---
id: topic/business-central/get-started/get-productive-in-business-central/change-the-look-of-externally-facing-doc/use-obsolete-features
type: topic
title: Use obsolete features
summary: "Obsolete features for externally facing document layouts in Business Central: creating, modifying, importing, exporting, assigning and updating custom RDLC and Word report layouts. It answers questions about how the older custom layout approach worked and how to manage layouts with it."
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  - Get productive in Business Central
  - Change the look of externally facing documents
  - Use obsolete features
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---

# Use obsolete features

> Obsolete features for externally facing document layouts in Business Central: creating, modifying, importing, exporting, assigning and updating custom RDLC and Word report layouts. It answers questions about how the older custom layout approach worked and how to manage layouts with it.

Path: [Get started](../../../get-started.md) > [Get productive in Business Central](../../get-productive-in-business-central.md) > [Change the look of externally facing documents](../change-the-look-of-externally-facing-doc.md) > Use obsolete features · tier official · system platform · narrative reviewed (checked by Opus)

## Overview

This section holds four pages marked obsolete. They describe the older way of changing how reports and documents look, using custom report layouts in RDLC or Word format.

The pages follow the life of a custom layout. One covers creating and modifying layouts, including copying and changing built-in layouts. Another covers exporting layouts to files and importing them back, which allows sharing and editing outside the product. A third explains how to set which layout a report uses, choosing between built-in RDLC, Word or a custom layout. The last covers updating custom layouts when the report dataset changes, and testing those updates first.

Start with the page on creating and modifying custom layouts for the basic concepts. Then use the other pages for the specific task. Because all four are marked obsolete, check whether a newer approach applies before relying on them for new work.

## Key points

- All four pages are marked (Obsolete) in the Learn table of contents.
- Custom report layouts can be built in RDLC or Word formats.
- Layouts can be copied, and built-in layouts can be modified through this approach.
- Layouts can be exported to files and imported from files, for RDLC and Word, which supports sharing and editing.
- A report or document can be switched between built-in RDLC, Word or a custom layout; one page notes document report performance.
- Custom layouts can be updated automatically when the report dataset changes.
- Updates can be tested before applying, to detect and report errors, including cases where fields were removed.
- Manual layout editing is an option when automatic updates do not resolve issues.

## Learn pages

- [(Obsolete) Create and modify custom report layouts](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/ui-how-create-custom-report-layout): Learn how to create customized layouts to personalize the appearance of a report when viewed, printed, or saved.
- [(Obsolete) Import and Export Custom Report Layouts](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/ui-how-import-and-export-report-layout): You can import and export an existing custom report layout as a file to and from a location on your computer and network.
- [(Obsolete) Set the Layout Used by a Report](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/ui-how-change-layout-currently-used-report): You can use different layouts for a report, and switch between layouts to change how a report looks.
- [(Obsolete) Update Custom Report Layouts](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/ui-update-report-layouts): Learn how to update a custom report layout used on a report when there are design changes to the report's data set, for example.

## Business Central pages and reports

The pages, reports and queries this hub's Learn pages name (ms.search.form, API reference), joined to the code by exact object id (data/index/docs-objects.json); a page shows the table it runs on.

- [Page 9650 "Custom Report Layouts"](../../../../../objects/page/9650.md) · on [Table 9650 "Custom Report Layout"](../../../../../objects/table/9650.md)
- [Page 9652 "Report Layout Selection"](../../../../../objects/page/9652.md) · on [Table 9651 "Report Layout Selection"](../../../../../objects/table/9651.md)

Source: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0). Descriptions are Learn's own.