Business Central 29 Word Layouts Add Shared Company Information Dataitem

The feature is called "Reduce complexity of report datasets," and it sits under reporting and data analysis on Microsoft's AI at Work roadmap. It's a small change, but it fixes a real annoyance.

What Microsoft announced​

According to Microsoft, Word layouts now include a company information dataitem that is shared across all report datasets. The company says this reduces the work needed for a report developer and standardizes how company information is used across report layouts.

The same wording appears in Microsoft Learn's notes for the Business Central 2026 release wave 2 (update 29.0) preview. That's a second Microsoft source confirming the roadmap entry.

Roadmap record 573321 lists:

• Product: Dynamics 365 Business Central
• Status: Launched
• Release ring: General Availability
• Cloud instance: Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant)
• Platform: Web
• General availability: October 2026

Microsoft Learn says the 29.0 public preview runs until general availability in the first week of October 2026. Preview features applied only to online sandbox environments, not production or on-premises. Microsoft says it will add on-premises details when version 29.0 ships, so don't assume anything about on-premises timing yet.

Section summary: This is a Word-layout feature in Business Central 29.0. It's listed as launched for worldwide multi-tenant cloud tenants, with general availability in October 2026.

What it looks like in practice​

Microsoft's note doesn't name the new dataitem or list its fields. Business Central MVP Yun Zhu filled part of that gap by testing it on his blog. He reports that a CompanyMetadata dataitem is included under BCReportInformation, which contains the details from Company Information, even though he never defined it in his report.

He also built a completely empty layout for one of Microsoft's standard reports and found that it also includes CompanyMetadata. In other words, the dataitem showed up in both a custom report and a built-in one.

Two caveats:

• These names come from one developer's hands-on testing, not from Microsoft's documentation.
• His test was most likely run on a preview build, and preview details can change before general availability.

Still, it gives developers something concrete to look for. The new data should appear as CompanyMetadata under BCReportInformation in the XML schema.

How this differs from the BC26 metadata​

Business Central already had something similar, which is easy to confuse with the new feature. Starting with 2025 release wave 1 (BC26), metadata is available in the XML Mapping pane as columns in two system dataitems: ReportMetadata and ReportRequest. Microsoft's documentation says these two dataitems aren't part of the report dataset but are only present in the Word layout XML.

ReportRequest already covers some company basics. It includes CompanyName, CompanyDisplayName and the company ID (GUID), plus the user, timestamp, language and format region. Microsoft also notes that using metadata columns from system data items lets you skip adding common fields to the report dataset, such as company name and user name.

So what's new? ReportRequest describes the request: which company the user was working in when they ran the report. A document such as an invoice needs more than that. It needs the full company record from Company Information: address lines, contact details and registration data. Microsoft's own Word-layout documentation uses a field called CompanyAddr1 as its example of a content control. That's exactly the kind of field developers have been adding to dataset after dataset.

Microsoft hasn't explained how the new dataitem relates to ReportRequest or whether their fields overlap. Treat them as separate features until Microsoft documents the schema.

Section summary: BC26 gave Word layouts information about the report request. BC29 appears to add the actual Company Information record, which is what most document headers need.

Why report developers should care​

A Business Central dataset is built in AL by the developer, and layout designers then pick from whatever fields the developer exposed. As Microsoft puts it, when you create a new report, there are two main tasks to consider. First, you define the report dataset of data items and columns. Then, you design the report layout.

That split has caused a familiar problem. Say a customer's sales invoice layout shows the company address but their purchase order layout doesn't, because nobody added those columns to that report. Someone files a ticket, a developer edits AL, and a deployment follows, all to show an address the system already knows.

With a shared dataitem, that information is available in every Word layout by default. The likely benefits:

• Smaller datasets. Developers can stop adding the same company columns to every report.
• Consistent naming. Every layout uses the same element names for company data, so a layout designer's skills carry over from report to report.
• More self-service. If the data is already in the schema, a layout designer may be able to add a company field without asking a developer.

This is a maintenance and consistency improvement, nothing more. Microsoft doesn't claim faster rendering, changes to report permissions, or a new report engine. Report-specific logic still belongs in AL. Word layouts still can't do calculations, so totals and formatting must still be handled in the dataset.

What Microsoft hasn't said​

Microsoft's one-paragraph description leaves several questions open:

• Layout types: The note mentions Word layouts only. It says nothing about Excel or RDL layouts.
• Field list: Microsoft hasn't published the dataitem's fields, though Yun Zhu says it carries the Company Information details.
• Existing layouts: There's no statement that custom layouts update themselves or that rendered output changes. Since new elements show up in the schema, existing content controls probably keep working, but that's an assumption to test.
• Duplicate fields: There's no guidance on removing company columns your old datasets already include.
• Images: There's no confirmation on whether the company logo is included, a common need for document headers.

Checking it in your tenant​

Microsoft hasn't published an adoption procedure, but the existing Word-layout tools are enough to check the feature yourself. The steps below are a sensible approach based on documented features, not official guidance for this release.

1. Get a layout with the current schema. From Business Central 2024 release wave 2 onward, select a report on the Report layouts page and choose Update and Export Layout. This downloads a layout refreshed with the latest dataset definition. You can also use New with Create a Blank Layout from the report object turned on, then export it.
2. Open the XML Mapping pane in Word. Turn on the Developer tab if it's hidden, select XML Mapping Pane, and choose the Business Central custom XML part. It's usually last in the list and named urn:microsoft-dynamics-nav/reports/<report_name>/<ID>.
3. Look for the new dataitem. Based on Yun Zhu's testing, look for CompanyMetadata under BCReportInformation. If it isn't there, the environment may not be on 29.0 yet.
4. Map a field. In the XML Mapping pane, right-click the control that you want to add, choose Insert Content Control, and then choose Plain Text. Remember that you can't add a field by manually typing the dataset field name in the content control. You must use the XML Mapping pane to map the fields.
5. Import and test. Save the file, import it with New or Replace Layout, then run the report from more than one company. Check that each output shows the right company's details.
6. Check the data separately. On the report's request page, use Send to > Microsoft Excel Document (data only) to export the raw dataset without a layout. Then compare old and new layouts before swapping production document templates.

If you tested on a 29.0 preview sandbox, note that Microsoft deletes those sandboxes 30 days after general availability, in early November 2026. Preview sandboxes can't be updated to a different version, so do your final checks on a normal environment.

The bigger picture in 2026 release wave 2​

This feature is part of a larger push on Word layouts in the same release. Microsoft's 29.0 notes also list:

• Report themes and reusable header/footer layouts through a new composable layouts feature
• A lifecycle status for all layout types
• An updated Word add-in with new design components, including conditional visibility through a HideIf control

Together, these suggest Microsoft wants Word layouts to be easy to maintain and partly self-service. A shared company dataitem fits that goal, because a reusable header layout works much better when company data is always in the same place.

Bottom line: This won't change how anyone feels about ERP. It does remove a chore Business Central developers have repeated for years. Once your tenant is on 29.0, export a fresh layout, look for CompanyMetadata, and work out which company columns in your custom datasets you no longer need.