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Prepare for major updates with preview environments

Every March and September, the months before a new major version is released, you can try new functionality in preview environments. Preview environments are sandbox environments that you create on or update to a preview version of Business Central. When you create or update a sandbox environment in the Business Central administration center, select the preview version marked as (Preview) from the version list.

Learn more about update cycles, including the preview period, in Major Updates and Minor Updates for Business Central Online.

Preview environments

Preview environments are sandbox environments on a preview version of Business Central. Use them to preview and test new features before the version is available. The system deletes preview environments 30 days after the preview version becomes generally available (GA). You can't update a preview environment to a different version.

Important

Export any data, setup, and customizations in a preview environment that needs to be kept before the end of the preview period to ensure this does not get lost once the preview period ends and preview environments are deleted.

Creating a new preview environment lets you review new functionality in a clean environment without customer data, setup, or customizations. To create a new preview environment, create a new environment, choose sandbox as environment type, choose a version marked with (Preview) as version, and click confirm.

Updating an existing sandbox environment to a preview version lets you review new functionality in an environment that may contain your own data, setup, and/or customization, and lets you test the update itself with extensions installed. To update an existing sandbox to a preview version, schedule an update on a sandbox environment and select a version marked with (Preview) as target version. It is only possible to schedule an update to a preview version once the preview period has started; preview versions are not visible in the list of target versions before the preview period starts.

Note

Notification recipients registered in the Business Central administration center do not receive email notifications regarding availability of a new preview version or execution of an environment update to a preview version (scheduled, succeeded, or failed update). Use the Operations page in the Business Central administration center to view details on an environment update to a preview version.

Practice and test

Sandbox environments on preview versions can be used to practice and test.

  • Review new functionality. Try it out, and begin training employees on the new features that are coming. Updating a sandbox copy of your production environment enables reviews of new functionality with the data, setup, and customizations of the production environment.

  • Validate your extensions.

    • Test whether your extensions can update to the new version of Business Central by updating a sandbox environment with those extensions installed to the preview version.
    • Upload and install your extensions into the sandbox environments created on the preview version and run through the functionality. Verify that the customization continues to work and is compatible with the new version.

  • Test the quality. If you run into issues related to the preview, please provide feedback as described in the next section.

Finally, as always, if you have ideas for features you would like to see in future releases of Business Central, let us know at https://aka.ms/bcideas.

Provide feedback on the preview

We need your feedback on the preview! Let us know about your experiences with the new version. There are two ways to contribute:

  1. Give feedback and ask questions in the Business Central public preview group on the Viva Engage.

    Use this group to share your thoughts, ask questions, participate in discussions, or seek clarifications on any aspect of the preview release.

    If you haven't joined the group yet, select Join group in Viva Engage. Once you've joined, add your comment or question in the Share something with this group box and select Post. Or feel free to respond to another post.

    Learn more in About Business Central partner community on Viva Engage.

  2. Report a bug at https://aka.ms/bcpreviewbugs.

    If you encounter any issues or glitches during your testing, please help us by filling out and submitting the form.

Major Updates of Business Central Online
Managing Major and Minor Updates of Business Central Online
Working with Administration Tools
The Business Central Administration Center
Managing Environments
Managing Tenant Notifications