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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Offline mode for CRM a...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

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Posted on by USA80 26

Hello,


I am wondering if there is a way that when a user works in offline mode with CRM and they make changes, then get back online and sync their changes back up into CRM, is there a way to show a message that lets them know that fields that they are trying to update have been updated since they did their last download of the data and do they want to proceed? 

I could see this being an issue if there is nothing to stop them from overwriting changes that someone online just completed.  Hope this makes sense.  Thank you.

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  • JuanSchunck Profile Picture
    JuanSchunck on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    Hi Kokulan Eswaranathan,

    I´m wondering about offline mode for mobile app for phones with Dyn 365 2016 (on-prem 8.X). A month ago MS announces offline mode functionality back again but it seems to be for 9.X and online, is correct? For on-prem this functionality doesn´t work. Or I could connect On-Prem with Azure to use it?

  • Suggested answer
    Kokulan Profile Picture
    Kokulan 18,054 on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    I think the chances of users making changes to the same field at the exact same second very slim but its possible.

    In most cases, the modified time would be different so the whichever is the latest should take priority.

    But i would say you test the offline feature, and see if you actually run into the the very slim scenarios of users changing the same field in the exact very second.

    If you do get that scenario a lot, I think you can definitely implement a plugin, that checks on Pre-Op, checks modified on time of the both and throw invalidplugin exception with appropriate message so that user can check the records.  Since your code wont have the DB column last updated data, you may have to add own modifiedon for the key fields that you are concerned.

  • USA80 Profile Picture
    USA80 26 on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    Thank you for the information.  So when we move to Dynamics 365 it seems like keeping the outlook add-in that is with 2016 is what I need to do.  Then my next question is, is there a way to let the user know that since the last time they downloaded the information that a field has been updated when they try and sync back online?  I don't want fields to be overwritten automatically without warning if possible.  If it is possible, how do I implement that?

  • Verified answer
    Kokulan Profile Picture
    Kokulan 18,054 on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    Yes you are right, for Dynamics 365 Onprem, only Dynamics 365 for Outlook client (classic) supports the online feature. There are two options when it comes to using Dynamics 365 with Outlook.

    01. Classic Dynamics 365 for Outlook Client - Its an Outlook Addin

    [View:https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-engagement/outlook-addin/admin-guide/install:750:50]

    02. The new App For Outlook - Its a Web Add-in

    [View:https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-engagement/outlook-app/v8/dynamics-365-app-outlook-user-s-guide-v8:750:50]

    The new App for Outlook does not support going offline. Only the classic Dynamics 365 for Outlook client supports offline.

    When the App for Outlook was released, Microsoft announced that the Classic Outlook client would be deprecated but due to overwhelming requests from the community to not to deprecate the classic client, Microsoft later announced that old client will not be deprecated

    "Since this announcement, we have received overwhelming feedback from customers, partners, and the Dynamics community around the need for the Outlook add-in. Additionally, we understand that some feature gaps in Dynamics 365 App for Outlook prevent it from being a viable replacement for the Outlook add-in. As a result, we are reversing the deprecation of Dynamics 365 for Outlook."

    https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/crm/2018/01/29/continued-support-for-outlook-add-in-dynamics-365-for-outlook/

    To answer your question how would a user go about creating and updating records when they are offline, they won't see much difference as they will still use the left navigation as is and views are rendered using Outlook grids. And when they create or update records it stored locally in SQL Express database.

    If you would like to read more about the Outlook offline featue, please follow the links below

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-engagement/outlook-addin/user-guide/example-going-offline

    docs.microsoft.com/.../frequently-asked-questions-synchronizing-records

    Hope this helps

  • USA80 Profile Picture
    USA80 26 on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    Sorry, but I am still trying to wrap my head around this.  So in Dynamics 365 on Prem, the only offline feature they can use is with Outlook Client?  How would they be able to get in to create or modify records?  Is this with the new outlook client or the old one that is in 2016?

  • Suggested answer
    Kokulan Profile Picture
    Kokulan 18,054 on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    The Outlook Client Offline feature is still supported on Dynamics 365 On-Prem but Mobile Offline feature is not available for Dynamics 365 On-Prem.  Like i mentioned before, the reason for it not being available On-Prem is that Mobile Offline feature works on Azure.  Thats the it wont work On-Prem.

    But the Dynamics 365 Mobile and Tablet App does some caching to make app or record loading faster.  This caching is not really an offline mode.

  • USA80 Profile Picture
    USA80 26 on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    What about Dynamics 365 on prem.  Does it work offline or cache, etc..?

  • Suggested answer
    Kokulan Profile Picture
    Kokulan 18,054 on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    Yes thats correct.

    Dynamics CRM 2016 (Web / Mobile / Tablet Clients) do not support Offline Mode -  (There could  be confusion about Mobile and Tablet clients - because Mobile and Tablet clients do some caching  - This is not offline mode - This caching is to make app loading fast)

    Dynamics CRM 2016 Outlook Client does support Offline Mode.  Dynamics CRM 2016Outlook Client uses SQL Express local database to pull data from CRM and Store locally so that you can take lets say your Laptop to offline mode and make changes to records and then when you go back online, it will sync the records to CRM.  The following PIC only refers to how conflict resolved in this scenario

    7380.ScreenClip-_5B00_130_5D00_.png

    Hope this helps

  • USA80 Profile Picture
    USA80 26 on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    My question was referring to offline with CRM 2016 just in general.  So if I understand...CRM 2016 itself can't be used offline if we are on premise, but can be utilized offline through outlook client?  

  • Suggested answer
    Kokulan Profile Picture
    Kokulan 18,054 on at
    RE: Offline mode for CRM and then connecting back online...

    The first Pic is referring to Outlook Client Offline feature. Since you tagged you are on CRM 2016, i think you wont be able to use Mobile Offline feature (Mobile Offine Feature is only for CRM Online)

    Assuming your question about offline is related to Outlook client, yes when you go online any changes done by the other users for the same fields will be overwritten by your changes to the same field

    Hope this helps

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