The Copilot analysis view in Business Central 2024 turns a plain-language question into a ready-made data view. In this Happy Friday, we look at the Copilot analysis view, and we also cover a second feature: suggest sales lines. In fact, both let you work in plain language instead of navigating menus. And both are available right now if you are on version 24.
What Is Happy Friday?
Indeed, Happy Friday is a regular format from NAV SEAL. Instead of a step-by-step tutorial, it is a relaxed conversation about something new or useful in Business Central. The idea is simple. We take a topic we find exciting and share it in a casual way. Think of it as water cooler talk for Business Central users. So we sit down together, share what we have been working on, and talk through what is new. Also, we sometimes bring beer. This time we did, and it made for a good conversation.
This episode also marks a first. For the first time, Peter – the video editor who builds every NAV SEAL video – joined us on screen. In fact, all three of us appear as tiny animated figures in earlier episodes. There is a forklift scene. There is a plane. So if you go back and watch any earlier video, look for them in the background.
In this episode, we covered two Business Central 2024 Copilot features we find genuinely useful. So if you are on version 24, both are ready to use today. Both use natural language to replace steps that previously required manual work or prior experience.
Suggest Sales Lines: Copilot on Your Sales Order
The first feature is suggest sales lines. This adds a Copilot button directly to the sales lines section of a sales order or sales quote. When you click the button, a prompt dialog opens. You type a request in plain language. Then Copilot reads your request and fills the lines for you.
How to Use Suggest Sales Lines
For example, you can ask Copilot to pull in the lines from the last order for this customer. Copilot finds those lines and adds them to the current sales order. You can also ask for specific items, a date range, or any detail you can express in words. The prompt is flexible. So you are not locked into a fixed format or a set of dropdown options. If you can write the request in a sentence, Copilot can generally handle it.
Before suggest sales lines, adding lines to a sales order meant searching for items by hand or copying a previous order step by step. That process works, but it takes time. Instead, with suggest sales lines, you describe what you need and Copilot does the lookup. As a result, the lines land in your sales order right away.
In particular, this is useful for repeat customers. If a customer orders similar products every month, you no longer need to build the sales order from scratch each time. Instead, you ask Copilot to find those lines and add them. As a result, several manual steps are removed from a task you may do many times a week. Over time, those saved steps add up.
The Copilot Analysis View: Build Views With Plain Language
The second feature is the Copilot analysis view, which sits inside analysis mode. To understand why it matters, it helps to know what analysis mode does. Analysis mode in Business Central works like a pivot table. You open a list page, switch into analysis mode, and set up a view. Specifically, you choose columns, rows, and filters. The result is a structured view of your data that you can sort and save for later.
However, the challenge with analysis mode has always been setup. You need to decide which fields to group by, which filters to apply, and how to arrange the columns. For users who are not comfortable with pivot logic, this step can feel like a barrier. As a result, many users skipped the feature, even though it could have been useful to them.
Now the Copilot analysis view is built into analysis mode. You press the Copilot button, and then you type a question. After that, the Copilot analysis view appears, built for you. For example, say you are on the customer ledger entries page and you want to see entries grouped by customer and year. You type that request. The Copilot analysis view appears, set up and ready. You can then sort it, adjust it, and save it for future use.
So the setup barrier is gone. Users who were never comfortable with pivot configuration can now reach a useful Copilot analysis view in seconds. Also, the feature helps experienced users move faster. Instead of clicking through menus to build a view from scratch, you describe it in a sentence and Copilot builds it for you.
Why the Copilot Analysis View and Suggest Sales Lines Stand Out
Earlier versions of Business Central included Copilot, but many of those features had limited real-world use. The tools were there, but the everyday use cases were narrow. However, with version 24, that has changed. Suggest sales lines and Copilot in analysis mode both address tasks that Business Central users do on a regular basis. These are not niche features. Instead, they are built into pages most users open every day.
Moreover, both features share the same design approach: natural language input replaces structured field entry. Instead of knowing where to look and what to fill, you describe what you want. Then Copilot handles the rest. So users with less training can access more of what Business Central offers. And experienced users can skip manual steps they used to do by habit.
For suggest sales lines, the benefit is speed at the sales order level. For the Copilot analysis view, the benefit is access. In short, a feature that used to require experience with pivot tables is now reachable by anyone on the team. That is a meaningful change for everyday users.
It is also worth noting that both features are available without extra setup for users already on version 24. You do not need to install a separate add-on or configure a new integration. Instead, the Copilot button appears in the right place on the right page. That is how a well-placed feature should work.
Wrapping Up: Why the Copilot Analysis View Stands Out
Overall, suggest sales lines and the Copilot analysis view are two of the most practical additions in Business Central 2024. Both are available on pages you already use. Both reduce manual steps. And both are clear examples of what Copilot can deliver when it is built into the right part of the workflow rather than added as a separate tool.
If you want to see these features in action, watch the full Happy Friday video above. Indeed, it is a good starting point. And if you have questions about upgrading to version 24 or setting up Copilot in your Business Central environment, reach out to NAV SEAL.
For more Business Central guides and tutorials, visit NAV SEAL Blog and watch more videos on our YouTube Channel.
