Customize to fit your needs
Simple Object Designer +Reports
The app that lets you customize your Business Central in minutes
without writing a single line of code
Add fields, build features, expose APIs — and now, with +Reports, design beautiful, print-perfect report layouts too. No RDLC, no Word documents, no external tools.
The easiest way to customize Business Central to fit your needs
The Simple Object Designer empowers organizations to seamlessly customize their Dynamics 365 Business Central system, proving invaluable for non-developer organizations by saving considerable time and resources.
Intuitive interface
The intuitive interface offers the ability to design full features without coding, simplifying the creation of custom fields, reports, and APIs, and opening up new opportunities for innovation.
Operational efficiency
Dedicated support and continuous updates make the Simple Object Designer a cost-effective and essential tool for enhancing operational efficiency.
Video guides
Easy-to-follow video guides to help you fully utilize all features and functionality. Whether you're a beginner or a pro, our accessible tutorials will provide peace of mind. Reference our guides anytime for answers and enjoy a smooth user experience.
AI-powered report design
Describe the layout you want — or attach a sample document — and the built-in AI agent designs it for you, right inside Business Central.
New: +Reports - The Report Designer Business Central Always Deserved
Report layouts have always been the last thing you couldn’t fix without a developer – exporting Word files, wrestling with RDLC, hoping it lines up on paper. +Reports ends that. Design report layouts on a live visual canvas directly inside Business Central, and print professional PDFs rendered entirely within BC. What you see in the editor is what comes out of the printer.
Visual, low-code editing
Drag and drop text, data fields, lines, boxes, images, charts, QR codes, and barcodes at exact millimeter precision. WYSIWYG preview with your real data, test print any time.
Your AI report designer, built in
Tell the Report Builder Agent what you want — “Create a clean, modern invoice with our logo top right” – or attach a PDF or photo of an existing form and watch it rebuild the layout live. It even test prints its own work and fixes what it sees.
One brand, every document
Report Sets apply a single visual style to your whole document suite – quotes, orders, invoices, credit memos, reminders, statements. Design one document; let the AI restyle all the rest. Rebranding becomes an afternoon, not a project.
Professional PDF output — 100% inside Business Central
Our own PDF engine, built natively in AL. Embedded brand fonts, charts, SVG graphics, QR codes, barcode and MICR check fonts, hyperlinks, even PDF encryption and permissions. No external services, no add-ins – your data never leaves Business Central.
Real document logic, zero code
Grouping with subtotals, sorting, running totals, “carried forward” continuation pages, conditional sections, page footers, watermarks, and full-page stationery backgrounds.
Fits Business Central like a glove
Your layouts are standard custom report layouts — users select them the normal way, and they work with scheduling and email like any other layout. Export/import complete layouts as a single file, or ship them inside your generated extension.
Two editions. Same Simple Object Designer. You choose.
Everything you love about Simple Object Designer stays exactly as it is – same product, same price. +Reports is an optional edition on top for teams that also want to design report layouts.
| Key Features | Simple Object Designer | Simple Object Designer +Reports |
|---|---|---|
| Create fields on any table | ✅ | ✅ |
| Place fields on pages & reports | ✅ | ✅ |
| Calculated & mandatory fields | ✅ | ✅ |
| Build features from templates | ✅ | ✅ |
| Expose data & logic as APIs | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom Role Centers | ✅ | ✅ |
| Visual report layout designer | — | ✅ |
| AI Report Builder Agent | — | ✅ |
| Report Sets (brand all documents) | — | ✅ |
| Built-in PDF engine (charts, QR, barcodes, MICR, encryption) | — | ✅ |
| Price per tenant / year | USD 499 | USD 999 |
Report layout design in sandbox environments is always free in both editions — the +Reports license is only needed for production printing.
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Reviews from AppSource
Don’t just take our word for it
Rating on Microsoft AppSource
Ready to try it?
You can use the trial version of the Simple Object Designer to make unlimited customizations without writing a single line of code and deploy them to your sandboxes.
Try all the features in the App to see how they can empower you to do more for your business.
Done testing?
When you are sure the Simple Object Designer is the right choice for your business you can buy a yearly license and deploy to your production environment.
Simple Object Designer
All customization features — fields, pages, features, APIs, Role Centers.
Covers production and sandbox environments for one tenant. Everything except report layout design.
USD 499/year
Simple Object Designer +Reports
Most complete Everything in Simple Object Designer, plus the visual report layout designer, the AI Report Builder Agent, Report Sets, and the built-in PDF engine.
Covers production and sandbox environments for one tenant.
Existing customers: 90 days of free production use.
USD 999/year
Simple Designer Bundle
Unlock the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with the Simple Designer Bundle.
This package combines two powerful apps:
Simple Object Designer – Customize Business Central without writing code.
Simple Agent Designer – Build AI agents to automate tasks and streamline operations.
With the bundle, you save USD 200 / year compared to purchasing the items separately.
Get both apps and make Business Central smarter, faster, and simpler.
Simple Designer Bundle
The licenses cover both production and sandbox environment(s) for one tenant.
USD 998/year
Simple Designer +Reports Bundle
The licenses cover both production and sandbox environment(s) for one tenant.
Coming Soon!
Key features that let you customize
Create fields on any table
Are you missing a field anywhere in Business Central?
Just select the table, fill in the name of the new field, select a type and you’re done.
After you have created a new field, select where you want your users to see and use the field.
Surface existing fields on any page
The field you’re looking for may already exist in Business Central, and it’s just hidden with no way to display it.
With the Simple Object Designer, you can surface those fields and place them on any page.
Place fields on any report
After adding fields, you might also want to print them.
The Simple Object Designer enables you to add both your new fields and existing fields to a report’s data set.
Then you can use either Word or Report Builder (depending on the type of report) to add the fields to the layout.
Connect fields between tables
You can activate a Field Transfer if the same field is added to multiple tables.
Example: If a field is added to both the customer and the sales order, then you can activate a field transfer to have the field on the sales order be filled out with the value from the customer you select.
Expose data as web service APIs
Microsoft is telling everybody to stop exposing pages as web services and instead use APIs. But there’s no easy way to expose data as an API without writing code.
The Simple Object Designer enables you to expose data as true APIs and get all the benefits of an API without writing any code.
Add new features to BC
A feature is data, with a user interface and business logic, all bundled together to extend Business Central to fit your needs. Specify what fields and functionality you want and watch the Object Designer create it for you.
Template-based designs
Select between different templates to easily design new functionality in Business Central without writing any code.
Each template is built with the deep knowledge to produce the same level of quality as you would expect from a senior developer.
Create Role Centers
The first page a Business Central user sees when logging on is a Role Center. With the Simple Object Designer, you can design Role Center pages to fit your organization and users simply by selecting the components you want and combining those with the menu items your users need.
How is it actually working?
The Simple Object Designer has an app generator and compiler built-in and outputs a new extension, and with +Reports, a complete PDF rendering engine as well.
The new extension can be installed automatically or downloaded and installed on another environment. (You can create your new fields in a sandbox and afterwards move them to production, or you can work directly in production).
Design report layouts visually (+Reports)
A live canvas inside Business Central; no RDLC, no Word, no external tools.
Let AI build your layouts (+Reports)
Describe it, or attach a sample document, and the Report Builder Agent designs, test prints, and corrects it.
Brand every document at once (+Reports)
Report Sets apply one visual style, fonts, and logo across your entire document suite.
Professional PDF output (+Reports)
Embedded fonts, charts, QR codes, barcodes, MICR check printing, and PDF encryption — rendered entirely inside Business Central.
Your questions answered
FAQ
How do I get started with the Simple Object Designer?
The easiest way to get started is to follow the link below to watch the short video that guides you through the process.
After installing the Object Designer, how do I start it?
To avoid cluttering your role centers with menu items, the Object Designer is only available by searching for it. (Tell Me Alt-Q for Object Designer).
Will one license for the "Simple Object Designer" work in both production and sandbox environments?
Yes, one license for the Simple Object Designer covers both production and sandbox environments for one tenant.
Is Simple Object Designer just for the cloud or is it working also on-premises?
Unfortunately, the Object Designer does not work on-premises. It uses several features in Business Central that are only available in the cloud.
Does the Simple Object Designer work in all countries/regions of Business Central?
There are no limitations on localization. The Simple Object Designer works on all localized versions of Business Central.
Will the Simple Object Designer be in my language?
The Simple Object Designer is currently available in the following languages:
Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
What about updates?
The Object Designer is getting regular updates all the time. You can force the update from Admin Center (select the environment and open “Apps”).
Having trouble downloading symbols?
In order for the Simple Object Designer to work, it must know about what tables, pages, and reports your Business Central has. Adding a field to a table is only possible with information about the table. We call that information Symbols. So one of the very first screens you’ll meet in the Simple Object Designer is the Download Symbols page.
What happens if I unsubscribe or don't renew my license after a year?
If you choose to unsubscribe, you cannot create new customizations, but all the objects you have created with the Simple Object Designer will still work.
Access to the published extensions with your objects is always free and available regardless of the license for the Simple Object Designer.
A published extension might stop working in future versions of Business Central due to changes from Microsoft.
What are symbols?
Symbols are information on all the objects (tables, reports, etc.) in your Business Central. The Simple Object Designer must know about these symbols to add new fields to your Business Central.
Why does it take so long to start? – Downloading symbols
Because there are a lot of symbols, about 100 megabytes of symbols, to be exact, processing these can take a bit of time.
Will it slow performance?
In general, no. Adding a limited number of fields to existing tables in Business Central will not have a negative impact on the user experience. However, if you’re adding 100s of fields into a high-traffic table, that can produce significant slowdowns.
There is no difference in performance between fields added with the Simple Object Designer or by a senior developer.
Why does the deployment fail when I try to deploy with a deleted field?
Normal deployment is configured to avoid data loss. To allow data loss due to changing or deleting fields and tables, you must set the Publish Update Mode in the setup to Force.
What if I need a field transfer to a table that’s not offered in the list of field transfers?
Go to https://github.com/hougaard/Simple-Object-Designer/issues and request the field transfer for a future version of the Object Designer.
We use published events (programming hooks) from Microsoft to do the field transfers, and we cannot add the field transfer if no event is available.
What is +Reports?
+Reports is an edition of Simple Object Designer that adds a visual report layout designer. You design layouts on a canvas directly inside Business Central — with drag-and-drop elements, charts, QR codes, and barcodes — and an AI assistant that can build or restyle layouts from a simple description or a sample document.
I subscribe to Simple Object Designer today. What changes for me with +Reports?
Nothing, your edition keeps doing everything it does today, at the same price. If you want report layout design too, upgrade to +Reports. As a thank-you to existing customers, your first 90 days of production use are free, starting the first time you open the feature.
Does the classic Simple Object Designer still let me put fields on reports?
Yes. Adding fields to report datasets and Word layouts remains part of the classic edition. +Reports adds the full visual layout designer — designing what the printed document looks like, from scratch, inside Business Central.
Do I need +Reports to keep using layouts I designed during the trial?
Designing and testing in sandbox environments is always available. Printing with your designed layouts in production after the 90-day trial requires a +Reports license.
Does the AI assistant require anything special?
You bring your own AI provider, Azure OpenAI, OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), or a fully local model via LM Studio. You enter your API key once in the setup; usage is billed by your provider under your own agreement. The visual designer works fully without AI, too.
Does my report data leave Business Central?
No. PDFs are rendered by a built-in engine running entirely inside Business Central, no external services or add-ins. Only if you choose to use the AI assistant are layout and sample data sent to the AI provider you configure.
Do my existing Word and RDLC layouts still work?
Yes. Layouts made with +Reports are standard custom report layouts that appear alongside your Word and RDLC layouts in Business Central’s normal layout selection. Reports using other layouts render exactly as before.
Can I move my layouts between companies and environments?
Yes, export any layout (including its fonts and images) as a single file and import it elsewhere, or include layouts in the extension that Simple Object Designer generates for you.
Supported Editions
This app supports the Essential and Premium editions of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Supported Countries
This app supports all countries where Business Central is available
Supported Languages
The app is available in Czech (Czech Republic), Danish (Denmark), German (all areas), Spanish (Spain and Mexico), Italian, Icelandic, Dutch (Belgium), Finnish (Finland), French (all areas), Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish and English (all areas)