Navigating & Customising Pages
Business Central pages can be designed, customised, and personalised — three distinct concepts the exam tests heavily. Learn page types, filters, the Inspect feature, and how to find documents.
Three Ways to Change a Page
Think of Business Central pages like a shared office building.
The architect (developer) decided the layout of every room — where doors, walls, and windows go. The building manager (admin) can rearrange furniture in the lobby so everyone walking in sees a better layout. Each person (user) can rearrange their own desk without affecting anyone else.
That is exactly how Designing, Customising, and Personalising work in Business Central — three different people, three different scopes of change.
Designing, Customising, and Personalising Compared
| Aspect | Designing | Customising | Personalising |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who does it? | Developer (AL code) | Administrator | Each individual user |
| Scope | All users, all profiles | All users with a specific profile | Only that one user |
| How? | Write AL page extension and deploy | Settings cog > Customise this page | Settings cog > Personalise this page |
| Persists after updates? | Yes (extension stays installed) | Yes (stored per profile) | Yes (stored per user) |
| Can add new fields from the table? | Yes — any field from the source table or related tables | No — only show/hide/move existing fields | No — only show/hide/move existing fields |
| Can add new actions? | Yes | No — can show/hide/move existing actions | No — can show/hide/move existing actions |
| Requires technical skills? | Yes — AL development + VS Code | No — drag-and-drop UI | No — drag-and-drop UI |
| Admin can clear it? | Must uninstall the extension | Yes — Clear Customisation action | Yes — Clear User Personalisation |
Exam tip: When the exam says 'customise'
The exam often presents scenarios where an admin wants all salespeople to see a new field on the Customer Card. That is Customising (profile-level), not Personalising (user-level). If the field isn’t on the page at all and needs AL code to add — that is Designing.
Customising Pages (Admin Level)
Sam Eriksson, the IT admin at Nordic Manufacturing, wants all warehouse workers to see the Bin Code column on the Item List by default.
Steps:
- Sign in with an admin account
- Open the page you want to change (e.g., Item List)
- Click the Settings cog (top right) and choose Customise this page
- A banner appears at the top — you are now in Customise mode
- Drag fields, show/hide columns, reorder FastTabs, add/remove action buttons
- Click Done when finished
The customisation applies to the profile Sam is logged in with. If warehouse workers use the “Warehouse Employee” profile, they all see the change. Users on different profiles are unaffected.
Clearing customisations: An admin can go to Profiles (Roles), select a profile, and use Clear Customised Pages to reset all customisations for that profile.
Personalising Pages (User Level)
Raj Patel at Summit Distribution wants his Sales Order List to show the External Document No. column. This is only useful for him — Leo and Nina do not need it.
Steps:
- Open the page
- Click the Settings cog and choose Personalise this page
- Drag columns, show/hide fields, reorder FastTabs
- Click Done
Only Raj sees this change. If an admin later customises the same page at the profile level, the admin’s changes merge with Raj’s personalisation. If there is a conflict, the personalisation wins for that user.
Clearing personalisations: Users can clear their own personalisations from the same menu. Admins can clear personalisations for specific users via User Personalisations in the admin area.
Filters and Saved Views
Temporary Filters
On any list page, click the filter pane icon (funnel) or press Shift+F3 to open the filter pane. Add field filters — they apply immediately but disappear when you leave the page.
Saved Views
If you want to keep a set of filters for reuse:
- Apply your filters
- Click the view selector at the top of the list (shows “All” by default)
- Choose Save As and name the view (e.g., “Overdue Invoices”)
Saved views are personal — each user creates and manages their own views. Views save:
- Column filters
- Sorting order
- Column visibility and arrangement
Admin tip: Default views via customisation
Admins can set a default view for a profile by customising the page and applying filters before saving. This gives all users with that profile a consistent starting point, while they can still create their own personal views on top.
Finding Documents and Related Entries
Business Central has a powerful Find Entries function (previously called Navigate) that traces all ledger entries related to a posted document.
How to use it:
- Open any posted document (e.g., a posted purchase invoice)
- Click Actions > Find Entries (or press Ctrl+Alt+Q)
- BC shows every related entry: vendor ledger entries, G/L entries, item ledger entries, VAT entries
This is essential for auditing and troubleshooting. If Olivia asks “what happened when we posted invoice 108234?”, Marcus can use Find Entries to see exactly which accounts were hit and for what amounts.
You can also search by document number or external document number across all posted entries — invaluable when you have a vendor reference number and need to trace the purchase.
Inspect Pages and Data (Ctrl+Alt+F1)
This developer-friendly feature lets you peek behind the curtain of any page.
Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 on any page to see:
| Information | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Page name and ID | e.g., Customer Card (page 21) |
| Source table | The underlying table name and number |
| Field details | For each field: field name, number, data type, current value |
| Page filters | Any filters applied to the page |
| Extensions affecting this page | Which installed extensions modify this page |
Sam uses Inspect regularly when troubleshooting. If a user reports “I can’t see the Bin Code field on Item Card”, Sam can press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to check the page ID, then look at which extensions might be hiding the field.
Exam tip: Inspect vs Configuration Packages
If the exam asks “how do you find the table name behind a page?” the answer is Inspect Pages and Data (Ctrl+Alt+F1). Configuration Packages are for data migration, not for identifying page structures.
Role Centres
A Role Centre is the home page a user sees after signing in. It is tailored to a specific business role (e.g., Business Manager, Sales Order Processor, Warehouse Employee).
Key components of a Role Centre:
| Component | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Cues | Coloured tiles showing counts (e.g., “5 Open Sales Orders”). Clicking drills into the list. |
| Action tiles | Quick links to frequently used pages or tasks |
| Charts | Visual summaries (e.g., cash flow, sales by month) |
| Headline insights | Auto-generated text insights about the business |
| My notifications | Personalised alerts and approvals |
Users can personalise their Role Centre — hide cues, rearrange tiles, add bookmarks to frequently used pages. The Role Centre is assigned via the Profile — change a user’s profile to change their Role Centre.
Knowledge Check
Raj wants the Sales Order List to show External Document No. as a column, but only for himself. Leo and Nina should not see this change. What should Raj do?
A user reports that the Vendor Card is missing the Tax Registration No. field. Sam wants to identify the page ID and table name to investigate. What should Sam do?
What is a cue on a Business Central Role Centre?
Next up: You can now navigate and shape pages. Next, let’s explore how to work with data beyond the standard interface — Edit in Excel, OneDrive integration, and the powerful data analysis mode.