Work with Business Central
When performing business tasks, you interact with data in different ways, such as creating records and entering data, sorting and filtering data, writing notes, and outputting data to other applications.
For example, you can adjust the size and position of any page, expand the width of columns and increase the height of column headers, and change the sorting of data in columns. And if you want to use the horizontal scroll bar to view all columns on a list page or on document lines, you will see that there is a vertical freeze pane to restrict some columns from scrolling.
Tips and Tricks
[!TIP] For a print-friendly overview of the most used functions, choose the following image and download the PDF file.
Links to Learn More
The following table lists some of the general functionality with links to topics that describe them.
[!NOTE] In addition to the general UI functions described in this section, you can use other general functions that are more business-related. For more information, see General Business Functionality.
| To | See |
|---|---|
| Find a specific page, report, action, help topic, or partner extension. | Finding Pages and Information with Tell Me |
| Get an overview of pages for your role and for other roles and navigate to pages. | Finding Pages with the Role Explorer |
| Filter data in views, reports, or functions by using special symbols and characters. | Sorting, Searching, and Filtering Lists |
| Learn the many general functions that help you enter data in a quick and easy way. | Entering Data |
| Learn how to quickly copy and paste data including by using keyboard shortcuts. | Copying and Pasting FAQ |
| View or process data in specific date ranges. | Work with Calendar Dates and Times |
| See which fields must be filled in. | Detecting Mandatory Fields |
| Understand how the computer locale affects the user interface and the Help site and how to change the language. | Changing Language and Locale |
| Learn how to interact with Excel from practically anywhere in Business Central | Viewing and Editing in Excel |
| Attach files, add links, or write notes on cards and documents. | Manage Attachments, Links, and Notes on Cards and Documents |
| Change basic settings such as company, work date, and Role Center. | Change Basic Settings |
| Get notified about certain events or changes in status, such as when you are about to invoice a customer who has an overdue balance. | Manage Notifications |
| Change which and where UI elements are shown to fit your preferences. | Personalize Your Workspace |
| Define, preview, print, or save reports and define and run batch jobs. | Work with Reports, Batch Jobs, and XMLports |
| Manage the content and format of reports and documents, including which data fields of a report dataset appear on the report and how they are arranged, text style, images, and more. | Managing Report and Document Layouts |
| Learn about features and capabilities that make Business Central readily available to people with disabilities. | Accessibility and Keyboard Shortcuts |
Getting Around in Business Central
Here's a short video about how to get around in Business Central.
[!VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/embed/zqz03iMihx0]
Choosing a desktop browser
Business Central supports multiple browsers that each offer a variety of features and capabilities. The browser plays a significant role in the responsiveness and fluidity of the user interface. See the list of supported, recommended browsers for Business Central online and browsers for Business Central on-premises.
Where possible, avoid older browsers such as Internet Explorer, and switch to one of our recommended modern browsers, such as the new Microsoft Edge.
Internet Explorer is no longer supported. For more information, see Microsoft Edge documentation.
Keep your browser always updated to the latest version.
Action bars
Inside Business Central, you do most of your work in a list, a document, or a card. All three types of pages have a bar with actions that are relevant to the particular page, and the actions are almost the same for the individual card or document and for the list of entities. This way, you can manage an individual sales order in the Sales Order page and in the Sales Orders list, including posting it and invoicing it.
But the actions can also look differently, or even not be present, depending on how you open the page. Specifically for list pages, the list page that you open from the home page and the page that renders when you search for it using the 
icon are not identical.
When you search for an open a list page, such as the Sales Orders list, it is in view mode. The actions for editing, viewing, or deleting an individual entity, such as a sales order, are shown when you choose the Manage action.
[!TIP] If you know that you will use actions on this second level of the action bar often, choose the :image type="icon" source="media/pin.png" border="false": icon to pin the action bar and make the actions under the various menus immediately discoverable.
To make the second level of the action bar disappear again, choose the :image type="icon" source="media/unpin.png" border="false": icon.
But when you open the same list page from your home page, the Manage action is not present. Instead, to open an individual sales order, you just choose the Number field. In this view, you cannot pin the action bar.
See Related Training at Microsoft Learn
See Also
Getting Ready for Doing Business
Setting Up Business Central
General Business Functionality
Performance Tips for Business Users
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--- author: edupont04