App Overview
Document Customizer is a document layout and formatting app for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. It replaces the standard BC document reports — invoices, order confirmations, purchase orders, shipments, and more — with a fully configurable, HTML-rendered alternative that gives consultants and business users complete control over what is printed, how it looks, and what language it appears in, without requiring developer involvement.
At the heart of the app is the Document Customizer page: a list of all supported reports where you activate each report as the system default and navigate to its setup. Every report has a content configuration (which header fields, columns, footer sections, and captions to use) and a layout configuration (which font, colours, logo, and address positioning to apply). These two dimensions are independent — you can share a layout across multiple documents and use separate content templates for different customer segments.
Document Customizer supports over 30 document types out of the box, including sales invoices and credit memos, order confirmations, purchase orders and quotes, shipments, warehouse pick lists, production orders, assembly orders, transfer orders, remittance advice, service orders, proforma invoices, customer statements, and project quotes. Each document is configured once and then prints automatically for all users via Business Central's standard Report Selections mechanism.
Feature Map
Use this table to find the right article for your task.
| Feature | What it solves | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Header Setup | What information appears above the line items? Configures the two-column header block with document fields, related-table lookups, multilingual labels, and bank account data. | Business Manager, IT Manager |
| Column Setup | What columns appear in the line table? Defines column widths, data fields, picture and barcode columns, VAT specification columns, supplementary tracking columns, and MDI integration. | Business Manager, IT Manager |
| Footer & Sections | What appears below and around the lines? HTML content blocks with dynamic field values, multilingual variants, date-scheduled content, and bank payment details. | Business Manager, Accountant, IT Manager |
| Layout & Visual Design | How does the document look? Controls fonts, row colours, logo, background watermark, address positions, barcode symbology, and page number behaviour. Supports multiple visual variants per report. | Business Manager, IT Manager |
| Captions & Translations | How are field labels and totals labelled in each language? Central caption pool with per-language translations, fallback logic, and customisable totals section labels. | Business Manager, IT Manager |
| Address Setup | Where does the address appear and what does it contain? Configures bill-to, ship-to, and ship-from address composition, precise pixel positioning, per-line typography, and currency-based bank account selection. | Business Manager, IT Manager |
| Line Grouping & Line Filtering | Which lines print, and how are they organised? Filters lines by quantity, type, or status, and groups lines into a two-level hierarchy with automatic subtotals. | Business Manager, IT Manager |
| Report Templates & Multi-Layout | How do you give different customers or brands different documents? Creates named content and layout variants per report, and routes documents to the correct variant per customer or responsibility center. | Business Manager, IT Manager |
| Payment Reference (FIK, KID, BGMAX) | How do you add a structured payment reference to Scandinavian invoices? Generates and prints FIK 71, FIK 75, KID, and BGMAX references with automatic modulus check digit calculation. | Accountant, IT Manager |
| Special Document Types | How do you activate advanced or specialised report variants? Covers Customs Tariff Columns, Waybill Columns, Hierarchy Pick Instructions, Pane Envelope variants, Statement Extended, and Proforma Invoice variants. | Business Manager, IT Manager |
Common Infrastructure
Several concepts are shared across all features. Understanding them once makes the feature articles easier to follow.
Document Customizer Content
Document Customizer Content is the central configuration table. Each row represents one document type combined with one Report Template code — the combination that defines what is printed. From here you assign the Header Template, Column Template, VAT Specification Columns, Footer, Sections, Line Grouping Template, Address Template, and a range of display flags for each document. You also activate or deactivate a document as the BC system default from this same page.
Document Customizer Layouts
Document Customizer Layouts holds the visual configuration: font, font sizes, colours, logo, background image, address positions, and barcode settings. A layout is keyed by Company Name, Layout Code, Report ID, and Responsibility Center, so you can have multiple visual variants for the same report and they resolve automatically by context.
Templates and Reuse
Every configurable element in Document Customizer — Header Templates, Column Templates, Footer Codes, Address Templates — is a named, reusable object. Assigning the same template to multiple documents means a single change propagates everywhere. Most template types support a Copy to new action to quickly create variants.
Report Activation
Activating a Document Customizer report as the system default is done with the Set as standard report action on the Document Customizer page. This registers the DC report in BC's Report Selections, so all users automatically receive the customised layout without any per-user configuration. The original BC report is stored and restored if you use Remove as standard report.
Default Report Setup
Default Report Setup links a specific document context — a customer number, a vendor number, a responsibility center, or another key — to a specific Report Template and/or Layout Code. This is how per-customer branding and per-customer templates are routed automatically at print time without any manual selection.
Setup Guide
The Dynamic Document Setup Guide is a wizard accessible from the Document Customizer page that walks you through assigning the minimum required configuration for a new document. It covers Header Template, Column Template, Footer, and Layout in a single guided flow.
Supported Documents
Document Customizer includes pre-built reports for the following document types:
Sales: Sales Invoice, Sales Invoice Pane Envelope, Sales Credit Memo, Sales Cr. Memo Pane Envelope, Sales Order Confirmation, Sales Quote, Blanket Sales Order, Sales Shipment, Pro Forma Sales Invoice, Sales Return Order, Pick Instruction, Hierarchy Pick Instruction, Customer Statement, Customer Statement Extended
Purchase: Purchase Order, Purchase Quote, Blanket Purchase Order, Purchase Receipt, Purchase Return Order, Posted Purchase Invoice, Posted Purchase Credit Memo, Remittance Advice – Journal, Remittance Advice – Entries
Warehouse: Posted Warehouse Shipment, Warehouse Shipment, Warehouse Picklist
Operations: Production Order, Assembly Order, Transfer Order, Service Order
Projects: Project Quote
Integration with Other Abakion Apps
| App | Integration |
|---|---|
| Master Data Information | When Master Data Information is installed, Document Customizer can inject item attribute data (from MDI information codes) directly into the header and column sections of documents. Individual Header Templates, Column Templates, and Footer Codes have a "Don't print Master Data" flag to suppress this per template when needed. |
| Document Handling | Document Handling uses Document Customizer reports as the source for outgoing document emails and PDF attachments. The two apps are commonly deployed together — Document Customizer controls the layout, Document Handling controls the distribution. |
Setup
The steps below take you from a fresh installation to a fully active Document Customizer setup for your first document. Work through them in order.
SETUP-01: Activate the app and generate the default setup
As a IT Manager
I want to activate Document Customizer and generate the best-practice default configuration for all supported documents
So that all supported reports are configured and ready to be activated as system defaults without starting from a blank setup
Setup:
- Open the Document Customizer page (search for it in Business Central).
- If Document Customizer Content is empty, the Default Setup button is visible. Click it to run the default setup routine.
- The system creates Document Customizer Content rows, Layout rows, Header Templates, Column Templates, and Footer Codes for all supported document types — populated with Abakion's best-practice configuration.
- Verify the Document Customizer page now shows all document rows.
Note: The default setup can be re-run safely if specific document types were added after the initial installation. Individual setup actions for newer document types (Transfer Order, Warehouse Shipment, Proforma variants, etc.) are available under the Add setup for new document types group on the Document Customizer page.
SETUP-02: Run the Dynamic Document Setup Guide for a specific document
As a Business Manager
I want to use the guided setup wizard to review and confirm the configuration for one document before activating it
So that I can verify the header, columns, footer, and layout are correct before the document goes live for all users
Setup:
- On the Document Customizer page, select the document row you want to configure (e.g. Sales Invoice).
- Click Run Setup Guide.
- The wizard shows the current Header Template, Column Template, Footer, and Layout assigned to this document. Adjust any assignments as needed.
- Complete the wizard. Settings are saved immediately.
SETUP-03: Activate a document as the BC system standard
As a Business Manager
I want to replace BC's standard Sales Invoice with the Document Customizer version so that all users automatically receive the customised layout
So that the custom document takes effect immediately for all print and email actions without any per-user configuration
Setup:
- On the Document Customizer page, select one or more document rows.
- Click Set as standard report.
- The Active as Default Report column changes to reflect the active status.
- Print or email the document from a relevant BC page (e.g. post a sales invoice and print it) to verify the Document Customizer layout is used.
Note: To revert to the BC standard layout, select the row and click Remove as standard report. Document Customizer's configuration is preserved and can be re-activated at any time.
SETUP-04: Upload the company logo to the Layout
As a Business Manager
I want to ensure the company logo appears on all printed documents
So that documents carry the correct corporate identity from day one
Setup:
- On the Document Customizer page, open Layout from the action bar.
- Find the layout row for the document you want to configure (or the default layout row with a blank Layout Code).
- Verify that Show Logo is enabled.
- If the logo in Company Information is already correct, no further action is needed — Document Customizer uses it automatically when the Logo field on the Layout is blank.
- To use a different logo for a specific layout variant, click into the Logo field and upload the image directly to the layout row.
SETUP-05: Set the default language fallback for captions
As a IT Manager
I want to confirm the default language used when no language-specific caption translation is found
So that labels on all documents always display legible text even for languages without explicit translations
Setup:
- Search for Report Pack Setup and open it.
- Set Default Language to the language code used as the company's primary language (e.g.
ENUfor English orDANfor Danish). - Save. This language is used as the final fallback whenever a caption has no translation for the document's language and no blank-language translation.