Business Central 2026 release wave 2 is version 29. It reached general availability in the first week of October 2026, after a public preview that opened in September. This post covers what shipped, which changes can break existing integrations, and what to check before you schedule the update.
One thing to know before you go looking for details: Microsoft stopped publishing release plans in September 2026. New Business Central capabilities are now posted to the AI at Work roadmap instead, and the old release plan pages stay online only for historical reference. For version 29 the two current sources are the roadmap and the update 29.0 release notes on Microsoft Learn.
Release Timeline
Business Central ships two major updates per year. Here is how the recent versions line up:
| Version | Release wave | General availability |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | 2025 wave 2 | October 2025 |
| 28 | 2026 wave 1 | April 2026 |
| 29 | 2026 wave 2 | October 2026 |
New online tenants get version 29 directly. Existing tenants get a notification when the update is available for their region, and administrators can schedule it to any date inside the five-month update period, which ends in February 2027. On-premises customers install the update on their own schedule.
Changes That Can Break Things
Start here. The feature news can wait until you know what stops working.
SOAP Web Services on Microsoft UI Pages Are Disabled
Disable SOAP web services on Microsoft UI pages was an optional feature in Feature Management. In version 29 it becomes mandatory, so it applies whether or not you enabled it earlier. Any integration that calls a Microsoft page through a SOAP endpoint stops working.
Find these before the update reaches you. Look for external systems, Power Automate flows, integration middleware, and custom code that connects to a Business Central page over SOAP, and move them to OData v4 REST APIs or API pages. To review how API access works today, see How to Use APIs in Business Central.
Other Optional Features That Became Mandatory
These were all opt-in through Feature Management in earlier versions. In 29.0 they apply to everyone:
| Feature | What changes |
|---|---|
| Use new communication texts for reminder terms | Reminder text is maintained through communication texts instead of the older level text fields |
| Default values for financial reports | Financial reports can carry default values |
| UI support for masking sensitive data | Pages can mask sensitive field values |
| ‘Manual’ flushing method without requiring pick | Manual flushing no longer requires a pick |
| Per Activity Code VAT Settlements | Italy localization only |
If you maintain reminder texts, check them after the update. For the current setup, see How to Set Up and Configure Reminders in Business Central.
New Optional Features
Two features arrive switched off, so you choose when to adopt them:
- Accelerated Depreciation for fixed assets.
- New Document Report Experience, disabled by default. This is the switch for the reworked document report model described below.
On-Premises Upgrade Path
The on-premises download packages are build 55407, published per country/region version. Deployments on version 24 or earlier must upgrade to version 25 before they can move to version 29. The base application also no longer contains objects that were marked obsolete in earlier versions, so check your extensions against the removed objects before you plan the upgrade.
Reporting and Document Layouts
This is the largest block of generally available features in 29.0, and the one most users will notice.
The Word add-in was reworked. You can design document reports and document report themes in Word, build header and footer layouts separately and reuse them across several document reports, and set conditional visibility so sections appear only when they apply. Report themes give document reports consistent branding without editing each layout.
Other reporting changes:
- Run several financial reports and get one PDF as output.
- Trace which finance reports use a given G/L account.
- Financial report changes are now always logged, with no setting to turn that off.
- Report layouts have full lifecycle control, covering all layout types.
- Report datasets can be reduced in complexity.
- Report outputs can be automated.
- List views and analysis tabs can be bookmarked.
- System audit fields such as Created By and Modified By are available in analysis mode and in profiles.
For background on the pages these features extend, see How to Use Financial Reports in Business Central and How to Use Analysis Mode in Business Central.
Copilot and Agents
Agents get a shared surface in this release instead of separate notifications per agent.
- Task pane for all agents: a panel you can open from anywhere in Business Central that collects tasks from every agent, including suggestions, validations, follow-ups, and access to draft documents. You can open the affected record, complete the task, or dismiss it.
- Review agent content directly on pages: agent-generated field values and text proposals appear inline on the page, so you evaluate and edit them where you work rather than in a separate pane.
- Agent action review notifications on lists: lists flag records waiting for review.
- Avatars for record creators and modifiers: list pages show who or what created or last changed a record, including agents. Hovering shows the full name and the update timestamp.
- Updates to the agent UI experience: the general agent interface was reworked alongside the task pane.
The Payables Agent improves purchase order matching. It now uses Line Amount and Expected Receipt Date from the PO Lines page, which helps on service lines where the quantity is usually 1 and value is the only thing that tells two lines apart. The agent also respects the Receipt on Invoice setting instead of blocking draft finalization when a matched line is not yet received, and that setting now exists at vendor level and purchase order line level, with each level able to override the one above it. Draft warnings cover amount discrepancies as well as quantity, and they inform rather than block.
Two more items in this area:
- Microsoft Copilot chat experience (public preview): the chat panel now uses the same interface patterns as Copilot in other Microsoft 365 apps.
- MCP Server data queries (generally available): new MCP tools to define, validate, and run custom data queries, so an MCP client can read data that has no existing API.
Agents run under their own permissions, and 29.0 makes those permissions easier to manage. Review what each agent is allowed to do before you turn it on in production.
Supply Chain and Manufacturing
Subcontracting, which reached general availability during wave 1, gets a fuller set of supporting features:
- Setup and exploration of subcontracting is easier to work through.
- Subcontracting instructions carry into purchase orders.
- Inventory put-aways and picks work for subcontracting.
Elsewhere in supply chain:
- Quality tests and inspections need less manual entry.
- Direct transfer orders can be posted from warehouse-enabled locations, which previously required the full transfer flow.
- Manufacturing documents and capacity calendars are easier to work with, including better handling of released orders and clearer links from BOM errors.
If you are new to the manufacturing area, see Introduction to Manufacturing in Business Central.
E-Documents and EDI
Exchange EDI documents (public preview) extends the E-Documents framework to Electronic Data Interchange, so EDI runs through the same framework as e-invoicing rather than a separate integration. The preview covers Peppol BIS 3 and is open to additional formats based on local or customer standards. Supported document types include order exchange and remittance advice, with room for more.
If you already send and receive e-invoices through e-documents, this is the path for order traffic with the same partners.
Shopify and Ecommerce
The Shopify connector gets a B2B-focused update:
- Manage Shopify B2B companies, catalogs, and pricing from Business Central.
- Process Shopify order changes, exchanges, and refunds.
- Control when sales documents are created for Shopify orders and returns.
- Synchronize tariff numbers and origin values.
- Keep Shopify connections current, which cuts the manual reconnection work.
Finance and Expense Reporting
The finance features in 29.0 are in public preview:
- Calculate multiple excise duties per item.
- Use withholding tax on employee transactions.
- Vendor-specific number series for self-billing invoices.
The Expense Agent and the expense management module, both introduced during wave 1, pick up a batch of preview features: AI-driven approvals, VAT calculation and reporting from expense reports, automatic withholding tax, date ranges and vehicle types in mileage calculation, better duplicate prevention, support for more countries and languages, and an option to show only assigned projects in the web app.
Development and Platform
Version 29 carries more than twenty development features. The ones worth knowing about:
- Page Scripting reaches general availability, fully localized, with accessibility and usability work.
- AL interfaces support default implementations, so you can add a method to an interface without breaking every implementation at once, then make it mandatory later.
- Run AL tests from the command line and CI/CD workflows, plus extensible and data-driven test suites and tracking of AL compiler diagnostics in automated builds. See How to Write and Run AL Unit Tests for the current test setup.
- Index control in AL: turn indexes on and off in code, and define indexes that span fields from a base table and its table extensions.
- Faster data loading for table extensions through an improved data model.
- Check records for uncommitted changes from AL.
- Access application links through ModuleInfo, inherit tooltips on report and page actions, restrict global symbol resolution to a minor version, and translate objects that share a name across namespaces.
- Simpler extension setup and authentication in Visual Studio Code, clearer guidance for AL object structure, and an audit of app accessibility and debugging boundaries.
- AL tooling for AI clients: AL language intelligence is available to AI agents and to editors other than Visual Studio Code. You can also configure MCP workspaces dynamically, log MCP server activity to a file, discover objects in connected environments, let agents allocate free object IDs, and use AI agents to debug recorded failures and profile slow sessions.
Administration and User Experience
Administration:
- Administrators can turn SIFT indexes on and off, which matters on large tables where SIFT maintenance costs more than the aggregation saves.
- Telemetry now covers use of Open in Excel.
- Map new Dataverse fields in Business Central adds field mapping for Dataverse fields that were previously unavailable. See How to Map New Dataverse Fields in Business Central.
User experience:
- Tell Me shows recently searched entries. See How to Use the Tell Me Search Feature Effectively.
- Lookups show recently used values.
- Images preview directly in the web client.
Sustainability management also expands, with carbon footprint tracking for fixed assets, item journals and item reclassification journals, and Service Management, plus formula-based emission calculation in purchase documents, reversal of sustainability ledger entries, and a specific carbon footprint calculation method for items that use item tracking.
What to Check Before You Schedule the Update
- Find your SOAP integrations. Anything calling a Microsoft UI page over SOAP stops working. Move it to OData v4 or an API page.
- Review the features that became mandatory. Reminder communication texts and financial report default values change behavior that users see daily.
- Test in a sandbox first. Create a sandbox from a copy of production and run the update there. See How to Use the Business Central Sandbox Environment for Development.
- Check your extensions against removed objects if you run on-premises, and confirm you are on version 25 or later before upgrading.
- Decide on agent and Copilot features. Confirm which agents you want enabled and what permissions they run under.
- Pick your update window. Check the scheduled date in the admin center and move it to a date that suits your close calendar. The window closes in February 2027.
For a recap of what shipped in the previous update, see What’s New in Business Central 2026 Wave 1.