Introduction
I recently found myself in a situation, where I was unable to use my preferred web browser, i.e. Chrome and I needed to use Edge instead. (I was working on an assignment using customer’s laptop and access to D365 via Chrome was blocked by the company’s policies.)
As a result, I had to opt-in for using Edge instead. That required me to go on a mission to find out if I can get any of my favourite Chrome extensions, which are actually called “add-ons”.
So while the well-known proverb says that “necessity is the mother of invention”, in my scenario, it was more the “necessity is the mother of inspiration…”. The blog inspiration, that is.
Luckily for me, most of the Chrome extensions are also available as Edge Add-Ons. However, not all of them! Also, during my mission, I have discovered some new ones and I would like to share them with you.
Key Dev Tools
Centro 365
This is a newly discovered tool for me, and you can have it on both, Chrome and Edge. It’s like a sidebar with bookmarks, but with a much nicer look & feel.
Centro 365 will help you to administer Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 and you can choose your default section – mine is Power Platform.
With the use of this add-on you can easily navigate to all the admin centre without a need to create your own bookmarks. Additionally, you can add up to 10 of your URL addresses and keep all of it together.
Level up for Dynamics 365/Power Apps
This is definitely a “must to have” for me, and the number of over 60,000 users of this add-on indicates it too. The add-on helps Dynamics 365/Power Apps users to perform advanced actions, that normally require bookmarks.
Source code and help for this extension can be found in
D365 SidePanel Dev Tools
As the name suggests, D365 SidePanel Dev Tools can be docked as a side panel. It is used to assist developers and testers by providing tools to retrieve and display data without navigating into solutions and advanced parameters. It has similar features to the other tools, but with some extras e.g. Plugin Trace Logs Explorer.
For more details visit: https://github.com/Chisyeuf/d365-sidepanel-dev-tools
GotDibbs Toolbox for Dynamics 365/CRM
This add-on is a developer tool and it’s similar to e.g. Level Up. It helps you to quickly to display the key information and navigate to the key component. I like it as it opens the classic Advanced Find in a new tab and additionally has links to solution history and environment variables.
It also works with a keyboard shortcut to open it: Alt + Shift + G.
Dynamics 365 Helper
Dynamics 365 Helper add-on is only available on Edge and I didn’t find it as a Chrome extension. It offers similar tools to Level Up like: user information, entity information, show field logical name, show hidden fields, enable fields and disable fields required.
Additionally has a unique feature to change themes. At the moment is only pink and blue, but that’s promising for those who like to add a splash of colour to their daily tools!
Power DevBox Shortcut
This add-on is great in it’s simplicity and it can save you time for creating shortcuts to all of the Power Platform environments. Power DevBox Shortcut creates a list of all your environments and shortcut buttons to the environment in Power Automate, Power Apps, Admin Centre and also Dynamics URL and Advanced Find.
Power DevBox Share
Power DevBox Share add-on can be used to share solutions and their contents with other developers. It can be also used to re-assign ownership. It currently supports: connection references, environment variables, flows and custom connectors. As of now, it does not seem to support user or team lookup, so you need to manually copy and paste the emails and names. However, the add-on author is planning to further develop the tool, so fingers crossed that is feature is on the horizon as well.
Power Apps Studio Tools
This add-on features great tools for Power Apps Studio to enhance the developer experience and productivity. It provides the ability to re-skin the Power Apps Studio formula bar in dark mode. It also allows you to test your app looks in greyscale to check for potential accessibility issues.
Clear Portal Cache
If you are building Power Pages, this one is a must! Instead of using the “/_services/about”, then using the "Clear cache" button, you can easily clear the portal cache with a single click.
D365: Dynamics 365 & Power Platform updates
This add-on will let you get the latest updates from D365Hub blog from various Blogs, YouTube channels, and Podcasts. It allows you to set your preferences across Azure, D365, Microsoft 365 and Power Platform.
Power Automate
Power Automate Flow Clipboard
I only just discovered this add-on, but I love it already! It allows you to save and reuse the flow steps over and over again in different flows. It will export the actions to your device, which you can then send to others who can import them. Over time, it will help you to save lots of time if you are regularly re-using the same steps and building similar flows. Also, this is another add-on that can be opened within the sidebar in Edge.
Just make sure you read the 4 step instructions on how to use it!
AutoReview for Power Automate
Use this add-on for code review and scoring of the Power Automate flows. It features option to export variables, actions, and connections and to create flow diagrams. It can also be used to compare 2 flows to show changes between them.
Power Automate Tools
This handy add-on allows you to edit a Power Automate flow definition as JSON. The developer’s motivation for creating it was to help with repetitive tasks in the flows like replacing a SharePoint site's URL or changing the variable name. It also features workflow definition JSON schema validation, rich text manipulation and potentially there will be more features coming out in the future.
Testing
D365-UI-Test-Designer
D365-UI-Test-Designer provides a user interface for creating, exporting and importing test suites.
In addition to this, the add-on can be used create a fully functioning D365-UI-Test UI Test script, which you can use for executing directly in D365-UI-Test.
Source code can be found here: https://github.com/XRM-OSS/D365-UI-Test
Fake Filler
When testing complex forms with multiple mandatory fields, I always opt it for a little help to fill my data for me. One of the key tools I use for Chrome is the Fake Filler it is also available as an Edge add-on. It speeds up process of testing by automatically filling all form inputs in a page with fake/dummy data. It randomly selects radio buttons, dropdown menus and checkboxes. It also ignores CAPTCHA, hidden, disabled and read-only fields while supporting the max length property. There are some alternatives to it, but I really like this one.
Dataverse
Dataverse REST Builder
If you have not used this add-one, but the name rings a bell, you probably have seen it or used via the XrmToolBox. Guido Preite, who created the tool, has also created it as a Edge add-on and Chrome extension. If you have not used it in either of the versions yet, you can to
create and execute requests against the Dataverse Web API endpoint. Additionally, you can also export the collection in different formats to use with Postman or Thunder Client (VS Code).
Metadata Browser for Dataverse
The Metadata Browser for Dataverse is a helper tool to browse metadata of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 & Power Apps. Supported by both Chrome and Edge, this tool uses Web API for browsing entities, attributes, relationships & option sets. The tool can be easily used by consultants, testers, and developers for retrieving meta-information from Dataverse in no time.
It allows you to select a table and then explore on the different attributes of that table. Additionally, you can download the information in the CSV format.
Other
Dark Reader
Till now, I was actually in the dark (!) that something like this exists! Long hours in front of bright screen can be very tiring. However, this eye-care extension enables night mode creating dark themes for websites on the fly, including Power Platform! The add-on inverts bright colours making them high-contrast and you can adjust brightness, contrast, sepia filter and more.
It is fully open-source: https://github.com/darkreader/darkreader
Scribe: AI Documentation, SOPs & Screenshots
The Scribe Edge add-on turns any process into a step-by-step guide, complete with text, links and annotated screenshots. I use it when I need to produce some custom training materials or provide users with guidance steps on how to perform a certain task.
It can be opened within the sidebar of Microsoft Edge. Opening it in the sidebar allows you to browse and access your extension in a side-by-side view. The free version helps you to generate steps in the web browser. For more advanced functionality, there is also a paid version of it.
TabColor color picker
Whether you are a developer, consultant or designer, sometimes you will need to check colours from your customer’s webpage or extract a website's colour palette.
There are a few tools that can help you with this task. Although the ones I tend to use on Chrome are not available on Edge, I find a good alternative! TabColor Color Picker is described by its’ developer as an ultimate colour extraction tool.
The tool features an eyedropper and generates colours in RGB, HEX, and HSV standards. With just one click, you can also copy chosen colour to the clipboard.
Conclusion
The above Edge add-ons are great and can help out while working on Power Platform projects. There is no need to use them all, especially if they offer similar features. The best way forward is to test them and find your favourite ones. Also, most of these Edge add-ons are available as Chrome extensions. However, there are some of the Chrome extensions that I was not able to find as an Edge add-on. These are:
Dynamics 365 Power Pane,
Toolshed for Power Platform,
Plugin Code Generator D365,
PrettifyMyWebApi for Microsoft Dataverse.
What about your preferred web browser – is it Chrome or Edge? Or are you using something else? Like Safari with your iDevice?