Renaming of customer numbers in bulk in Business Central

One of the most common real-world challenges faced by Business Central consultants and developers is the need to rename customer numbers in bulk — especially after a company migrates from a legacy ERP system, standardises its customer numbering format, or restructures its accounts. In standard Business Central, renaming a single customer number is possible through the Customer Card, but there is no built-in mechanism to rename hundreds or thousands of customer numbers in one operation.

Attempting to do this manually is time-consuming, error-prone, and simply not practical in production environments. In this article, we will walk through a complete end-to-end implementation for bulk renaming customer numbers in Business Central.

Step :- 1. Create a buffer table with following details –

table 50100 "Rename Customer Buffer"
{
    DataClassification = ToBeClassified;

    fields
    {
        field(1; "Old Customer No."; Code[20])
        {
            DataClassification = ToBeClassified;
        }
        field(2; "New Customer No."; Code[20])
        {
            DataClassification = ToBeClassified;
        }
    }

    keys
    {
        key(Key1; "Old Customer No.")
        {
            Clustered = true;
        }
    }
}

Step 2 :- Create a List page for showing old and new customer numbers  –

page 50101 "Rename Customer Buffer"
{
    PageType = List;
    ApplicationArea = All;
    UsageCategory = Lists;
    SourceTable = "Rename Customer Buffer";

    layout
    {
        area(Content)
        {
            repeater(GroupName)
            {
                field("Old Customer No."; Rec."Old Customer No.")
                {
                    ApplicationArea = all;
                }
                field("New Customer No."; Rec."New Customer No.")
                {
                    ApplicationArea = all;
                }
            }
        }
    }

Step 3 :- Now for mapping entry data of old and new customers we will prepare a excel uploader for template use with action button –

action("Export Excel")
            {
                Caption = 'Download Rename Customers Format';
                ApplicationArea = All;
                Image = Export;
                ToolTip = 'Export the Customers Rename excel format.';

                trigger OnAction()
                var
                    RenameCustBuffer: Record "Rename Customer Buffer";
                begin
                    ExportExcelFormat(RenameCustBuffer);
                end;
            }

local procedure ExportExcelFormat(Var RenameCustBuffer: Record "Rename Customer Buffer")
    var
        TempExcelBufferLRec: Record "Excel Buffer" temporary;
        ExcelFileNameLbl: Label 'Rename Customers Format';
        TagDetailsLbl: Label 'RenameCustomers';
    begin
        TempExcelBufferLRec.Reset();
        TempExcelBufferLRec.DeleteAll();
        TempExcelBufferLRec.NewRow();
        TempExcelBufferLRec.AddColumn(RenameCustBuffer.FieldCaption("Old Customer No."), false, '', true, false, false, '', TempExcelBufferLRec."Cell Type"::Text);
        TempExcelBufferLRec.AddColumn(RenameCustBuffer.FieldCaption("New Customer No."), false, '', true, false, false, '', TempExcelBufferLRec."Cell Type"::Text);
        TempExcelBufferLRec.CreateNewBook(TagDetailsLbl);
        TempExcelBufferLRec.WriteSheet(TagDetailsLbl, CompanyName, UserId);
        TempExcelBufferLRec.CloseBook();
        TempExcelBufferLRec.SetFriendlyFilename(StrSubstNo(ExcelFileNameLbl, CurrentDateTime, UserId));
        TempExcelBufferLRec.OpenExcel();
    end;

Step 4 – Now we will import excel sheet (exported in steps 3 after data filled) and upload it by action button for renaming all customers –

action("Rename Multiple Customers")
            {

                trigger OnAction()
                var
                    RenameCustBuffer: Record "Rename Customer Buffer";
                    Customer: Record Customer;
                begin
                    ReadExcelSheet();
                    ImportExcelData();
                    RenameCustBuffer.Reset();
                    if RenameCustBuffer.FindSet() then
                        repeat
                            if Customer.Get(RenameCustBuffer."Old Customer No.") then begin
                                Customer.Rename(RenameCustBuffer."New Customer No.");
                            end;
                        Until RenameCustBuffer.Next() = 0;
                    Message('Customers Renaming Successfull.');
                end;
            }

local procedure ReadExcelSheet()
    var
        FileManagement: Codeunit "File Management";
        Istream: InStream;
        FromFile: Text[100];
    begin
        UploadIntoStream(UploadMsg, '', '', FromFile, Istream);
        if FromFile <> '' then begin
            FileName := FileManagement.GetFileName(FromFile);
            SheetName := TempExcelBuffer.SelectSheetsNameStream(Istream);
        end
        else
            Error(NoFileMsg);
        TempExcelBuffer.Reset();
        TempExcelBuffer.DeleteAll();
        TempExcelBuffer.OpenBookStream(Istream, SheetName);
        TempExcelBuffer.ReadSheet();
    end;

 local procedure ImportExcelData()
    var
        RenameCustomerNoBuffer: Record "Rename Customer Buffer";
        RowNo: Integer;
        ColNo: Integer;
        LineNo: Integer;
        MaxRow: Integer;
    begin
        RowNo := 0;
        ColNo := 0;
        MaxRow := 0;
        LineNo := 0;
        ExcelRecCount := 0;
        TempExcelBuffer.Reset();9
        if TempExcelBuffer.FindLast() then begin
            MaxRow := TempExcelBuffer."Row No.";
        end;
        RenameCustomerNoBuffer.DeleteAll(); // Deletes all existing records in buffer table.
        for RowNo := 2 to MaxRow do begin
            RenameCustomerNoBuffer.Init();
            Evaluate(RenameCustomerNoBuffer."Old Customer No.", GetValueAtCell1(RowNo, 1));
            Evaluate(RenameCustomerNoBuffer."New Customer No.", GetValueAtCell1(RowNo, 2));
            RenameCustomerNoBuffer.Insert();
        end;
        ExcelRecCount := MaxRow - 1;
    end;

 local procedure GetValueAtCell1(RowNo: Integer; ColNo: Integer): Text
    begin
        TempExcelBuffer.Reset(); 
        if TempExcelBuffer.Get(RowNo, ColNo) then
            exit(TempExcelBuffer."Cell Value as Text")
        else
            exit('');
    end;



    var
        TempExcelBuffer: Record "Excel Buffer" temporary;
        UploadMsg: Label 'Please choose the excel file!';
        NoFileMsg: label 'No Excel file found';
        ExcelImportLbl: Label 'Excel Imported & Renamed Customer Nos Successfully.';
        ExcelImportSuccess: Label 'Excel Imported successfully';
        FileName: Text[100];
        SheetName: Text[100];
        ExcelRecCount: Integer;

In this article, we built a complete bulk customer rename solution for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central using AL objects. This solution handles the complexity of BC’s referential integrity automatically through the `Rename()` function, provides validation before execution, gives users a clean interface

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