Thursday, 10 September 2026

Managing Apps in the Business Central Admin Center

A BC environment is really a stack of apps: Base Application, Microsoft first-party apps, ISV apps, and your own per-tenant extensions (PTEs). The Manage Apps page in the admin center is where you keep all of that under control. Here's what it actually lets you do.



Getting there

Environments > select the environment > Apps. Use the dropdown to switch between Global, Per-Tenant Extension, and Dev Extension apps. Click an app name to open App Details for the actions on that specific app.

What you can do, by app type

App type

View

Upload

Install

Update

Uninstall

Global (marketplace)

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Per-Tenant Extension

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Dev Extension

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

The one to remember: you can't install a new global app from here, only update or uninstall one already on the environment. New global apps come from marketplace.microsoft.com (the site Microsoft used to call AppSource).

Per-tenant extensions

Choose Install Extension from Manage Apps or App Details:

1.      Select the .app file: BC figures out if it's new or an update.

2.      Pick a Deployment schedule (immediately, next update window, or next minor/major update: new PTEs only get the first two).

3.      Pick a Sync Mode. (Add or Force Sync)

4.      Confirm, and track progress on the Operations page.



A few rules to keep in mind:

  • Don't mix this with Extension Management in the client. Scheduled installs from one won't show in the other until they finish.
  • Extension Management is being phased out as an upload surface. Move PTE deployment to the admin center or the Admin Center API now, since Microsoft has said the client-side upload option is expected to go away in 2027 release wave 1.
  • You can queue different versions of the same PTE against different schedules, but not two versions against the same schedule.

Uninstalling an app

Test uninstalls in a sandbox copy of production first. You'll find the Uninstall action on Manage Apps or App Details; apps like Base Application that can't be removed show N/A.



Two things to watch:

  • You can choose to delete the app's data too. If you do, your only way back is a point-in-time restore (28 days), so export the database first if you need a longer safety net.
  • Dependent apps get uninstalled too, and BC will list them for you to confirm.




Quick checklist

  • Review Manage Apps on a schedule, not just when something breaks
  • Use the update window instead of pushing updates mid-day
  • Set Apps Update Cadence on purpose
  • Move PTE deployment off Extension Management now
  • Rehearse uninstalls in sandbox, and export data before any deletion
  • Always grab the Operation ID on a failed update

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