Unpublishing and Uninstalling Extensions

Article
09/29/2023

Similar to how you make an extension available to tenant users, there's also three operations that are related to the removal of an extension: uninstalling, unpublishing, and synchronizing in clean mode. Each operation provides a different level of removal:

Task	Description
Uninstalling an extension	Done on the tenant level for a specific extension version. Disables the extension on the tenant - making it unavailable to users in the client and removing any user interface that the extension provides. Doesn't affect business data in the tenant, modify SQL, or run any user code. Data that has been collected by using the extension is preserved. As long as the extension hasn't been unpublished, it can be reinstalled and the data is still available. For example, suppose you discovered an issue with the current extension. You could uninstall until a newer version is published.
Unpublishing an extension	Done on the Dynamics 365 Business Central service instance level for a specific extension version. Deletes the extension package from the application database that is mounted on the server instance. The extension is no longer available for installation on tenants of the server instance. Like uninstalling an extension, unpublishing doesn't affect business data in the tenant, modify SQL, or run any user code. An extension can't be unpublished if it's installed on a tenant of the server instance. For example, you would unpublish an extension version when it's no longer in use by any tenant. It prevents tenant users from using the extension again. You'd typically run this operation after an extension has been upgraded on all tenants from one extension version (for example, 11.0.0.1) to newer version (11.0.0.2).
Synchronizing in clean mode	Done on the tenant level for all versions of an extension. Removes the database schema that's defined by the extension versions. This operation deletes all data in the extension. If a table or table extension was included in any version of the extension, the table or companion table will be deleted from the tenant database. You can't synchronize in clean mode if any version of the extension is installed on a tenant of the server instance. In production, use this mode primarily as a final cleanup step after all versions of an extension have been uninstalled and unpublished for good. In development, this mode is useful to give you a "clean" environment when making database-schema related modifications.

Uninstalling extensions

You can uninstall an extension by using the Business Central Administration Shell or from the client. You can run the synchronizing in clean mode operation as part of the uninstall operation, instead of doing it after separately.

Important

You can't uninistall an extension if any there are other installed extensions that are dependent on the extension. If you try, you'll get a message stating that there are dependent extensions and asking you to confirm whether you want to uninstall the extension and its dependents.
When you choose to run the synchronizing in clean mode operation when uninstalling, the database schema and data associated with dependent extensions will also be removed.

Uninstall an extension by using Business Central Administration Shell

Start the Business Central Administration Shell.

For more information, see Business Central PowerShell Cmdlets.
To get a list of the extensions that are currently installed on a tenant, run the Get-NAVAppInfo cmdlet with the Tenant parameter set.

This cmdlet is useful when you uninstall the extension because you must provide information about the extension, like its name and version.
```
Get-NAVAppInfo -ServerInstance YourDynamicsNAVServer -Tenant TenantID
```
Replace TenantID with the tenant ID of the database. If you don't have a multitenant server instance, use default or omit this parameter.
To uninstall an extension, run the Uninstall-NAVApp cmdlet.

The following example uninstalls an extension by using its extension package file path .\MyExtension.app.
```
Uninstall-NAVApp -ServerInstance YourDynamicsNAVServer -Path '.\MyExtension.app'  
```
The following example uninstalls an extension by using its name My Extension and version (in this case 1.0.0.0):
```
Uninstall-NAVApp -ServerInstance YourDynamicsNAVServer -Name "My Extension" -Version 1.0.0.0
```
The following example combines the Get-NAVAppInfo and Uninstall-NAVApp cmdlets into a single command:
```
Get-NAVAppInfo -ServerInstance YourDynamicsNAVServer -Name 'My Extension' -Version 1.0.0.0 | Uninstall-NAVApp
```
If you want to run synchronizing in clean mode operation, include the -ClearSchema parameter.

Uninstall an extension by using the client

In Dynamics 365 Business Central, use search to open the Extension Management page.

In the Extension Management window, you can view the extensions that are installed on the tenant
Choose an extension, and choose the Uninstall action.
If you want to delete data in tables owned by the extension, turn on the Delete Extension Data switch. This action does the same as the -ClearSchema parameter with the Uninstall-NavApp cmldet. This action can't be undone.

For more information, see Uninstall an Extension in the business functionality help.

Delete orphaned extension data

If you want to keep the data for an uninstalled app, you can delete the data later by using the Delete Orphaned Extension Data page. The Delete Orphaned Extension Data page lists the apps that you still have data for. To delete the data, choose the app, and then choose Delete Data.

There are several reasons for why you should delete orphaned extension data. First, it frees up database capacity. Second, it reduces the row size in the companion table used to store data for extension tables. This will, in turn, speed up data operations on that table.

Unpublish extensions

You unpublish an extension on a Dynamics 365 Business Central service instance by using the Business Central Administration Shell.

Start the Business Central Administration Shell.

For more information, see Business Central PowerShell Cmdlets.
To get a list of the extensions that are currently published on a tenant, run the Get-NAVAppInfo cmdlet without the Tenant parameter.

This is useful because a server instance can have several published extensions. Unpublishing an extension requires that you provide specific information about the extension, like the name or version.
```
Get-NAVAppInfo -ServerInstance YourDynamicsNAVServer
```
To unpublish the extension, run the Unpublish-NAVApp cmdlet. You can unpublish the extension by specifying the path to extension package file or the extension name and version.

The following example unpublishes an extension by using its extension package file path .\MyExtension.app.
```
Unpublish-NAVApp -ServerInstance YourDynamicsNAVServer -Path '.\MyExtension.app'  
```
The following example unpublishes an extension by using its name My Extension and version (in this case 1.0.0.0):
```
Unpublish-NAVApp -ServerInstance YourDynamicsNAVServer -Name "My Extension" -Version 1.0.0.0
```
The following example combines the Get-NAVAppInfo and Unpublish-NAVApp cmdlets into a single command:
```
Get-NAVAppInfo -ServerInstance YourDynamicsNAVServer -Name 'My Extension' -Version 1.0.0.0 | Unpublish-NAVApp
```

Unpublish an extension by using the client

In Dynamics 365 Business Central, use search to open the Extension Management page.

In the Extension Management window, you can view the extensions that are installed on the tenant.
Choose an extension where Published As is not set to Global, and choose the Unpublish action.

Synchronizing (clean mode) an extension after uninstallation

Start the Business Central Administration Shell.

For more information, see Business Central PowerShell Cmdlets. 2.Run the Sync-NAVAPP cmdlet with the -Modeparameter set to Clean.
```
Sync-NAVApp -ServerInstance YourDynamicsNAVServer -Tenant 'TenantID' -Name 'My Extension' -Mode Clean
```

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