Business Central how-to: Configure field captions to better reflect your business terminology

When we’re implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, one question comes up a lot: “Can you change the name of that field?” This is usually because the terminology does not match the customer’s business. Vendors can be suppliers; inventory can be stock... 

At first glance, changing the field name feels like a quick win. It can make the transition from a previous system smoother and reduce training friction. 

However, officially changing a field name is not standard user personalisation. It requires an extension and while it is easy to request, it is not as easy to maintain. This is where field caption configuration – a simpler alternative – comes in. 

Field captions can be configured to give you what you need while avoiding the added complication of renaming. This example is based on the County field, which may also be referred to as State, Region or Province, on the customer card. 

Based on the customer’s Country/Region, the County field can display a different caption. 

When US is selected on the customer card, the field displays State. 

Not only that, but the Address Format feature allows you to control whether the field is displayed at all. 

Customer cards with the Country/Region set to CA or ES will no longer display the County field. 

If none of the standard Address Formats meet the requirement, you can use the Custom option. This allows you to move fields up or down to achieve the correct order. 

By selecting Field ID 0, you can also adjust the order of City, County and Postcode, or remove them entirely. This gives users the flexibility to match the correct format for each country. 

Expanding this approach into more areas of Business Central would give users greater control to align terminology with their business, while reducing reliance on extensions. 

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