Dynamics 365 Migration Guide: How to Export and Migrate Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides
- Gilad Tzori
- Aug 9
- 10 min read
This Dynamics 365 migration guide explains how organizations can export Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides and migrate their existing procedures into frontline.io Interactive Flows before Microsoft ends support for Guides on December 31, 2026.
For manufacturers and industrial organizations, this transition is about much more than changing software. Many companies have spent years building step-by-step instructions, AR procedures, training content, animations, images, videos, and 3D experiences in Dynamics 365 Guides.
So what happens to all that content?
The good news is that existing Guides do not have to be rebuilt from scratch. With the frontline.io MS Guides Migration Tool, organizations can export their existing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides and convert them into Interactive Flows while preserving supported structure, media, animations, interactions, and other existing content.
This Dynamics 365 migration guide covers the complete process: exporting existing Guides, importing them into frontline.io, validating converted content, understanding migration limitations, and preparing your organization for the December 2026 deadline.
Is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides Being Discontinued?
Yes. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides reaches end of support on December 31, 2026.
Microsoft confirmed the deadline for both Dynamics 365 Guides and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist in its official lifecycle announcement.
After December 31, 2026, Microsoft states that the products will:
No longer receive security updates
No longer receive non-security updates
No longer receive bug fixes
No longer receive technical support
No longer be functional as applications
Existing customer data will remain stored in Dataverse environments.
This distinction is important. Your underlying data does not simply disappear when support ends, but retaining data in Dataverse is not the same as having a functioning platform where technicians can continue executing existing Guides.
Organizations using Dynamics 365 Guides should therefore plan and test their migration before the end-of-support date.
What Happens to Existing Dynamics 365 Guides?
Organizations with existing Guides essentially have three options.
1. Rebuild the procedures manually
One approach is to choose another platform and recreate each Guide manually.
For a company with only a handful of procedures, this might be manageable. For an enterprise with dozens or hundreds of Guides containing 3D animations, interactions, media, step logic, and years of operational knowledge, rebuilding becomes a much larger project.
It also means repeating work that has already been completed.
2. Preserve the data without migrating the operational experience
Microsoft states that customer data will remain in Dataverse after Dynamics 365 Guides reaches end of support.
This protects the underlying data, but it does not provide a replacement application for executing those procedures.
3. Export and convert existing Guides
The third option is to export existing Guides and convert them for use in another operational platform.
This is the purpose of frontline.io's MS Guides Migration Tool.
Rather than starting with an empty authoring environment, organizations can take the procedures their teams have already created and convert them into frontline.io Interactive Flows.
For larger organizations, following a structured Dynamics 365 migration guide is particularly important because the project involves more than simply moving files. Existing content needs to be inventoried, migrated, tested, and validated.
What Is the Dynamics 365 Guides Migration Tool?
The frontline.io Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides Migration Tool converts existing Dynamics 365 Guides into frontline.io Interactive Flows.
Users first export an existing Guide into a .guides file from the Microsoft Dynamics 365/Power Apps environment. Before the exporter can retrieve Guides content, the required Dynamics CRM access must be granted as part of the exporter setup. The resulting. guides file can then be uploaded into frontline.io.
The migration process converts the Guide into a Flow while retaining supported content from the original procedure.
Supported content includes:
Step titles
Step descriptions
Images
Videos
Guide structure
Flow order
Animations
Interactions
Tool data
Migrated tools are automatically organized into a dedicated Migrated Tools category, making them easier to find and manage following conversion.
The goal is not simply to archive Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides. It is to turn existing knowledge into working procedures that can continue to be used and developed.
Dynamics 365 Migration Guide: How to Export Your Existing Guides
The first technical stage of the migration is exporting the original Microsoft Guide. This stage involves more than simply downloading a file: the exporter must first be given access to the Microsoft environment that contains the Guides.
Frontline.io's Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides export walkthrough covers the exporter setup in detail. As part of that process, the user connects to the relevant Dynamics 365 environment and grants the required Dynamics CRM permission so the exporter can access the Guides data it needs to package.
Once access has been authorized, the relevant Guides can be selected and exported into the .guides format used by frontline.io's import process. In other words, the Microsoft-side process has three distinct parts: connect the exporter, authorize access to the Guides data, and create the `.guides` export package.
This permission step matters for migration planning. A team can have access to its Guides in Microsoft and still need the appropriate authorization for the exporter itself.
Organizations should therefore confirm access and permissions early rather than treating export as a last-minute download task.
For organizations with large content libraries, however, the export stage is also a good opportunity to review what actually needs to be moved.
Before beginning the migration, identify:
Which Guides are still actively used
Which Guides are business-critical
Which procedures contain complex animations
Which procedures contain interactions
Which Guides use branching
Which content is outdated
Which Guides should be migrated first
A good Dynamics 365 migration guide should include this inventory stage rather than moving every procedure automatically without first assessing its current value.
How to Migrate Dynamics 365 Guides to frontline.io
Once the relevant Guides have been identified and exported, they can be converted into frontline.io Interactive Flows.
Step 1: Prepare the Microsoft Guides export
Open the Microsoft Guides export process for the environment containing the Guides you want to migrate. Confirm that you are working with the correct Dynamics 365 environment before beginning the export.
Step 2: Grant the required Dynamics CRM permission
During exporter setup, authorize the access required for the exporter to retrieve the Dynamics 365 Guides content. Frontline.io's export documentation specifically includes granting the Dynamics CRM permission as part of this setup.
This is an important prerequisite: the exporter needs permission to access the Guides data before it can create the migration package.
Step 3: Export the Guide as a .guides file
After the exporter is connected and authorized, select the Guide or Guides you want to migrate and create the .guides export file required for frontline.io conversion.
For the exact Microsoft-side setup and export sequence, follow Frontline.io's dedicated Dynamics 365 Guides export instructions.
Step 4: Create an Interactive Flow
Open the frontline.io web application and navigate to the Knowledge Base.
Select:
Create New → Interactive Flow
Step 5: Select Import
When the MS Guides Migration Tool is enabled for your workspace, the Flow creation interface includes an Import option.
The migration feature is not currently enabled by default and must be activated for a workspace upon request.
Step 6: Upload the .guides file
Select Import and upload the .guides file exported from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides.
The file can be dragged and dropped into the importer or selected manually from your computer. Frontline.io's current migration page states that up to five `.guides` files can be uploaded at once, which is useful when migrating a larger Guides library in batches.
Step 7: Convert the Guide into an Interactive Flow
Frontline.io automatically begins processing the uploaded file.
The original Guide is converted into an Interactive Flow, bringing supported steps, media, animations, interactions, and structure into the frontline.io environment.
Step 8: Review the migrated Flow
Once migration is complete, the new Flow appears in the frontline.io Knowledge Base.
The procedure should then be reviewed before production deployment.
Check:
Step order
Step titles and descriptions
Images and videos
Animations
Interaction behavior
Tool positioning
Connections between steps
AR behavior
This validation stage is an essential part of any Dynamics 365 migration guide, especially when migrating complex procedures used for maintenance, service, assembly, or training.
Are Microsoft Guides Animations Preserved During Migration?
Yes. Frontline.io's migration process is designed to preserve supported animations and interactions from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides rather than requiring teams to recreate them manually.
Imported animations can be opened directly inside the frontline.io Animation Builder.
Content creators can preview playback, inspect tool positions, and verify that migrated content behaves as expected.
For organizations that have spent substantial time creating detailed 3D procedures, preserving this work can significantly reduce the amount of manual re-authoring required during migration.
Are There Limitations to Dynamics 365 Guides Migration?
Yes. Automated migration should still be followed by validation.
One known limitation involves complex multi-task branching.
If a Guide contains multiple tasks with multi-choice questions that direct users to internal steps inside another task, some of this logic may not be fully preserved during import.
Frontline.io recommends reviewing the resulting Flow and adjusting its connections when necessary.
This is an important distinction: automated conversion can remove much of the manual rebuilding process, but it should not replace quality assurance.
The more complex the original Guide, the more important the post-migration review becomes.
Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Migration Tool vs. frontline.io's Migration Tool
There is an important difference between Microsoft's migration capability and the Dynamics 365 migration tool offered by frontline.io. Microsoft's tool is designed to move Dynamics 365 Guides content between Microsoft Dataverse environments, while frontline.io's MS Guides Migration Tool is designed to convert existing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides into frontline.io Interactive Flows.
In other words, Microsoft's solution supports migration within the Microsoft ecosystem, whereas frontline.io provides a path for organizations moving their existing Guides to a new operational platform.
Migration tool | Migration path | Primary purpose |
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides Content Migration Tool | Dataverse → Dataverse | Copies Guides content from one Microsoft Dataverse environment to another using Microsoft's PowerShell-based migration tool. |
frontline.io MS Guides Migration Tool | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides → frontline.io Interactive Flows | Converts existing Guides into Interactive Flows so organizations can continue using their procedures in frontline.io. |
This distinction is particularly important as Dynamics 365 Guides approaches end of support: Microsoft's tool helps organizations relocate Guides data within Microsoft environments, while frontline.io's tool addresses the different challenge of moving existing Guides into another operational platform. Microsoft's documentation explains its Dataverse-to-Dataverse migration process.
What Happens After a Microsoft Guide Is Migrated?
This is where migration becomes more than content preservation.
After a Guide has been converted into a frontline.io Interactive Flow, the procedure becomes part of the broader frontline.io platform.
Migrated Flows can be deployed across supported devices including:
AR headsets
VR headsets
PCs and Macs
Web browsers
Tablets
Smartphones
Organizations can also connect migrated procedures with capabilities such as Digital Twins, immersive training, analytics, and other frontline workflows.
For companies reconsidering their hardware strategy alongside their Dynamics 365 Guides transition, this also separates the procedure from dependence on one specific headset.
The content can continue evolving even as the organization's hardware environment changes.
Why Migrate Dynamics 365 Guides Before December 2026?
December 31, 2026 should not be treated as the date to begin planning.
It should be treated as the deadline by which the organization has already established its transition strategy.
Microsoft advises customers to identify the users and scenarios that rely on Dynamics 365 Guides and prepare their transition before the end-of-support date.
A practical Dynamics 365 migration guide should therefore include:
Inventory existing Guides
Identify actively used procedures
Prioritize business-critical content
Remove obsolete Guides
Export the selected procedures
Migrate representative Guides first
Validate animations, interactions, media, and branching
Test procedures on target devices
Train authors and users
Migrate the remaining content
Complete the transition before the Microsoft deadline
This staged approach is particularly important for enterprises with large procedure libraries.
Waiting until the final months of 2026 can turn what should be a planned platform migration into a time-sensitive operational project.
What Should You Look for in a Dynamics 365 Migration Tool?
For Dynamics 365 Guides specifically, a migration tool should be evaluated on more than whether it can move or store a file.
Organizations should ask several questions.
Does it preserve the procedure structure?
Rebuilding every step defeats much of the purpose of automated migration.
Does it retain existing media?
Images and videos may represent years of technical documentation and training work.
What happens to animations and interactions?
Animations can be among the most time-consuming elements of an AR procedure to reproduce manually.
Can the migrated content continue to be edited?
Operational procedures change. Migration should not turn existing Guides into static archives.
Which devices can run the migrated procedures?
Organizations should evaluate future hardware requirements alongside their software migration.
Can the migrated procedures connect with other operational capabilities?
Migration can be an opportunity to extend the original Guides rather than simply reproduce them.
A complete Dynamics 365 migration guide should consider these long-term questions alongside the immediate technical conversion process.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dynamics 365 Guides Migration
When does Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides reach end of support?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides reaches end of support on December 31, 2026. Microsoft states that the applications will no longer be functional after this date, although existing customer data will remain in Dataverse.
Can you export Dynamics 365 Guides?
Yes. Existing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides can be exported in preparation for migration. The exporter must first be connected to the relevant Dynamics 365 environment and granted the required Dynamics CRM permission to access the Guides data. Frontline.io provides a dedicated Microsoft Guides export walkthrough covering the setup and export process.
Can you migrate more than one Microsoft Guide at a time?
Yes. Frontline.io's current MS Guides Migration Tool documentation states that users can upload up to five `.guides` files at once. This allows larger Guides libraries to be processed in batches rather than importing every file individually.
Can Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides be migrated without rebuilding every procedure?
Yes. Frontline.io's MS Guides Migration Tool converts exported .guides files into Interactive Flows, reducing the need to manually rebuild existing procedures.
What does the Dynamics 365 migration tool preserve?
Frontline.io supports the migration of content including step titles, descriptions, images, videos, Guide structure, flow order, animations, interactions, and tool data. Migrated procedures should still be reviewed and validated.
Does Microsoft's Content Migration Tool replace Dynamics 365 Guides?
No. Microsoft's Content Migration Tool copies Guides content between Dataverse environments. It does not convert the Guides into another XR or work-instruction platform.
Can migrated Dynamics 365 Guides still run on HoloLens 2?
Frontline.io supports HoloLens 2 alongside other supported devices. Organizations can therefore separate their content migration from their hardware migration rather than being required to replace everything at once.
What can replace Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides?
Microsoft has not announced a direct successor to Dynamics 365 Guides. Microsoft's lifecycle guidance recommends that customers plan their transition and explore alternative mixed-reality solutions. Frontline.io provides one migration path by converting existing Guides into Interactive Flows that can operate across multiple supported device types.
Start Your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides Migration
The end of Dynamics 365 Guides does not have to mean the end of the procedures your teams have spent years developing.
The objective should be to preserve that investment while giving the content an environment where it can continue to evolve.
This Dynamics 365 migration guide can be summarized as one end-to-end path:
Connect to the correct Dynamics 365 environment → Grant the required Dynamics CRM permission → Export your Microsoft Guide as a `.guides` file → Import it into frontline.io → Convert it into an Interactive Flow → Validate the procedure → Deploy it across your required devices.
With the frontline.io MS Guides Migration Tool, organizations can move existing Guides into a new operational environment instead of rebuilding their procedure libraries from the beginning.
Contact us to start the migration process.
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