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Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
Suggested Answer

BC on Tablets or Mobile Device

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Posted on by 1,092

Good day,

I have BC on a tablet which I would like to use in the warehouse for cycle counts. I'm not using any 3rd party apps, when I create the physical inventory journal searching for items on the list is difficult. 

I'm not getting the option to filter, the list is sorted by item number but the actual check of the items may not be in the same order.

Is this possible?

Regards

Rosemary

 

  • Suggested answer
    JS-07082022-0 Profile Picture
    2 on at

    Hi,

    I haven't tried it myself, but maybe using Physical Inventory Orders/Recordings gives you a better UI to use on a tablet.

    Regards,

    Jonas

  • Suggested answer
    Teagen Boll Profile Picture
    3,868 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

    If you are using the Business Central app it can be a bit restrictive. Sometimes when im on a tablet I just use my browser and then switch to “Desktop mode” in the browser. You can also try using WMS Express which is free (Free WMS Express for Business Central). You can complete counts using it. It has a much better interface for android devices (tablets and mobile devices).

     

    Best,

     

    Teagen Boll
  • RR-07061806-0 Profile Picture
    1,092 on at

    Good afternoon,

    Thanks Teagen, we have the WMS for BC, the scanning of the items didn't work but I think it could be mapping of the items on the BC side. I did post a question regarding that and got suggestions which did work.

    I need to try it with the handheld scanners and see how it responds.

    Thanks for the response.

    Regards

    Rosemary

  • Suggested answer
    Grigorios Mavrogeorgis Profile Picture
    3,361 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

    Hi Rosemary, the journal page is the problem here, on the tablet client the filter pane is very reduced compared to the browser, so I'd attack it from the other side — filter before the lines exist. When you run Calculate Inventory, use the request page to bring in only the section you are counting, by location, bin or item category, then make one batch per area and the list matches your walk more or less. Also look at the Shelf No. field on the item card, if you fill it you can sort the journal on that column and count in shelf order instead of item number order.

    Other thing, since you're not using 3rd party apps anyway — search Physical Inventory Orders in Tell Me. It's native, been there since NAV 2018 I think, and it was built exactly for this, you split the count into recordings per person or per area and post when done. For tablet counting it works nicer than the journal in my experience. Are you on the BC app on the tablet, or just the browser?

    Glad to help - follow up if anything is unclear.   

    ►  If this solved it, marking it verified helps others too.       

    Regards,
    Grigorios Mavrogeorgis
    Business Central Consultant & AL Developer

    Work: Gmsoft Limited
    Blog:  insidebusinesscentral
    LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gregorymavrogeorgis

  • RR-07061806-0 Profile Picture
    1,092 on at

    Thank you for your response, and I agree the tablet counting seems better. I do have the WMS Express the issue with that is the scanning.

    This I'm going to test with recent changes being made to the mapping of the items and UPC codes.

    Regards

    Rosemary

  • Suggested answer
    OussamaSabbouh Profile Picture
    19,350 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

    Hello Rosemary,

    Yes, this is mainly a Business Central mobile/tablet limitation rather than a Physical Inventory Journal issue. Microsoft documents that the tablet/mobile app does not support advanced or column-specific filters, although search across list columns is partially supported. So if the Search action is available on the Physical Inventory Journal, you can use it to locate an item by number/description, but you won't get the same filtering experience as the full Web client. For warehouse cycle counting where users need to quickly filter by Item No., Bin, Location, etc., the standard mobile client can therefore be restrictive; if search isn't sufficient, the practical options are to use the full Business Central Web client for this process or create a small mobile-optimized page/customization specifically for cycle counting with the required filters/actions.

    Regards,
    Oussama Sabbouh

  • Suggested answer
    YUN ZHU Profile Picture
    103,085 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

    Unfortunately, due to BC's limitations, this page does not support filtering in Tablet Client...
    However, this functionality can be achieved through customization—for example, by adding a button that opens a filter dialog, allowing users to apply filters.

    Hope this can give you some hints.

    Thanks.

    ZHU

  • Suggested answer
    Mansi Soni Profile Picture
    10,422 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

    Hello @RR-07061806-0 ,

    Yes, this is possible in standard Business Central. When creating the Physical Inventory Journal, use Calculate Inventory and apply filters for the specific items, location, bins, or dimensions you want to count. For a warehouse cycle-count process, you can also use Physical Inventory Counting Periods to generate only the items due for counting. However, if the tablet page itself doesn't provide the filtering/sorting experience you need, you may need a page personalization/customization.

    Hope this answer help you as well!

    Regards,
    Mansi Soni

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