Column Types in Dynamics 365
If you’re extending Dynamics to store additional information for your organization, it can help to know the various types.
Here are the available Column Types in Dynamics as of this post date.
Applies to:
Dynamics 365 On-Prem
Dynamics 365 On-line
| Field Type | Field data type | Description | Automation Options |
| Text | Single Line of Text | This field can contain up to 4,000 text characters. You can set the maximum length to be less than this. | Simple, Calculated |
| Text Area | Single Line of Text | This format option can be used to display multiple lines of text. But with a limit of 4000 characters, the Multiple Lines of Text field is a better choice if large amounts of text are expected. | Simple, Calculated |
| Multiple Lines of Text | Multiple Lines of Text | This field can contain up to 1,048,576 text characters. You can set the maximum length to be less than this. When you add this field to a form, you can specify the size of the field. When used on the form, you can also use 'Rich Text' to allow formatting (eg. Bold, italic etc) | Simple |
| Single Line of Text | stores a users email address and makes the record email enabled | Simple, Calculated | |
| URL | Single Line of Text | Stores a web URL, that when displayed on the form for the user, will include a button to open the link in the default browser. The text provides a hyperlink to open the page specified. Any text that does not begin with a valid protocol will have “https://” prepended to it. Only HTTP, HTTPS, FTP , FTPS, ONENOTE and TEL protocols are allowed in this field. | Simple, Calculated |
| Phone | Single Line of Text | Formatted for Phone Number use. In the web application, fields will be click-enabled to initiate calls using either Skype or Lync if a client for either is installed on your computer. The telephony provider choice is at the bottom of the General tab of System Settings. For Dynamics 365 for tablets, Skype is the only available telephony provider. | Simple, Calculated |
| Choice | Option Set | This field provides a set of options. Each option has a number value and label. When added to a form, this field displays a control for users to select only one option. When this field is displayed in Advanced Find, users can use a picklist control to select multiple options to include in their search criteria. | Simple, Calculated |
| Choices | MultiSelect Option Set | This field provides a set of options, where multiple options can be selected. When added to a form, this field uses a control for users to select multiple options. When this field is displayed in Advanced Find, users can select multiple options from the list to include in their search criteria. | Simple |
| Yes/No | Two Options | This field provides two options. Each option has a number value of 0 or 1 corresponding to a false or true value. Each option also has a label so that true or false values can be represented as “Yes” and “No”, “Hot” and “Cold”, “On” and “Off” or any pair of labels you want to display. when you add one to the form you can choose to display them as radio buttons, a check box, or a select list. | Simple, Calculated |
| Whole Number | Whole Number | Integers with a value between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647 can be in this field. You can restrict the maximum or minimum values in this range. | Simple, Calculated, Rollup Field |
| Duration | Whole Number | This format option can be used to display a list of duration options. But the data stored in the database is always a number of minutes. The field looks like a drop-down list and provides suggested options like 1 minute, 15 minutes, 30 minutes all the way up to 3 days. People can choose these options. However, people can also just type in a number of minutes and it resolves to that period of time. For example, type in 60 and it resolves to 1 hour. Or they can enter “1 hour” or “2 days” and it will resolve to display that time. | Simple, Calculated, Rollup Field |
| TimeZone | Whole Number | This option displays a select list of time zones such as (GMT-12:00) International Date Line West and (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada). Each of these zones is stored as a number. For example, for the time zone (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada), the TimeZoneCode is 4. | Simple, Calculated, Rollup Field |
| Language | Whole Number | This option displays a list of the languages provisioned for your organization. The values are displayed as a drop-down list of language names, but the data is stored as a number using LCID codes. Language codes are four-digit or five-digit locale IDs. | Simple, Calculated, Rollup Field |
| Floating Point | Floating Point Number | Up to 5 decimal points of precision can be used for values between -100,000,000,000 and 100,000,000,000 can be in this field. You can specify the level of precision and the maximum and minimum values. | Simple |
| Decimal Number | Decimal Number | Up to 10 decimal points of precision can be used for values between -100,000,000,000 and 100,000,000,000 can be in this field. You can specify the level of precision and the maximum and minimum values. | Simple, Calculated, Rollup Field |
| Currency | Currency | Monetary values between -922,337,203,685,477 and 922,337,203,685,477 can be in this field. You can set a level of precision or choose to base the precision on a specific currency or a single standard precision used by the organization. More information: Using Currency Fields | Simple, Calculated, Rollup Field |
| Date Time | Date and Time | This field has format options to display Date Only or Date and Time. | Simple, Calculated, Rollup Field |
| Date Only | Date and Time | Stores the Date entered only with a time set to 00:00:00 UTC | Simple, Calculated, Rollup Field |
| Image | Image | Each entity that supports images can have one image field. When an entity has an image field, it can be configured to display the image for the record in the application. More information: Image fields | Simple |
| Lookup | Lookup | A field that allows setting a reference to a single record of a specific type of entity. Some system lookup fields behave differently. Essentially this field type creates a link to allow the user to rapidly select the related record. (eg. The Account from a a Contact) | Simple |
| Auto Number | Auto Number | A field that stores an incrementing numerical value and additional padding or customized characters to provide a new, unique number for each record. | Simple |
| Status | Status / Status Reason | System fields to mark a record as active or inactive with various resulting categorizations. Eg. Active, Inactive, Closed, Cancelled etc | |
| File | File | Allows the user to store a single file on the record. This will be stored in the Dynamics database | Simple |
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