How to export your data from Dynamics 365 Business Central

Business Central — the successor to Dynamics NAV — has the best built-in export story of any system we migrate from. Data migration is a first-class feature here rather than an afterthought, so this is one of the easier moves on our list.

1.Pin the cutover, then pull five things

On-hand quantities are only true at an instant — agree a freeze point, pull after it, and either key the gap in or reconcile with a cycle count on day one. What to take: item master (with blocked/inactive flags), on-hand per item as of a stated time, unit cost, customer and vendor master with addresses and terms, and open orders if the cutover isn't quiet.

2.Three routes

Route A — Configuration Packages / RapidStart (recommended)

1. Press Alt+Q and search for Configuration Packages.
2. Create a package and add the tables you need: Item (27), Customer (18), Vendor (23), and Item Ledger Entry (32) if you want quantity history.
3. Select the tables and choose Export to Excel.
4. You get one worksheet per table with real column headers — close to import-ready already.

A package can also export as a compressed .rapidstart file. Ignore that here: it is only useful for pushing data into another Business Central company. Excel is what you want.

Route B — Open in Excel from any list page

Open the Items, Customers or Vendors list and use Share → Open in Excel. Quick, but limited to visible columns — use Personalize to add columns first if you go this way.

Route C — OData / API endpoints

Business Central exposes standard API endpoints — /api/v2.0/companies({id})/items, /customers, /vendors — authenticated via Entra ID. Worth it for a repeatable or incremental pull; overkill for a one-time migration.

3.Field mapping into AegisSwift

4.Gotchas

Codes, not names

Items reference Vendor No.; our vendor column matches on name. Export vendors too and join before import, or every item row will warn instead of linking.

Item type matters more than it looks

The Item table includes non-stock types — Service, Non-Inventory. Map them to service items or exclude them. Importing a service as a stocked good creates phantom inventory that then has to be written off.

Never apply a configuration package to a production company

Exporting is harmless. Applying is not. A migration only ever exports — stay on Export to Excel and you cannot break anything.

Inventory is a computed total

It sums across all locations. For per-location balances you need Item Ledger Entry or a Location filter — which is also the decision point for whether AegisSwift launches single- or multi-location.

5.What happens on our side

Two spreadsheets — items, and parties — matched on sku and name. Import vendors first so item rows link rather than warn. Re-imports update rather than duplicate, so plan on running it twice.

AegisSwift costs on a moving average seeded from your opening cost. If Business Central is running Standard or FIFO costing, the two will diverge slightly after the first receipt — by design, not by error.

6.Questions people ask

What's the easiest export route?

A Configuration Package to Excel. It is the closest thing to import-ready of any system we handle.

Will this affect my live company?

No. Exporting a package is read-only. Only applying one writes, and you never need to.

How long does this take?

An hour or two. Business Central is genuinely the easy one; the vendor-code join is the only fiddly part.