With Dynamics CRM 2016, tablets and phones have full offline mobile capabilities and Dynamics CRM Online will be able to get full offline experience with mobile apps. This provides the ability to get your work done even when there is interruption in connectivity. Users will be able to create, change and delete records while offline and Automatic playback of offline actions helps synchronize local changes with CRM Online.
Stay productive when your phone doesn’t have service, or when your tablet’s not connected to the Internet. The mobile apps keep records that you’ve used recently, so you can still access them when you’re disconnected.
You can also capture new information by creating drafts of new records like accounts, contacts, and activities. When you’re connected again, save the records that you created while you were offline.
Your offline experience might look a little different than when you’re connected, because charts and some images aren’t available offline.
A few limitations for creating draft records
There are a few things you should know about working with offline drafts in the mobile apps:
- While offline, you can only create new records. To edit existing records, you need to be connected. However, you can edit records that you created while you were offline.
- While disconnected, you can only create standalone records or associate records to those that are available for offline access on your device. For example, you can create an opportunity for an account only if that account was created before you went offline, and if it’s available for offline access. You can’t create an opportunity for an account while offline if you also created the account while offline.
- When you’re offline, you can’t set the value for lookup fields. If you create a record that is associated with another record, such as adding a phone call to a contact, some lookup fields might populate automatically (in this case, the To and From fields might pre-populate). You need to fill these fields in once you re-connect while you review and save your drafts.
Working offline with on-premises CRM deployments
If you’re using your CRM for tablets app with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 (on-premises) or later, you can continue to use CRM for tablets while disconnected. However, with the Windows 8 app, once you close CRM for tablets (like when you start another app), you can’t use CRM for tablets until you can connect to the Internet. With the Windows 8.1 app, you can continue to access your data even if you close the app. If you’re not sure whether your organization has an on-premises deployment, contact your CRM admin to find out.