How-ToTips & Tricks

How to Export Data to Excel in Business Central

Send any Business Central list or report to Excel for analysis, using the built-in export options available on every list page.

Stein Sæstad
6 min read

Business Central includes a built-in export option on every list page that sends data to Excel. No setup is required. The result is a static Excel file containing the rows and columns currently visible in the list.

This guide covers how the export works, how to control what data is included, and how it differs from Edit in Excel.

Exporting a List Page to Excel

  1. Open the list you want to export, for example, the Customer List, Item List, or General Ledger Entries.
  2. Apply any filters you want to limit the data. The export will only include the rows currently shown.
  3. Select the Share icon in the top-right corner of the page.
  4. Choose Send to Microsoft Excel.
  5. Business Central downloads an .xlsx file to your browser’s default download location.

The file opens in Excel with the data already populated. The first row contains column headers matching the field names from Business Central.

Controlling What Gets Exported

Rows: Only rows that match your active filters are exported. If you have filtered the customer list to show only customers in a specific posting group, only those customers appear in the file. Clear filters before exporting if you want all records.

Columns: Only columns that are visible in the list are included. If a column is hidden, for example, you removed it from the list view using Personalise, it will not appear in the export. To include a column, add it back to the list view before exporting.

To adjust which columns are visible:

  1. Select Settings (the gear icon) → Personalise.
  2. Add or remove columns as needed.
  3. Close personalisation, then export.

Exporting Report Output to Excel

Reports in Business Central can also be sent to Excel from the report request page.

  1. Open a report such as Trial Balance, Aged Accounts Receivable, or Item Statistics.
  2. Set your date filters and other options on the request page.
  3. Select the dropdown arrow next to the Print button.
  4. Choose Send to → Microsoft Excel.

The Excel file reflects the report layout. It is a formatted output, not a raw row-by-row export. For raw data access, use the list page export instead.

Send to Excel vs. Edit in Excel

Both options get data into Excel, but they work differently.

Send to Excel creates a static snapshot. There is no link back to Business Central. You can edit the file freely in Excel, but nothing flows back to BC.

Edit in Excel opens the data with a live OData connection through the Business Central Excel add-in. Changes you make in the workbook can be published back to Business Central. This is useful for bulk edits, but requires the add-in to be installed.

If you only need to read or analyse data, Send to Excel is simpler. If you need to update records in bulk, use Edit in Excel.

Handling Large Datasets

The list page export can handle most typical datasets, but very large tables, ledger entries spanning many years, for example, may hit row limits or take a long time to generate.

To keep exports manageable:

  • Apply a date filter before exporting (e.g. filter Posting Date to the current year)
  • Use a category or dimension filter to break a large list into logical segments
  • For full table extracts without row limits, use Configuration Packages instead

For a full comparison of all the ways to get data out of Business Central, including PDFs, APIs, and configuration packages, see How to Export Data from Business Central.