How it works:
POS to external application: A sales associate is working in POS and needs to use an external system (for example, a specialized parts-search tool). They trigger the Open URL POS operation, which opens the external application.
External application back to POS: After the associate completes their task in the external system (for example, selects a part), the external application calls POS back with the relevant context—for example, a product ID and quantity. POS receives this context and navigates to the correct screen with the information loaded.
Custom context handling: Businesses can add custom logic in POS to determine how incoming context from their external application is interpreted and handled.
Availability
Application: Point of sale (POS)
Setup and configuration
No additional configuration is required in Commerce headquarters or POS. However, to use this feature, the business's IT team must:
Customize the external application to call POS with the appropriate context parameters.
Optionally, add custom logic within POS to interpret and act on the context passed by the external application.
This is a developer-level customization, not an admin or store manager task.
Business Value:
Retailers and B2B commerce businesses often rely on specialized external systems such as parts-lookup tools, warranty platforms, or industry-specific catalogs alongside their point of sale (POS). Today, integrating these systems with POS requires significant development effort, and sales associates must manually re-enter information (such as product details or customer data) when moving between applications. This is time-consuming, error-prone, and costly.
Contextual switching eliminates these friction points. By enabling external applications to pass context directly into POS, businesses can drastically reduce integration time and cost. Sales associates benefit from a streamlined workflow where product, customer, and transaction context flow automatically between systems to remove the need for manual data entry. This leads to faster transactions, fewer errors, and better experiences for store employees and customers.
For businesses that depend on external tools as part of their sales process, this feature unlocks a flexible, low-friction way to extend POS without replacing existing investments in specialized systems.
Enabled for:
Enabled by admins/makers/marketers for end users
More info: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/commerce/dev-itpro/store-commerce-contextual-switch
GA date: June CY2026
Preview date: April CY2026