Recover metadata in Dynamics 365 CRM?

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Posted on by CU12110738-0

Hello everyone,

I'm exploring the importance of metadata recovery in Dynamics 365 CRM and would love to hear about any similar use cases and solutions you've come across.

I was wondering if you also have a need to back up and recover metadata independently of the actual data. For instance, in my case, having Forms, Views, and Keys backed up and ready for recovery has proven useful. However, I’d like to understand your perspectives on a few additional scenarios:

How often do you find the need to recover global option sets? And if so, at what level of detail or granularity do you usually need them restored?
Is recovering the Table Definition metadata (for instance, settings like "CanTriggerWorkflow: false" or "IsKnowledgeManagementEnabled: false") independently valuable to you? Or do you prefer this to always be restored together with the associated table?

Thanks in advance for sharing your insights!

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Dynamics 365 Sales

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Muhammad Shahzad Sh... 2,373 Most Valuable Professional on at

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1. Forms, Views, and Keys

High priority for recovery due to:

UI regression issues

Custom logic or JS references

Composite key relationships and integrations

Include in CI/CD pipelines or use XrmToolBox (e.g., “Solution Transfer Tool”).

2. Global Option Sets

Frequently needed when:

Shared values across tables

OptionSet values are deleted or reordered

Mappings break due to missing or mismatched values

Preferred granularity:

Backup at the value level (label, value, color, description)

With historical audit/version control for rollback

3. Table Definition Metadata
Examples:

CanTriggerWorkflow, IsAuditEnabled, IsKnowledgeManagementEnabled

Value of separate recovery:

Yes — especially in regulated industries or managed environments

Changing these accidentally can disable logic or integrations silently

But: Often tied to solution layer, so most teams prefer full table metadata export for clarity and rollback safety.

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