How to Create a Positive Pay File From Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is one of the few accounting systems that ships with a built-in positive pay export. The catch is that the feature is preconfigured for only two banks, Bank of America and City Bank. If you bank somewhere else, the export still exists, but you have to either build a custom format inside Business Central or pull your check data out and convert it. This guide covers both paths and the exact field names to use.
If positive pay is new to you, read what is positive pay first. In short, your bank matches each check that clears against a list of checks you issued, and flags anything that does not match before it pays. That list is the positive pay file.
Step 1: Try the native Positive Pay Export first
Business Central has a real positive pay action. Select Search (Alt+Q), enter Bank Accounts, and open the card for the account you write checks from. In the Positive Pay Export Format field, pick the format for your bank. Out of the box only the Bank of America and City Bank formats are present.
To run the export, go back to Bank Accounts, select the account, and choose the Positive Pay Export action. Set the Cutoff Upload Date so payments before that date are excluded, then choose Export and save the file. You can review what you sent under the Positive Pay Entries action, record the bank's confirmation number there, and use Reexport Positive Pay to File if you need to resend.
If your bank's format is in that list, you are done and do not need a separate tool. The rest of this guide is for the common case where your bank is not Bank of America or City Bank.
Step 2: When your bank is not preconfigured
For any other bank, Business Central has no ready-made layout, and you have two choices. The first is to build a Data Exchange Definition that matches your bank's exact field order, link it to a new code in Bank Export/Import Setup, and assign that code in the Positive Pay Export Format field on the bank account card. This is a real configuration project specific to your bank, so plan for it with whoever administers your system.
The second choice, faster if you only need a file now, is to export your check data and convert it. That is the same workflow Xero and QuickBooks users follow.
Step 3: Export the Check Ledger Entries
The cleanest source of check data in Business Central is the Check Ledger Entries page. Select Search (Alt+Q), enter Check Ledger Entries, and open the related link. Filter the list to the bank account you need using Bank Account No. and to your date range using Check Date or Posting Date.
Before you export, add the columns you need by right-clicking a column header and choosing the fields, because the export includes only the columns in your current view. Then choose Open in Excel to download the workbook. The Bank Account Ledger Entries page exports the same way, but Check Ledger Entries keeps you to actual checks.
Step 4: The column gotchas in Business Central
A few fields trip people up when they map the export:
- The check number is in
Check No., notDocument No.TheDocument No.field holds the payment journal document number, which is usually not what your bank wants. MapCheck No.to the check number. - Filter out voided and test entries. The
Entry Statusfield marks each row as Posted, Voided, Financially Voided, or Test Printing. KeepPostedentries and drop voided and test rows, or you may report a check you already canceled. See void checks and positive pay for why this matters. - Amount sign. The
Amountfield is the check amount. If your export shows it as a negative number, your bank's spec almost certainly wants the unsigned value, so strip the minus sign. - Date format. Use
Check Datefor the issue date unless your bank asks for the posting date. Confirm whether the bank expectsMM/DD/YYYY,YYYYMMDD, or something else, and match it exactly.
Step 5: Convert the export with PositivePayMaker
Once you have a clean export with check numbers, amounts, dates, and only posted checks, reshape it into your bank's exact layout. Each bank defines its own fixed-width or delimited format, and typing that by hand is error-prone. For the field-by-field details, see the positive pay file format guide.
PositivePayMaker does the conversion in your browser. Upload the Business Central export (CSV or Excel), map the columns (Check No. to check number, Amount to amount, Check Date to issue date), pick your bank's layout, and download a file ready for your bank's portal. It is free and runs client-side, so your check data never leaves your browser. It ships with several bank layouts, including Chase and Huntington, plus a custom format builder if your bank is not listed. See the supported formats to check yours.
Always validate the first file with your bank
However you build the file, treat the first one as a test. Run it through the file validator to catch structural problems, then send it to your bank and confirm the numbers match. A field that is off by one position can reject the whole batch. If a file comes back rejected, see why positive pay files get rejected.