I am asked many questions about Business Central on any given day. The questions vary and cover various topics, from development to administration to integration to general application use, to name a few. I want to post them all, but that is not feasible; From time to time, I pick one to write about.

Q. In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, is there a way to copy a sales document to create a new one?

A. In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the “Copy Document” functionality allows users to create new sales or purchase documents based on existing ones. This feature can save time and effort when you need to create similar documents, such as sales orders, quotes, purchase orders, or invoices.

To use the “Copy Document” functionality in Business Central, follow these steps:

1. Open the list page for the type of document you want to create, such as the Sales Orders or Purchase Orders list.
2. Click on “New” to create a new document, which will be the destination document for the “Copy Document” action.
3. Click on the “Actions” tab in the top menu in the new document.
4. Under the “Actions” tab, click on “Functions,” and then select “Copy Document.”
5. On the “Copy Document” request page, enter the source “Document Type” and “No.” for the document that you would like to copy from.
6. Toggle the “Include Header” switch to indicate if the source document header should replace the destination document’s header information.
7. Toggle the “Recalculate Lines” switch to indicate if the copied document line values are recalculated when inserted into the destination document.
8. Modify the new document as needed.

Note that the availability and behavior of the “Copy Document” functionality might vary depending on your Business Central version, customization, or extensions.

Note: The code and information discussed in this article are for informational and demonstration purposes only. This content was created referencing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1 online.

I am asked many questions about Business Central on any given day. The questions vary and cover various topics, from development to administration to integration to general application use, to name a few. I want to post them all, but that is not feasible; From time to time, I pick one to write about.

Q. A user received the error “Posting Date is not within your range of allowed posting dates.” How do I set a user’s posting date range of allowed?

A. In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the posting date range defines the valid period for financial transactions to be posted in the general ledger.

Usually, the posting date range is set for a fiscal year or accounting period, but it can also be a specific time frame that suits an organization’s needs.

During the posting process of a financial transaction, the procedure IsPostingDateValidWithSetup, found in “User Setup Management,” checks to confirm that a posting date is within the range of the user’s posting date range.

With a quick look at the code for checking the date, I know you wanted to see it. We can see if a User Setup record exists with a date range, then the posting date must fall within that range. If there isn’t a User Setup record, with a date range, for the user, then the date range found on the General Ledger Setup is used.

procedure IsPostingDateValidWithSetup(PostingDate: Date; var SetupRecordID: RecordID) Result: Boolean
var
    UserSetup: Record "User Setup";
    AllowPostingFrom: Date;
    AllowPostingTo: Date;
    IsHandled: Boolean;
begin
    OnBeforeIsPostingDateValidWithSetup(PostingDate, Result, IsHandled, SetupRecordID);
    if IsHandled then
        exit(Result);

    if UserId <> '' then
        if UserSetup.Get(UserId) then begin
            UserSetup.CheckAllowedPostingDates(1);
            AllowPostingFrom := UserSetup."Allow Posting From";
            AllowPostingTo := UserSetup."Allow Posting To";
            SetupRecordID := UserSetup.RecordId;
        end;
    if (AllowPostingFrom = 0D) and (AllowPostingTo = 0D) then begin
        GLSetup.GetRecordOnce();
        GLSetup.CheckAllowedPostingDates(1);
        AllowPostingFrom := GLSetup."Allow Posting From";
        AllowPostingTo := GLSetup."Allow Posting To";
        SetupRecordID := GLSetup.RecordId;
    end;
    if AllowPostingTo = 0D then
        AllowPostingTo := DMY2Date(31, 12, 9999);
    exit(PostingDate in [AllowPostingFrom .. AllowPostingTo]);
end;

If you’d like to specify a Posting Date range for a specific user, create (or modify if it exists) a User Setup and populate the “Allow Posting From” and/or the “Allow Posting To” value. Note: If you fill in only one of the values, then that end of the range has no limit.

To set the Posting Date range for those that do not have a User Setup date range defined, populate the “Allow Posting From” and/or the “Allow Posting To” on the General Ledger Setup. Note: As with the User Setup range, if you fill in only one of the values, then that end of the range has no limit.

Q. How do I copy data from one Business Central company to another?

A. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers a couple of options to copy data from one company to another.

Copy Company

One option creates a complete copy of a company into a new company in the same environment. 

1. Search for Companies using the “Tell Me” Search within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
2. Select Companies List Page
3. On the Companies Page, select the company you want to copy into a new one.
4. Select the Copy Menu Item from the Action Bar
5. Enter the New Company Name on the Copy Company Dialog.
6. Read the IMPORTANT note about copying a company and performance. Confirm the “I understand” button if you are comfortable proceeding.
7. Click Ok
8. When the copy company action is complete, a confirmation dialog will appear.

Configuration Worksheet

A second option, which allows for a more selective way to copy data,  is to use a Configuration Worksheet.

1. Switch to the company that you would like to copy data into from another company in the environment.
2. Search for Configuration Worksheet using the “Tell Me” Search within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
3. Select the Configuration Worksheet Task
4. On the Configuration Worksheet, enter the tables from which you want to copy data into the current company. You can manually enter the tables or use the Get Tables menu action from the Prepare Action Bar item for more options to add multiple tables.
5. Select the “Copy Data from Company” menu item from the Prepare Actions menu.
6. On the Copy Company Data Page, select the tables that you would like to copy data from and select the Copy Data action item.
   Note: Data can only be copied from a source table that has records into a destination table that does not have records
7. Click Yes to copy the data for the selected tables

Note: The code and information discussed in this article is for informational and demonstration purposes only. This content was created referencing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1 online.