DocumentsCorePack vs. Out-of-the-box Dynamics 365 Comparison

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE comes with a basic functionality to generate documents via Word templates. This overview provides a comparison of those native capabilities vs. DocumentsCorePack for Dynamics 365 and Power Apps. Starting with key differences you will find a detailed comparison covering:

• Document Generation
• Document Processing & Delivery
• Template Design & Management

The intent of this head-to-head comparision to help you determine which option is best to meet your document generation, processing, and automation requirements.

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Key Differences	DocumentsCorePack	Native Dynamics 365
Microsoft Word based TemplateDesigner (See Template Design Comparison for details)	Easy to use Word Add-In	XML-based mapping via developper ribbon
Mapping of Dataverse data: – Resolve relationships – Filter results – Sort results – Formatting (e.g. date) – JSON data sources	Multi-level	limited to 1 level
Connector for Power automate & Power Apps – Full documentautomation via Flows – Document generation & processing in Canvas Apps, Power Pages and CoPilot
One-Click document processes Generate and process documents according to your business needs with a single click (See Document Generation & Processing Comparison)	All document generation & procesing options	Only in Sales App Limited to PDF files
Batch document generation & delivery Load Balancing to ensure high performance
Template Management – Test templates during the design – Versioning & History – Conditional template selection – Guided provisioning between environments – Customizable sample templates

Document Generation: Whether you need to send sales or service documents, internal reports or contracts for signature, documents are crucial in every business. Generating professional documents in a simple, streamlined and effective manner is a top priority.

In this section we compare the document generation options provided by the two solutions within the suite of Microsoft Business Applications:

Document Generation	DocumentsCorePack	Native Dynamics 365
Available in: – Dynamics 365 CE – Model Driven Power Apps – Power Automate (Microsoft Flow) – Canvas Apps – Power Pages – CoPilot
AI-powered document creation – CoPilot – CoPilot Agents
Command bar dialog	All Dynamics 365 CE & Model Driven Apps	Only in Sales App, limited to PDF files
One-Click Actions – Generate documents – Process documents – Review & edit documents – Access restrictions via security roles		Only in Sales App, limited to PDF files
Conditional template selection
Supported file types	.docx, .pdf, .html, .txt, …	.docx, .pdf
Batch operations – Batch document generation – Batch document processing
Generate documents consisting of multiple elements from different sources	Combine templates, SharePoint & Note documents
Dynamic document names
Use data from an external database
Use JSON data from – Field Service Inspection – Data sources
Incorporate user input during document creation
Document preview		Only in Sales App
Edit documents upon creation before processed	In MS Word, the defined process continues	In MS Word, manual processing required

Document Processing, Delivery and Automation: Every document generated has a purpose. Thus, providing options to process & deliver documents will not just speed up your document-related business processes, reduce your user’s workload but also bridge the gap to full document automation.

This section outlines the comparison of options to process, deliver & automate your documents:

Document Processing & Delivery	DocumentsCorePack	Native Dynamics 365
Generate email attachments		Only in Sales App, limited to PDF files
Generate email content
Generate and attach to activity	All activity types
Attach as a note		Only in Sales App, limited to PDF files
Save to SharePoint – Dynamic save locations – Create SharePoint locations – Write metadata to SharePoint	All file types	Only in Sales App, limited to PDF files
Send for e-Signing – AdobeSign – DocuSign – AssureSign – DeepSign
Protect files (PDF & password protection)
Run processes upon document generation – Flows – Workflows/Actions
Printing – Local/Network printing – Cloud printing
Combine documents

Document Automation	DocumentsCorePack	Native Dynamics 365
Via Dynamics 365 workflows	All document generation & processing options	Only attach as note
Via Power Automate	DocumentsCorePack Connector

Template Design & Management:„Using the power of MS Word“ is key in enabling every user to design good-looking and professional documents.

This section compares the features & options to map the data you need from Microsoft Dataverse into your documents:

Template Design	DocumentsCorePack	Native Dynamics 365
Microsoft Word Template Designer	via Word Add-In	Via developer ribbon
Relationships – One-to-Many, Many-to-One, Many-to-Many – Multiple levels – Filter & sort related records – Unlimited number of related records		limited to 100
Data Manipulation – Grouping & Multi-Grouping – Calculations – String manipulation – User Prompts
Conditions & onditional content (if / else)	Condition Designer	Word Field Function
Formatting of Datverse data – Field-type specific formatting (e.g. date, money fields) – Conditional Formatting
Dynamic Images – Entity images – Images from notes (stored in Dataverse) – Images from URL (stored in Dataverse)
Dynamic Content – Charts (presenting Dataverse data) – Document name – Hyperlinks – QR Codes – HTML (stored in Dataverse) – Filters
e-Signature: Predefine tags for – AdobeSign – DocuSign – AssureSign – DeepSign
e-Invoice Compliance – ZUGFeRD – XRechnung – Factur-X
Work with Sample Data
Embed JSON data from – Field Service Inspection – Data sources
Template Management – Testing templates while designing – Template versioning – Template history (revisions) – Guided transfer between environments – Template reports & utilization stats