Dynamics 365 is one of the biggest and most popular business solutions in the market today. With the introduction of Dynamics products, one selling point was the level of customization within a solution to meet all the customers’ requirements. A significant customization is integration with other systems. There are SharePoint integrations for Document Management, Word, and Excel in templates, and Outlook for email. Today, we’re going to look at the Dynamics 365 integration with OneNote.
Get answers to your Dynamics 365 questions with our ebook
What are the benefits of a Dynamics 365 integration with OneNote?
Taking notes is an essential part of work. Regardless of industry, staff needs to take notes at some point. It could be minutes of meetings, updates of a site visit, or it could be comments on a particular product or issue.
Dynamics 365 provides the “Notes” functionality on the entity level which is quite useful. But if we strip it down, it’s just giving us the option to either write a note or attach a document.
Here’s what OneNote brings to the table:
Supports photos inside documents
If you want to include photos in your notes for a site visit or a work order, add them in-line with your notes.
Easily copy and paste from other Office applications like Word and Excel
You may have data in existing documents that you want to include in your notes. Instead of attaching documents to the CRM database, copy them directly to your OneNote notebook.
Spellchecking out of the box
No need to call a web service; spellchecking is out of the box to make sure your notes are mistake-free
Works on any device (Mobile, Tablet, PC)
OneNote, like other Microsoft Office apps, supports all devices. There is also OneNote online that can be accessible from any browser with an internet connection.
Supports Drawing
OneNote supports drawing and highlighting to emphasize important notes.
Notes are stored in SharePoint (no effect on Dynamics 365 Database size)
Out of the box Notes in Dynamics 365 are stored in the Dynamics 365 Database along with the attachments, increasing storage space. OneNote notebooks are stored separately in your SharePoint instance.
Supports Rich Text Format
Many customers add custom web resources to support Rich Text Format. OneNote can take care of that for you effortlessly.
Voice integration (ability to include voice notes or recorded meetings)
Dynamics 365 does not support audio recordings on the entity record level out of the box. OneNote notebooks support this functionality.
Resell Dynamics 365 Like an Expert with Sherweb
Dynamics 365 integration with OneNote: A step-by-step guide
Microsoft is streamlining its internal integrations so future versions of Dynamics 365 blend naturally. The same applies to the OneNote Integration.
OneNote uses the SharePoint integration to store your notes. To enable OneNote in your organization, you need to:
Enable Server Based SharePoint Integration
- Go to Settings
- Choose Document Management
- Click Enable server-based SharePoint integration.
- Follow the wizard (you’ll need to have the SharePoint instance URL)
- When the site is validated, click Enable
- Finish
Add the entities that use Document Management
- Go to Settings
- Choose Document Management
- Click Document Management Settings
- Follow the wizard and select the entities you want to integrate with SharePoint
- Finish
Enable OneNote Integration
There are two ways to enable OneNote Integration for entities
Enable OneNote for multiple entities
- Go to Settings
- Choose Document Management
- Click OneNote Integration
- Follow the wizard and select the entities you want to integrate with OneNote
- Finish
Enable OneNote for a specific entity
- Go to Settings
- Choose Customization
- Click Customize the System
- Navigate to the entity you want to enable with OneNote
- Make sure ‘OneNote Integration’ is checked
Add the social pane to the entity’s form
If you don’t have the social pane added, enable it on the form by choosing Insert to Notes.
When you go to an entity record, a notebook automatically creates the first time you click on the ‘OneNote Tab.’
Want more information on what a partnership with Sherweb looks like? Check out our InfoKit.
Conclusion
It is important to have a solid note-taking tool, which is why Dynamics 365 integration with OneNote is integral to any business. Microsoft is on the right path by integrating all of its services together to bring needed functionality under the same platform.
