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

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by USA80

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.

*This post is locked for comments

All responses (12)

Answers (1)

Suggested answer

Kokulan on at

Like (0)

Report

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

If you are referring to Dynamics 365 Outlook Client Offline feature, following is the default behaviour if there updates on the same records by multiple users or cilent devices

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-engagement/outlook-addin/user-guide/work-offline-dynamics-365-outlook

If you are referring to Mobile Offline capabilities, you can enable conflict detection in System Settings as shown below. Mobile Offline is only for Dynamics 365 Online as this uses Azure Blob storage to perform the sync)

https://neilparkhurst.com/2017/04/02/dynamics-365-mobile-offline/

if you would like to have a read about Dynamics 365 Offline options, please follow the link

https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/crmandunifiedservicedesk/archive/2017/04/01/dynamics-365-offline-options

Hope this helps

Hope this helps
USA80 on at

Like (0)

Report

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

Thank you. I just wanted to clarify something. In the first picture that you have said that changes would be overwritten when you come back online. But in this post: neilparkhurst.com/.../dynamics-365-mobile-offline it appears that there is a setting that would stop it form just over writing and let the user know there is a conflict. Am I reading that correctly?
Suggested answer

Kokulan on at

Like (0)

Report

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
USA80 on at

Like (0)

Report

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 on at

Like (0)

Report

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

Hope this helps
USA80 on at

Like (0)

Report

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 on at

Like (0)

Report

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 on at

Like (0)

Report

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?
Verified answer

Kokulan on at

Like (0)

Report

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 on at

Like (0)

Report

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?