Overview of the Clever Essentials Apps: Clever Document Links

This article is part of the Overview of the Clever Essentials Apps and of the larger Overview of the Clever Dynamics Apps series, where I am taking an initial look at the extensions created by Clever Dynamics for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Clever Document Links is a document management app for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central that links external files to Business Central records, storing those files in SharePoint, Azure Blob Storage or Azure File Storage rather than in the Business Central database itself. Where Business Central’s standard attachments store files in the database, which can affect performance and storage costs at scale, Clever Document Links keeps the files in a properly managed external document store while maintaining a live link from the Business Central record. Users access linked documents directly from a FactBox on the relevant Business Central page, with no need to navigate to SharePoint or a file share separately. It is part of the Clever Essentials suite and integrates with Clever Quality for quality document management.

Setup involves connecting Business Central to a document repository (SharePoint Online, Azure Blob Storage or Azure File Storage) using Microsoft Entra (formerly Azure Active Directory) authentication. Assisted setup wizards are provided for each repository type, walking through the connection configuration step by step. Once connected, the File Drop FactBox appears on supported Business Central pages — item cards, customer cards, sales and purchase documents, production orders and more — allowing users to drag and drop files directly onto the record or click to upload. Document attributes allow metadata to be recorded against linked documents, such as document type, version or expiry date. Linked documents can be viewed, downloaded or deleted from the FactBox without leaving Business Central. The linked documents list provides a cross-record view of all documents linked in the system.

Clever Document Links also supports OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing for inbound documents. PDFs dropped into a configured inbox location can be scanned for barcode or text content and automatically matched to the relevant Business Central record; for example, matching a scanned delivery note to a purchase order by reading the PO number from the document. Search fields define which fields are used for the matching logic, and Copilot integration allows users to search for linked documents using natural language. Existing Business Central standard attachments can be migrated into the Document Links framework using the migration tool, and the app also supports migration from database storage to SharePoint for businesses that previously used an older version of the app. A supported pages list in the documentation shows which Business Central pages currently have Document Links support.

Clever Document Links is relevant to any Business Central user who regularly needs to associate external documents with Business Central records (signed delivery notes against purchase receipts, product specification sheets against items, customer contracts against customer cards, quality certificates against lots, drawings against production orders). The scale at which this becomes worthwhile varies by business, but any organisation handling more than a handful of document-to-record associations each week will benefit from having this managed systematically within Business Central rather than relying on file naming conventions, shared drives or email threads to maintain the connection between a document and the record it relates to.

Full documentation is at docs.cleverdynamics.com.