Find and filter records by describing in plain English what you want Dynamics to show
Microsoft have released a new feature in Dynamics called Natural Language Grid and View Search
This feature makes it much quicker and easier to search for records in your system, by simply telling Dynamics what you’re looking for using Plain English.
So, for example, you could ask Dynamics to show “All contacts with a postcode beginning PR “
How do I get Natural Language Grid and View Search on my Dynamics system?
If you can’t see the coloured bar at the top of list pages in Dynamics (contacts, leads, accounts, for example) then you need your Dynamics administrator to enable it. See How to enable Natural Language Grid and View Search below
Using Natural Language search
To start using natural language filtering in Dynamics 365, you’ll need to look for the Copilot search bar. This is where you’ll enter your natural language queries.
You can type queries like:
“show me all accounts in London
“find opportunities closed last month” or
“cases with high priority with overdue follow-up by date”
The system will interpret your query and filter the records accordingly.
As you try this, you’ll see that beside the search box, Dynamics interprets your text as a series of tags
This is a useful way of checking that the system is understanding what you’re saying. Sometimes you might find that Copilot has misunderstood you. Try again and be more specific about which field name you want to search.
To edit your query
- You can remove these tags individually to change the criteria
- or use the Edit Filter button (below) to tweak your query, using the non-Copilot, Advanced Find system you’ll be familiar with
- Or simply type your natural language query in again, with a different description (tip: copy your text to make it easier to paste and modify the text next time)
Sorting
You can also use the natural language search box to sort your records – Just ask, for example
“sort by created date”
You can combine this with searches to create more complex questions like:
all UK accounts, sorted by modified date
Tips for better filtering:
- Be specific: The more specific your query, the better the results. For example, “show me all accounts in London with revenue over £50,000” will give you more precise results than just “show me accounts in London”.
- Combine filters: You can combine multiple filters in one query. For example, “find opportunities closed last month by Mark Pullar” will filter records based on both the closing date and the owner
- Check the filters: Copilot isn’t perfect and sometimes misinterprets your input. For example you might ask for “contacts from the company ABC PLC”. Copilot might show no results, but you’re sure that there are people from ABC PLC in the system. Check the tags to see what exactly Dynamics is searching for. It’s possible that Copilot isn’t searching the correct field. Next time be more specific with the field name – for example
“all contacts where Company Name equals ABC PLC”
OR
“all contacts with Company Name containing ABC PLC”
Saving views
When you’ve filtered and sorted your data in the way you want, you can save this view.
If you look in the drop down below, you’ll see the Copilot icon next to a the name that Copilot has suggested for the view
You can save it as a new view and use it later
Limitations
If you’re an advanced user, there are a few things which Copilot search doesn’t support
- Query aggregation
- Query grouping
- Adding columns
How to enable Natural Language Grid and View Search
- Go to the Power Platform Admin Center
- Select your environment and choose Settings
- Under the Product group, choose Features
- Scoll down to find Natural Language Grid and View Search.
- In the Enable this feature for box, choose
- All Users Immediately
- Go back to a list page in Dynamics, refresh your page and you’ll see the Copilot search box.
