Business Central now includes several built-in AI tools. These Copilot features let you ask questions in plain language and get field-level help. You can also suggest sales lines and build analysis views – all without leaving BC.
Microsoft has been adding AI capabilities to Business Central over the past several releases. The 2024 Wave 2 update brought a set of Copilot features that are practical, not just impressive. These are tools you can use every day in real business scenarios. In short, the Copilot features in BC 2024 are useful – not experimental. This article covers four of the most relevant ones: chat, field assistance, suggest sales lines, and analysis view creation.
Chat with Copilot from the Navigation Bar
One of the most visible Copilot features in BC 2024 is the Copilot chat button in the top navigation bar. It sits next to the search icon on every page. Then, when you click it, a chat panel opens on the right side of the screen. From there, you can type a question or request in plain language.
For example, you can ask Copilot to show you the latest posted invoice. Or you can ask where to find the sales orders list. Copilot understands natural language requests and navigates or retrieves information for you. In practice, this is especially useful for new users who are still learning where things live in BC. Also, it gives experienced users a faster way to jump to pages or records without remembering the exact menu path. So, this chat feature is one of the most broadly useful Copilot features added in this release.
Copilot Features for Field-Level Help
Another set of Copilot features works at the field level. When you hover over any field in BC, a tooltip appears. In BC 2024, that tooltip now includes a small Copilot button. Click it, and Copilot searches the Microsoft Knowledge Base for docs about that specific field. Also, it works on every field in BC – not just the main ones. So help is one click away. You do not need to search. You do not need to leave the page. Just click and read the answer right there.
For instance, hover over the Posting Date field on a sales order and click the Copilot button. BC then pulls up the relevant Microsoft docs with a direct link. The result is tailored to the field you are on – not a generic search result. So you do not have to leave BC or search manually. Furthermore, because Microsoft keeps its docs current, the answer Copilot returns is always based on up-to-date information. This makes the field-level Copilot features most useful during training or when working in an unfamiliar area of BC.
Suggest Sales Lines: Copilot Features for Orders
The Suggest Sales Lines feature is one of the most practical Copilot features for users who work with sales orders daily. When you are on a sales order, a button in the lines section opens a Copilot prompt. You can then ask Copilot to import lines from the customer’s previous orders.
How Suggest Sales Lines Works in Practice
For example, you can type a request like “add the same lines as the last order for this customer.” Copilot searches the order history, finds the matching lines, and inserts them into the current order. Additionally, you can be more specific – asking for lines from a particular time period, or only lines above a certain quantity. In this way, the Suggest Sales Lines feature saves time on repeat orders and reduces the risk of missing items. Moreover, it works entirely through plain language – you do not need to go to a previous order, filter, or copy lines by hand.
Before this feature, the standard approach was to open the last order, copy the document, and edit the new one. That process took several steps and required you to navigate away from the order you were working on. Now, all the steps happen in a single prompt. Also, if the customer wants a variation on their usual order – for example, double the quantity on one item – you can include that in the prompt and Copilot handles it. So the feature is flexible, not just a simple copy function.
Copilot-Assisted Analysis Views
Business Central has had an analysis mode for some time. It lets you create pivot-style views of any list page. You can group, filter, and sort data in a way that is similar to a pivot table in Excel. In fact, the tool is quite powerful. However, setting up an analysis view requires you to know which columns to pick and how to arrange them. For some users, that learning curve was a barrier. So the tool often went unused even though it could save time.
This 2024 update removes that barrier. From any list page in analysis mode, you can click the Copilot button and describe the view you want. For example, on the customer ledger entries page, you can ask Copilot to group entries by customer and sort by outstanding amount. Copilot builds the analysis view from your prompt. As a result, the analysis mode becomes open to any user, not just those who are comfortable with the manual setup. Also, the view Copilot creates works exactly like a standard analysis view – you can save it and return to it later.
Wrapping Up: Copilot Features in Business Central
The Copilot features in Business Central 2024 are practical and easy to start using. You do not need to set anything up. They are on every page from day one. In short, these Copilot features meet you where you work. They help with real tasks: finding records, understanding fields, building orders, and viewing data. Each one is a small but real gain for your daily workflow. Moreover, all four tools are free to use – no add-on license is required. So there is no reason not to try them. In fact, you may already have them active in your BC environment right now.
Furthermore, this is just the start. Microsoft has said it will keep adding Copilot features to Business Central in future wave releases. So if any of these tools are not yet active in your version, they are likely coming soon. Check your BC version and the release notes to see which Copilot features are live in your system. Also, some features may require your admin to turn them on in the Copilot settings page in BC admin. It is worth a quick check.
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