File Storage Options for Dynamics 365 Portal

Updated: Since the original posting, Microsoft introduced storage in SharePoint from Power Apps Portal. I updated the post to reflect current support.-jt

Microsoft offers Power Apps Portal (formerly Dynamics Portal) as a way for external users to access information in Dynamics 365 (formerly Dynamics CRM). Portals are included in some Dynamics 365 subscriptions, and are used in scenarios such as customer service, employee self-service, online communities, and supplier portals. Dynamics Portal is also applicable for xRM solutions such as grant management, eligibility determination and other forms of case management.

In portal scenarios, you may have a requirement to allow users to submit or view file attachments such as grant or credit applications, presentations, photographs and other files. This blog post introduces some options for where and how these file attachments are stored and accessed.

Microsoft supports three methods for storing file attachments in the Portal. They are as file attachments in the Dynamics entities, SharePoint and Azure Blob Storage.

Store File Attachments in Dynamics

Storing file attachments in the Dynamics Notes entity or other entities is the default option in Dynamics 365, and is familiar to Dynamics 365 users. These files may be accessed through the Dynamics Portal. When files are attached in Dynamics Portal, they look something like this:

Source: https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/crminogic/archive/2017/10/04/attach-documents-from-microsoft-dynamics-365-portal

Azure Blob Storage

Microsoft recently introduced support for Azure Blob Storage in Dynamics Portal. You can choose Azure storage in Dynamics Portal when you configure the page to which the files are associated, such as web forms and entity forms. Here are step-by-step instructions for enabling Azure storage in the portal. You can also configure Dynamics 365 forms to use Azure storage:

Note that the paper-clip icon has been replaced with a cloud icon which denotes that this file is stored in Azure Storage. You can continue to store attachments in Dynamics 365 which will be indicated with the paperclip icon.

SharePoint File Storage

Microsoft supports SharePoint storage for attachments in Power Apps Portal.

Microsoft also supports SharePoint storage of Dynamics 365 for users of the application as well as the portal. The Microsoft SharePoint integration for file attachments creates folders which correspond to the associated entities in Dynamics.

Tradeoffs

With all these choices, what are the factors that will drive your decision? Here are some considerations and tradeoffs:

	Dynamics Notes Attachments	Azure Blob Storage	SharePoint
Supported by Microsoft	Yes	Yes	Yes
Files Stored in Dataverse	Yes	No	No
Performance		Highest
Storage cost	Higher	Lowest	Depends on SharePoint cost
Full Text File Search	Not supported but metadata searchable	Requires additional service	Included

If you store documents in Azure Blob Storage or SharePoint, these repositories are managed independently. They are not backed up or migrated inside the Power Apps solution itself. This offers an advantage of you want to access the files outside the context of Power Apps.

The cost and performance tradeoffs are most relevant for customers with large volumes of file attachments.

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