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Dynamics AX 2012 R2: Improved Office Interop capabilities

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Dynamics AX 2012 R2 has been out for a while now, but I realized that I hadn't posted updated information about its Office Interop capabilities here.

In Dynamics AX 2012 R2 we responded to feedback from our customers and partners to provide new and updated support in a number of areas.

Highlights for R2

  • Document management
    • New: SharePoint and SharePoint Online support.
  • Excel add-in
    • New: Office 365 support via export, filtering APIs, dimension descriptions, refresh on open.
    • Improved: Table support (40% to 95%), services support, user experience.
  • Word add-in
    • New: Generate from template to Office 365, template storage in SharePoint Online.
  • Lync
    • New: Lync 2013 and Lync Online support.

Highlights for R2: Excel

  • Fresh data automatically
    • Added a user option and an OpenXML API to allow refresh of a workbook on open to retrieve fresh data.
  • Send to Office 365
    • Added support for sending exports to SharePoint and SharePoint Online to enable use of Office 365 Excel.
  • Localize it
    • Added support for localized templates via column and field label support.
  • Easier to use
    • Improved the Add-in user experience.

Highlights for R2: Excel editing

  • Filter workbooks from code
    • Added an OpenXML API for programmatic filter changes so workbooks can be customized to a user.
  • Lock it down when needed
    • Added an OpenXML API to optionally lock down the design of a workbook.
  • Dimensions explained
    • Added the dimension descriptions as a field binding option and as a helper in lookups.
  • Matrix fields as editable aggregates
    • Improved the support for data entry in a matrix table via new "Add Row" dialog.

Highlights for R2: Word

  • Store templates anywhere
    • Added SharePoint Online support for template storage.
  • Generate to SharePoint
    • Added support for SharePoint as a document storage location.
  • Dimensions descriptions
    • Added the option of including dimension descriptions in documents.

Highlights for R2: Excel import

  • Tables galore
    • Improved our support for surrogate foreign keys (SFK) to improve the percentage of tables supported for import/export from 40% to 95%.
  • Use services when needed
    • Added support for key services such as LedgerGeneralJournalService and VendVendTableService.

Highlights for R2: Lync

  • Lync 2013
    • Added support for Lync 2013.
  • To the cloud!
    • Added support for the latest version of Lync Online.