- Feature
- Design document reports with updated Word add-in
- Availability
- Generally available (October 2026)
- Industry focus
- Builders' merchants and building materials distributors
Builders' merchants deliver to building sites every day. Their delivery notes need clear addresses, site references, a list of goods and space for the site manager to sign. Their invoices need clear totals and VAT. Designing these documents has often meant paying a developer to edit report layouts. Business Central 29.0 gives non-developers ready-made building blocks.
The industry challenge
A builders' merchant's documents have particular needs:
- Delivery notes with ship-to site addresses, order references and a signature line for proof of delivery
- Invoices with customer account details, job references and VAT summaries
- Collection notes for trade counter pick-ups
Many merchants still use older RDLC layouts, which are hard to change without a developer. Even with Word layouts, building a well-arranged address block, a grid of reference fields or a totals section took time and skill. As a result, documents often stayed unchanged for years, even when the business needed something better.
What Microsoft delivered in Business Central 29.0
According to Microsoft, the updated Word add-in includes design components for common document report parts:
- Addresses
- Field groups
- Amounts
- Signature lines
- Notes
An MVP walk-through describes the options. Address blocks can show sender and recipient side by side, the recipient only, or addresses plus document fields. Field groups come as a grid of up to ten fields or one or two stacked columns. Amounts can be a full calculation table or totals rows, including a version with extra rows for details such as a VAT breakdown. Signature lines provide space for one or two handwritten signatures with a name and date. This is layout only, not digital signing. Notes add printed free-text lines.
The walk-through's author suggests these components make Word layouts much faster to build than RDLC.
Where the value shows up
| Business area | Impact for a builders' merchant |
|---|---|
| Proof of delivery | Signature lines on delivery notes, ready in a click |
| Document clarity | Clean address blocks and reference grids for site deliveries |
| Cost | Less developer time spent on layout changes |
| Speed of change | Documents updated when the business needs it |
| Customer experience | Professional documents that match how trade customers work |
The signature line is a small detail with a direct operational benefit. Disputed deliveries are a constant issue in building supplies, and a clear proof-of-delivery block on every note helps settle them quickly.
A worked scenario
Consider a regional builders' merchant with six branches (an illustrative example). Its delivery notes are an old RDLC layout without space for a signature, so drivers carry separate proof-of-delivery forms.
Using the Word add-in, the operations manager and an administrator build a new delivery note. They insert a recipient-only address block for the site, a single stacked field group for order number, job reference and delivery date, and a two-signature block for the driver and the site manager. They add a notes area for site access instructions. The new layout goes live in a week, and drivers no longer need separate forms.
Adoption considerations
- Start with your most-used documents. Delivery notes and invoices usually give the most benefit.
- Remember signatures are printed only. Signature lines don't provide digital signing. Keep your proof-of-delivery process in mind.
- Move key layouts to Word. The design components work in Word layouts, not RDLC.
- Combine with themes. Use body layouts with report themes for consistent branding.
- Test on real paper. Check that printed notes and signature areas work in drivers' hands.
The bottom line
Builders' merchants need practical documents that work on site, at the counter and in the accounts office. The design components in the Business Central 29.0 Word add-in make it much easier to build those documents without a specialist. The result is better delivery notes, clearer invoices and fewer delivery disputes.
If your documents haven't changed in years, it's worth reviewing them with an experienced Business Central adviser and the updated Word add-in.
Sources: Microsoft roadmap 573328 · Dynamics 365 Lab: Design document reports with the updated Word add-in