- Feature
- Recently used values in lookups
- Availability
- Generally available (October 2026)
- Industry focus
- Foodservice and catering wholesale
Foodservice wholesalers supply restaurants, pubs, cafés, schools and care homes, often with the same customers ordering the same products several times a week. Order desk staff take orders by phone and email under constant time pressure, especially before the evening cut-off. Every second spent searching for a customer or item matters. Business Central 29.0 brings recently used records to the top of lookups.
The industry challenge
On a busy order desk, staff repeatedly:
- Look up the same customers who order daily
- Select the same items, such as chips, cooking oil, milk and cleaning products
- Choose the same delivery routes, ship-to addresses and units of measure
In a catalogue of thousands of items and hundreds of customers, lookups often mean typing part of a name, scrolling and checking the right variant. That's slow, and it's where mistakes happen: the wrong pack size, the wrong branch of a restaurant chain, or a similarly named product.
What Microsoft delivered in Business Central 29.0
According to Microsoft, Business Central now highlights recently used records directly in lookup dialogs. When users open a lookup, the system shows records they have recently accessed or worked with, so they can pick the right value without searching.
An MVP walk-through describes a new Recent button in the lookup window that shows recently searched and accessed records instantly. If there's no recent activity, the view stays empty.
Where the value shows up
| Business area | Impact for a foodservice wholesaler |
|---|---|
| Order entry speed | Regular customers and items selected in a click |
| Accuracy | Fewer wrong items or ship-to addresses picked |
| Cut-off performance | More orders entered before the evening deadline |
| Staff experience | Less repetitive searching on busy shifts |
| Training | New staff quickly see the most common choices |
In foodservice, mistakes are expensive. A wrong item means a chef without ingredients at service time and a costly redelivery. Making the right choice the easiest choice protects both the customer and the margin.
A worked scenario
Consider a foodservice wholesaler delivering to 1,200 catering customers across a region (an illustrative example). Between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., the order desk takes most of the next day's orders by phone.
An order taker answers a call from a regular pub customer. She opens the customer lookup, selects Recent, and the pub is right there with the correct delivery address. As the chef reads out his usual items, frozen chips, rapeseed oil and lemons, she picks them from the recent list in the item lookup instead of searching each one. The order is entered in half the time, with the right pack sizes.
Adoption considerations
- Show the Recent button. A short demonstration helps staff adopt it quickly.
- Keep master data clean. Clear names for customers and items make recent lists easier to read.
- Combine with other tools. Recurring sales lines and standard orders still help for fixed repeat orders.
- Remember it's personal. Recent lists reflect each user's own activity.
- Measure order entry time. Compare calls handled per hour before and after.
The bottom line
For foodservice wholesalers, the order desk is where revenue is won or lost each afternoon. Recently used values in lookups in Business Central 29.0 make repeat order entry faster and more accurate. It's a small interface change with a direct effect on service quality and cut-off performance.
If order entry speed or accuracy is a challenge, it's worth reviewing your order desk processes with an experienced Business Central adviser.
Sources: Microsoft roadmap 573368 · Dynamics 365 Lab: Show recently used in lookups