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Customizing Entity Icons in Microsoft CRM 2013 and 2015

Post Author: Joe D365 |

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and 2015 can be customized in many ways to best suit your business needs.

When a custom entity is created in CRM, a default icon is applied to the entity. For one entity it is easy to distinguish the icon, but when multiple custom entities exist, it can be difficult for your users to differentiate between them all. You can spruce up the icon on your custom entities to make them more distinguishable. This is an image of a default icon:

Entity Icons

In today's blog, we'll focus on creating custom entity icons. So let's get started!

1. First, you will need to find an image to use as your icon. You can get an image from either the internet (make sure there are no copyright issues) or you can create your own in Microsoft Paint. For best resolution, the image should be equal or greater than 256 x 256 pixels.

The image must be formatted to Microsoft specifications or the upload will fail. Two image sizes are required, 16 x 16 pixels and 32 x 32 pixels. Save the image in .jpg, .gif or .png format and make sure that the file is no bigger than 10 kilobytes. Microsoft Paint is the easiest program to use and is available free to all PC users.

Open the image in Paint and click Resize.

Entity Icons

2. Select the radio button for Pixels, set the Horizontal and Vertical to 16, and uncheck the Maintain Aspect Ratio box. Save the images in an approved format (.png/.gif/.jpg) in an accessible location. Repeat the steps for size 32.

Entity Icons

3. Our next step is to update the image icon for the custom entity. Open the custom entity and select Update Icons.

Entity Icons

4. Click on the magnifying glass to search Icons in Web applications, and click Lookup More Records.

Entity Icons

5. Click New.

Entity Icons

6. Enter a Name, Display name, Type (format of your image), click Browse to upload your image file and Save. Repeat the steps for size 32 and save the file with a unique name.

Entity Icons

7. The newly created Web Resource files will display in the update icon list. Select the image and click Add.

Entity Icons

8. Select both icon images within the Web Resource.

Entity Icons

9. The final step is to publish the entity.

Entity Icons

Bravo! Your custom icons are now set.

Entity Icons

If you are using CRM 2011, please see link below to our 2011 blog, Change an icon in CRM 2011. Want more content like this? Then subscribe to our blog! We have the best blog in the CRM industry, so make sure you don't miss a post!

BONUS CONTENT: Best Practices for Designing Icons in Dynamics CRM

Within Microsoft Dynamics CRM, end users of the application are able to quickly create new entities in the system and they can modify the existing Sitemap with little to no programing experience. One commonly missed item when modifying CRM is to add in a new icon to replace the default icon. Here are some best practices to consider when designing your new icon.

Please note that ever since CRM 2011 UR 12, CRM icons are monochromatic (single color). We follow this principle here and color icons will work, however, in order to follow the current design principles, it is recommended to follow the techniques illustrated below.

Sitemap

  • File Format:
    • PNG (Recommended)
    • GIF
    • JPG
  • The size of the icon should be 85 x 71 pixels
  • The color should be white (#FFFFF)
  • 18% opacity should be applied to the white area of the icon

Entity

When creating icons for CRM entities, two icons, a medium and a small icon, will need to be created.

Medium Icon:

  • File Format:
    • PNG
    • GIF
    • JPG
  • Size of the icon should be 32 x 32 pixels
  • The color should be white (#FFFFF)

Small Icon:

  • File Format:
    • PNG
    • GIF
    • JPG
  • Size of the icon should be 16 x 16 pixels
  • The color should be dark gray (#5D5D5D)

Happy CRM'ing!

Joe CRM
By Joe D365
Joe D365 is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 superhero who runs on pure Dynamics adrenaline. As the face of PowerObjects, Joe D365’s mission is to reveal innovative ways to use Dynamics 365 and bring the application to more businesses and organizations around the world.

One comment on “Customizing Entity Icons in Microsoft CRM 2013 and 2015”

  1. I have a couple of comments to add on the white 32x32 icons that are used on the SiteMap:
    - Microsoft's icons have the outside 1-3 pixels of the 32x32 icons as blank so that they have a boarder in the 2015/16 sitemap (2-3 pixels if it is a squarish image such as the Calendar or Reports, 1 outside of what I refer to as add-in images, such as the cogs in Settings)
    - Although it looks like you can set the icons on the entity (as above) and also have a separate icon in the SiteMap, the entity 32x32 image overrides the SiteMap one. Sadly, this means that the 32x32 image doesnt show up when modifying solutions - it is basically white on white (just under the File menu). ... unless you know differently?

    Do you have a reference for the bonus content icon color guidelines?

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