Along with the rest of you, we have been waiting (im)patiently for the go ahead to test out the April 2019 update. The new update will be similar to the service updates we have all come to know, hoping this will be the one to finally fix that issue plaguing our work life (whatever that might be for you and your organization). Information has been slow to unfold, but a post on CRMUG prompted me to do a little digging. Follow along as I walk you through how to enable the update in a test environment:

April 2019 Update Highlights for Dynamics 365

• The April 2019 update for the user interface updates can be enabled now. Please note that once the update is enabled, you cannot revert it. 
• Test the update first by creating a sandbox environment NOT directly in production.
• Additional updates will be applied in April on a "yet to be determined", region by region basis.
• The update will be applied in the same fashion as the service updates we have been receiving for a while. Keep an eye on your Message Center for service update announcements.
• Microsoft Apps enabled at the application tab in Instance Picker have to be updated there.
• The update appears to automatically update model driven apps, custom and out-of-the-box ones.

The Steps

Before you enable the update, we highly recommend testing the changes first. To do that, create a copy of your production environment in the Instance Picker area. Click this link to go there directly.

Once your copy of production to a sandbox environment is complete (this may take more than a few minutes) you can enable the preview for your test environment, but not in the Instance Picker.

1. Go to the new Power platform Admin center
2. Click Environments
3. Click the name of the organization for which you want to enable the update.

4. Verify that you are in the correct organization by checking the breadcrumb just under Settings > Environments > [your sandbox]. Click Manage on the right.

5. Click Activate now.

6. Microsoft wants to make sure we really know what we are doing, so click Confirm. The option is gray and looks like it cannot be clicked, but it can. Even though it can be a pain to click "Yes", then "Yes, I'm sure I really want to", I do appreciate that Microsoft is trying to keep us safe from ourselves. 
 

7. After clicking Confirm, you will see the spinning wheel of Activating.

Some time later (not long for me because this sandbox organization is small) you will see the message below…

…and the organization will be at version 9.1.0.1669. Wait, what??! At first, I was a bit confused myself. Once we have successfully activated the April 2019 update, based on the information from the See What’s Included link, we will only see unified user interface updates. The database version will probably not change until Microsoft pushes out the actual update. 

To be clear, if you opt-in on your production organization, prior to the April update going live, it will only update the unified user interface. The update does not appear to be changing anything with the classic user interface. Regardless of your decision to opt-in to the unified user interface updates or not, Microsoft will be globally updating customers in April. The North American region will be auto-updated the weekend of April 26th. 

Hope this article has been helpful and that you are having a lovely day, wherever you are! If you need any help with your updates or upgrades, please feel free to contact us.