Business Central 2026 release wave 1 (version 28.0) is now available. This update covers a wide range of areas, from document management and AI integration to developer tooling and supply chain improvements. This post highlights the features most relevant to consultants, administrators, and developers working with Business Central day to day.
For the complete list, see Microsoft’s official release notes.
Document Attachments in External Storage
Business Central now supports storing document attachments outside the database. You can connect to Azure Blob Storage, Azure File Share, or SharePoint and offload attachments to reduce database size.
This is useful for organizations approaching the 80 GB default database capacity. Once configured, users attach and open files the same way as before, but the files live in your external storage account instead of the BC database.
You are responsible for backing up and managing the external storage. Microsoft does not include externally stored files in BC environment backups.
Read the full guide: How to Store Document Attachments in External Storage
MCP Server for AI Agents
Business Central now includes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets AI clients interact with your BC data. MCP is an open standard for connecting AI applications to external systems.
Supported clients include Visual Studio Code with GitHub Copilot, Copilot Studio, Claude, ChatGPT, and other MCP-compliant applications. By default, the MCP server provides read-only access to all exposed API pages. Administrators can configure write operations for specific API pages.
All connections go through https://mcp.businesscentral.dynamics.com and authenticate via Microsoft Entra ID.
Read the full guide: How to Connect AI Agents to Business Central with the MCP Server
Map New Dataverse Fields Directly in Business Central
Previously, adding custom Dataverse fields to the synchronization mapping required a developer to create AL proxy tables. Starting with version 28.0, new and custom Dataverse tables are available directly in the mapping wizard.
The Integration Table Mappings page now includes a New Table Mapping action that launches an assisted setup guide. You can map Business Central tables to Dataverse tables, configure field mappings, set sync direction, and apply filters, all without writing code.
Read the full guide: How to Map New Dataverse Fields in Business Central
Item Insights with Advanced KPIs
The Item Card now includes an Item Statistics action that opens a page with financial and performance metrics. This page shows current inventory value, expired inventory value, and sales metrics across four time periods: current fiscal period, current fiscal year, last fiscal year, and lifetime.
Sales metrics include growth rate, net sales, gross margin, and return rate. When Copilot’s Summarize with Copilot capability is enabled, the page also generates a natural language summary of the item’s performance.
Read the full guide: How to Get Item Insights with Advanced KPIs in Business Central
AL Development Improvements
Test Explorer in VS Code
AL developers can now run tests directly from the built-in Test Explorer in Visual Studio Code, without needing the external AL Test Runner extension or the Test Tool page. The Test Explorer auto-detects test codeunits in your workspace, supports run profiles including publish-and-run, debug, and procedure-level code coverage.
Read the full guide: How to Run AL Tests from Visual Studio Code
Package Analysis Views in Extensions
Developers can now export analysis views from Analysis Mode and package them in AL extensions. The new analysisviews construct lets you define pre-built analysis tabs on pages, page extensions, and page customizations. Users see these as locked, read-only tabs they can copy and modify.
Read the full guide: How to Package Analysis Views in AL Extensions
Download Symbols from NuGet
The AL Language extension now supports downloading symbol packages from NuGet feeds. You configure feeds using the al.nugetFeeds setting in VS Code, along with al.symbolsCountryRegion for localized packages and al.useOnlyCustomFeeds to restrict symbol sources. This gives teams more control over symbol management in CI/CD pipelines and multi-project workspaces.
Run Objects by Fully Qualified Name
You can now run AL objects and open record references using fully qualified names that include the namespace. This is helpful in large projects where multiple extensions define objects with similar names.
Secure HTTP Calls by Default
AL’s HttpClient now includes anti-SSRF validation by default, blocking requests to internal network addresses unless explicitly allowed. This improves security for extensions that call external services.
Drop Shipment Improvements
This update includes several improvements to drop shipment workflows:
- Create purchase orders from drop shipments directly, without the intermediate requisition worksheet step.
- Post purchase invoices independently of the related sales invoice, giving more flexibility in invoicing timelines.
- Reverse drop shipments when neither the sales nor purchase documents have been invoiced yet.
- Filter receipt and shipment lines to quickly find documents you want to invoice.
Read the full guide: What’s New for Drop Shipments in Business Central 2026 Wave 1
Supply Chain and Inventory
- Pictures for item variants: You can now attach images to individual item variants, making it easier to differentiate product options visually.
- Item attributes for variants: Define item attributes at the variant level, not just the item level.
- Approval workflows for requisition worksheets and item journals: Route these documents through approval before processing.
- Planning behavior for items without SKUs: Choose how the planning engine handles items at locations where no stockkeeping unit exists.
- Quality evaluation for incoming goods: Evaluate the quality of goods and materials as part of the receiving process.
Financial Management
- Financial Reporting enhancements: Improvements to the financial reporting experience.
- Date formulas for posting periods: Use date formulas to dynamically calculate allowed posting periods instead of setting fixed dates.
- Database index management: A new page lets administrators view and manage database index usage and cost per company.
- Default document language at company level: Set a default language for documents at the company level rather than per customer or vendor.
- Withholding tax and plastic/sugar taxes: New tax calculation capabilities (in public preview).
Copilot and Agents
- Agent task management: A dedicated task pane lets you manage tasks from all active agents in one place.
- Review agent-generated content: Content generated by agents can be reviewed directly on the pages where it applies.
- User avatars in lists: Lists now show avatars for the users who created or last modified records.
- Payables Agent email discovery: See which emails in your mailbox have been processed by the Payables Agent.
Shopify Connector
- Assign custom collections to items exported to Shopify.
- Export items with product options based on item attributes.
- Sync images of product variants between BC and Shopify.
- Use checkout currency when creating sales documents from Shopify orders.
Other Notable Changes
- MCP server for admin center (public preview): Connect AI agents to the Business Central admin center.
- Cloud migration from any SQL database: Migrate on-premises data to BC online from any supported SQL database, not just NAV/BC databases.
- Updated Outlook integration: Improved workflow when working with BC contacts and documents from Outlook.
- E-document improvements: Link inbound e-documents to purchase invoices, set default e-document types on vendor templates.
- Report layout lifecycle: Control the lifecycle of report layouts more precisely.
Feature Management
The Enable MCP Server access feature is now listed in Feature Management and enabled for all users. Disabling it has no effect in version 28.0 and the toggle will be removed in a future update.
A new optional feature improves performance in Trial Balance-related Excel reports.
Upgrade Notes
- Online customers receive version 28.0 automatically. Admins can schedule the update within the 5-month update window ending August 31, 2026.
- On-premises customers on version 24 or earlier must upgrade to version 25 before upgrading to 28.
For deep dives on individual features, check the linked guides above. More detailed posts on each topic are linked throughout this article.
To learn how Dataverse integration works with the new field mapping, see How to Connect Business Central to Dataverse.