Docentric Free Edition Manifesto: Features, Vision & Values

Docentric Free Edition Manifesto Chapters

1. What Is Docentric Free Edition
Docentric Free Edition Features
Free POCs and Custom Solutions
Docentric Free vs. Full Edition Features
Light Installation, Simple Architecture, High-Quality Code

2. Why We Created Docentric Free Edition
Growing and Sharing Knowledge
True Connection with the Community
Building Product on User Feedback
Enabling Partners to Deliver Value to Their Customers at No Costs

3. Is Docentric Free Edition Really Free?
Are There Any Hidden Costs with the Free Edition, or Will There Be in the Future?
Why Docentric Free Edition Is Not Available on GitHub?
Docentric Free Edition License

4. Free Support and Updates
Free Support
Free Updates
A Promise of Integrity: Forever Free

5. Security and Privacy
Security
Privacy

6. Product Vision: Every Version Delivers New Free Features
How We Decide What is a Free Edition Feature vs. a Full Edition Feature
Roadmap: Planned but Agile

7. Certified by Microsoft and Published on AppSource

8. What Customers and Partners Say

9. How to Get Started
Can the Product be Downloaded from AppSource?

10. How to Stay Updated

What Is Docentric Free Edition

A must-have toolkit for any D365FO (Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations) project. Why is that 🙂?
It improves various system frameworks, with reporting being just one of them.

The original purpose of Docentric Free Edition was to improve emailing, printing, archiving and distribution of built-in SSRS reports, such as invoices and orders, by enabling Docentric improved print destinations for SSRS reports. Over the years, we have added other free improvements, including enhancements to Print management, Alerts, Email templates, Attachments, License plate labels and more.

Let’s dive into the Free Edition features!

Docentric Free Edition Features

Edit email body with a superior HTML editor and placeholders. Use pre-prepared email templates.
Set up dynamic email subject and attachment filename. Add additional attachments via code.
Configure From and Bcc. Use multiple outgoing mail servers/sender accounts. Preview emails before sending.
Email reports using improved Email distributor batch, featuring Batch email sending status with searchable metadata, distributor and cleanup jobs for different record sets, and the ability to review and update outgoing emails.
Utilize additional email tokens for orders, projects and delivery addresses. Automatically print reports instead of emailing them if the email tokens do not resolve to valid email addresses.
Save reports in batch to Azure storage, SharePoint or Attachments. Use placeholders in the output filename, target blob container, etc.
Print reports to user default printer. To successfully manage your network printers, configure allowed and favorite printers.
Save reports to Print archive with metadata and configurable file location. Use instant document preview and download merged reports.
Use Alerts++ as well as improved Email templates for Alert, Workflow and Retail email notifications.
Simplify and test Document routing setup and reprint License plate labels from D365FO.
Improve handling of Print management setup including import/export options using Docentric Print Management Data Entity and Print management utilities.
Use Print management preview and retrieve archived reports on common journal forms.
Improve Attachments with additional metadata such as validity period, tags, language. Use grid view with advanced filter and instant document preview, download multiple attachments either merged or zipped.
Use Productivity Tools such as Docentric Query Browser for building queries and ad-hoc reporting, Docentric Label Browser for searching for labels and translations, and Docentric Table Browser for exploring and editing table data – all directly within D365FO.
Enhance emailing capabilities of Collections process automation to send professionally designed email reminders with attached open invoices, using improved Email distributor batch.

Explore Docentric Free Edition Features

The Free Edition also brings some “hidden gems”, beneficial to all D365FO users, such as:

Create Alert in a ⚡Single Click in D365FO
Add the Back (Close) and Save Buttons to Print Management Setup
Improved Validation of Certificates Stored in Azure Key Vault
Access Archived Outgoing Documents from Customer and Vendor Cards
All attachments in the system in one place, and many more!

Free POCs and Custom Solutions

Besides the features of Docentric Free Edition, there is a bunch of useful POCs and Custom Solutions built on top of it, such as:

DEMI: Send multiple invoices in a single email.
Improved ER destinations.
Sending Collections Letters and Customer Account Statements with Overdue Invoices, and more.

Discover more POCs and Custom Solutions on Docentric Blog >>

Docentric Free vs. Full Edition Features

Docentric AX is a product available in two versions: the Free Edition and the paid Full Edition.
Docentric Free and Full Editions are developed on the same codebase, effectively making them the same product. Certain functionalities, however, are unlocked exclusively with a Full Edition license.

Which functionalities? With Docentric Full Edition you can design business documents and reports in Word and Excel, use user-defined labels (language translations), and update templates without redeployments. You can use Electronic Reporting data sources, generate documents in the major output formats, take advantage of digital signatures and password protection, enjoy document distribution options not supported with Free Edition (e.g. saving generated documents to SharePoint with metadata) and more.

See Free vs. Full Edition Feature by Feature Comparison >>
Discover How We Decide Which Features Qualify for Free Edition >>

Light Installation, Simple Architecture, High-Quality Code

Docentric Free (or Full Edition) installs as additional AX models with .NET libraries into D365FO environments. No external services, servers, virtual machines or Azure functions are required.

The code is high-quality, robust, and secure. You can verify this yourself, as Docentric Free/Full Edition is source-available software 🙂.

Why We Created Docentric Free Edition

It reflects our company values and vision, such as fostering knowledge growth and sharing, and being a genuine part of the community, while also making a strategic business decision.

We love D365FO, and we love to improve it and share these improvements with the community. It’s not just the product we deliver for free – there are also many POCs and Custom Solutions, all of them working on top of Docentric Free Edition, as well as expert articles with deeply explored topics, mostly in the reporting field (SSRS and ER) and system frameworks such as Batch jobs, Alerts and Attachments. We are just passionate about growing and sharing knowledge!

True Connection with the Community

Although Docentric Free Edition is also a business tool – we hope that some of you might upgrade to Full Edition 😉 – primarily, like the DynamicsMinds conference, it’s a true connection with the community.

By proudly delivering Docentric Free Edition, organizing a very ⭐magical⭐ world-class annual Dynamics 365 and Power Platform conference 👉🏽 DynamicsMinds, and founding and nurturing regular DUG Adriatic user group meetups, we at Docentric prove ourselves as a community-first and community-driven Microsoft Dynamics ISV partner.

Building Product on User Feedback

Docentric Free Edition constitutes a substantial portion of the full-featured product, and by delivering it for free from the very beginning, we were able to collect a lot of user feedback. Thanks to this feedback, we managed to build an even better product, well-suited for real-world scenarios across various industries.

Expanding the user base and building a better product faster are natural outcomes of pursuing Free Edition.

Enabling Partners to Deliver Value to Their Customers at No Costs

Docentric Free Edition delivers meaningful, system-wide improvements to D365FO projects, enabling partners to create additional value for their customers without incurring extra costs – provided they are properly enabled and trained in the capabilities of Docentric Free Edition.

In this sense, Docentric Free Edition represents not only a product offering but also our commitment to cultivating fruitful and long-term partnerships.

Is Docentric Free Edition Really Free?

Yes, Docentric Free Edition is really FREE 💙

Are There Any Hidden Costs with the Free Edition, or Will There Be in the Future?

NO. Docentric Free Edition is completely free. The Free Edition, just like the Full Edition, installs and runs directly within Dynamics environments (development, test or production). This means there are no hidden costs and no need for additional servers or services. The Free Edition's limitations are defined by the functionalities described in the Docentric documentation. Still, all functionalities available in the Free Edition work exactly the same as in the Full Edition, without any qualitative or quantitative limitations.

Why Docentric Free Edition Is Not Available on GitHub?

Docentric Free and Full Editions share the same codebase, which we actively maintain and support. For this reason, Docentric Free Edition is not licensed as open source and is not available on GitHub.

Instead, it is provided as source-available software when installed via models. This allows access to the X++ codebase, offering valuable insights into well-designed features, frameworks, classes and APIs. Additionally, the codebase serves as a resource for learning and exploring advanced development techniques.

Alternatively, the product can also be installed via deployable packages, depending on user preferences.

Docentric Free Edition License

Read Docentric Free Edition License >>

Free Support and Updates

Free Support

Docentric offers two levels of support for Docentric Free Edition:

Self-Service Support: Access to the Forum, Blog and Documentation.
Engineer-Assisted Support: Through the Docentric Help Desk, where support engineers provide tailored assistance. The guaranteed response time is 1 business day.

While the Docentric Support Team regularly checks forum questions, no guaranteed 1-business-day response time applies to this channel.

We recognize that a great product is only valuable when supported effectively, and we are committed to delivering excellent support.

Premium Support for Docentric Free Edition

Although we provide Engineer-Assisted Support to all users, including Free and Full Edition users, priority is given to customers with paid licenses and our partners. Free Edition users can upgrade to a Premium Support license, ensuring they receive the same priority as other users with paid licenses.

Free Updates

Docentric Free Edition is regularly updated and maintained in the same way as the Full Edition. With each new Docentric release, both Free and Full Editions are tested to ensure alignment with the latest D365FO version. This process is repeated for any new D365FO version as well.

For detailed information on the Free Edition roadmap and the criteria we use to determine the Free Edition feature candidates, please refer to the Product Vision chapter.

A Promise of Integrity: Forever Free

We have made a commitment to the community: Every feature published as part of Docentric Free Edition will remain free forever. Once free, always free!

Security and Privacy

Security

Both Docentric Free and Full Editions are developed in strict compliance with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and .NET security standards, which is sufficient since all functionalities operate exclusively within Dynamics 365 environments without relying on external services.

The product is regularly scanned with SonarQube to evaluate code quality and identify security risks across OWASP and CWE categories. These scans consistently demonstrate compliance with leading security best practices, ensuring a secure and reliable solution.

Privacy

Both Docentric Free and Full Editions collect diagnostic data, which is sent to Docentric Application Insights. This data excludes any business information and includes only details such as the types of reports and documents processed with Docentric, performance metrics, and errors logged during report execution.

Learn which data we collect >>

This information helps us efficiently detect and resolve issues, optimize performance, enhance features and user experience, and deliver a better and more robust solution.
Full Edition users have the option to disable this data collection, while it remains mandatory for Free Edition users.

We are committed to respecting your privacy. Learn more about our practices in Docentric Privacy Policy.

Product Vision: Every Version Delivers New Free Features

With every new version, we often deliver more than half of the features as part of the Free Edition. Be sure to check the Release Notes to see for yourself!

How We Decide What is a Free Edition Feature vs. a Full Edition Feature

Docentric Designer and Document Generator: These are exclusive to the Full Edition.
Distribution improvements for SSRS Reports: Most of these are included in the Free Edition.
By-products of Development: Features like the Docentric Label Browser, Query Browser, Table Browser and Context Menu Framework are provided in the Free Edition.
Developer-dependent features: Features requiring developer customization (e.g., Improved Email templates) are included in the Free Edition.
Time-intensive features: Features requiring significant development effort (e.g. Additional report attachments, Digital signatures or PDF/A Document compliance) are placed in the Full Edition.
Community-focused features: Useful tools such as the Docentric Print Management Data Entity, Print management preview and Collections process automation enhancements are included in the Free Edition.

Roadmap: Planned but Agile

We have an extensive roadmap with features such as:

Enhancements of Batch jobs alerts and history, smarter views of Batch jobs and improved analysis of log messages.
Further improvements of Email templates, Alerts and Attachments.
Printing from common journals without Print management, with batch processing options.

Our development approach balances planning with agility. We closely monitor Microsoft updates to ensure our product remains fully aligned.

An Example of Balancing Planning and Agility: Support for Copilots

We recently introduced support for generating specific Collections-related reports directly from Outlook using Microsoft 365 Copilot for Finance. These reports include Sales invoice, Free text invoice, Project invoice and Customer account statement, following requests from Microsoft on behalf of some customers.

This functionality works with both Free and Full Edition, depending on whether the reports are based on Docentric templates or SSRS report designs.

We actively monitor advancements in AI and are ready to implement features that we or our users find beneficial, keeping our solutions current and effective.

Certified by Microsoft and Published on AppSource

In the previous chapter, we discussed product vision; now, we shift our focus to values.

Our product is driven by excellence, thoroughly tested, and designed with extensibility and maintainability in mind - like LEGO blocks. Remarkably, the product’s core design has remained the same since the first version developed for AX 2012!

We pay close attention to the smallest details, such as captions, help texts and the positioning of UI elements, as well as robust diagnostics and clear messaging, all to ensure an exceptional user experience.

And these “blocks” are not only essential for continuous product development but also provide user-developers with a flexible playground for implementing advanced customizations.

Microsoft certification of both Docentric Free and Full Edition (which share the same codebase and are essentially the same product) was therefore a natural consequence of our commitment to quality, not merely a checkbox we aimed to tick.

Check Docentric Free Edition on AppSource >>

What Customers and Partners Say

Docentric Free Edition has earned praise from our customers and partners for its practical features and reliability. Recommended by MVPs and influencers, it features thousands of installations and holds a strong reputation within the D365FO community.

“Since I started using Docentric, it’s dramatically improved my work life. Positioning Docentric with our clients is easy, because of the increased productivity. I can confidently tell them that Docentric will cut development work in half.”

– Brittany O'Neill, Software Engineer at MCA Connect and Docentric Free Edition Ambassador

For more insights, check out:

How to Get Started

Watch our introductory video: Docentric Free Edition Overview.
Download the Free Edition from our website.
Follow our How-To Manuals and tutorials to get started.
Explore Docentric Blog for POCs, feature showcases and expert insights.
Join the discussion on the Docentric Forum.

Can the Product be Downloaded from AppSource?

You can’t because it’s not supported yet 🙂. It’ll hopefully be once in the future – via Power Platform Administration Center.

In the meantime, you can download the models or deployable packages directly from our website.

Our approach to product delivery differs slightly from other vendors. We recommend installing the product via models, as this method offers several advantages:

Easier customization of business documents.
Faster adoption of the product.
Simpler troubleshooting.

How to Stay Updated

We deliver an average of three version releases per year, along with regular hotfixes. Each release includes features for both the Full and Free Editions.

Stay informed about new version releases, features, updates, expert articles and POCs by: