correct way to achieve the desired filtering in Dynamics 365 Advanced Find.

While you can't directly enter comma-separated values in a single "Contains" row, here are a few alternative approaches or considerations:

Using the "in" Operator (If Applicable):
- The "in" operator allows you to specify multiple exact values for a field. However, "in" performs an exact match, not a "contains" match. If you were looking for leads where the "Topic" field was exactly "Sites" OR exactly "assets" OR exactly "genstudio", then you could use a single row with the "in" operator and enter "Sites,assets,genstudio" as the value. But this doesn't fit your "contains" requirement.

Creating a Calculated Field (More Involved):
- You could create a calculated field on the Lead entity that returns a boolean (True/False) based on whether the "Topic" field contains any of your desired values.
- The formula for the calculated field would involve multiple IF(CONTAINS(topic, "Sites"), TRUE, IF(CONTAINS(topic, "assets"), TRUE, IF(CONTAINS(topic, "genstudio"), TRUE, FALSE))) nested conditions.
- Then, in your Advanced Find, you could simply filter on this new calculated field where it equals "True".
- Drawbacks: This adds a new field to your entity and requires formula creation. It might not be ideal if this is a one-off filtering need.

Using FetchXML Builder (More Advanced):
- If you are comfortable with FetchXML, you could use the FetchXML Builder tool (available within XrmToolBox) to construct a more complex query with multiple <condition> elements using the "like" operator (which is similar to "contains" with wildcards) and group them with an <or> element. You could then save this FetchXML as a personal view.
- Drawbacks: Requires familiarity with FetchXML and the XrmToolBox.

Power Automate for Automation (If this is a Recurring Task):
- If this is a filtering task you perform frequently, you could potentially create a Power Automate flow that retrieves leads based on your criteria and exports them to Excel or another format. The flow could have actions with multiple "Condition" steps to check for the presence of your keywords in the "Topic" field.

In conclusion, for a "contains" type of filter with multiple values in Dynamics 365 Advanced Find, your current method of using multiple rows with the "Contains" operator and an implicit or explicit "OR" grouping is the standard and most straightforward approach. There isn't a direct equivalent to Salesforce's comma-separated "contains" functionality within the standard Dynamics 365 filtering interface.

The image you provided correctly illustrates the standard way to achieve this "OR contains" logic in Dynamics 365. You would ensure the top-level group is set to "AND" (as it is), and each individual "Topic Contains [value]" row acts as an "OR" condition within that group.

If my answer was helpful, please click Like, and if it solved your problem, please mark it as verified to help other community members find more. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me.

My response was crafted with AI assistance and tailored to provide detailed and actionable guidance for your Microsoft Dynamics 365 query.

Regards,

Daivat Vartak

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Is there a way to use multiple comma separated values in one filter field ?

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