CRM Auto Number Generator

I have seen quite a few questions and solutions regarding Dynamics CRM's lack of an auto-numbering feature for fields. CRM offers this with its Case functionality (your case number is generated automatically), but no where else does it let you configure fields to generate an auto-number. When tasked with creating auto-numbers for one of our custom entities, I started doing a little searching. I found several solutions that required some light programming but nothing I found was "out of the box" ready, until I came across Counter from CRM Extensions. This is a free download, only requiring you to sign up for an account with their website (I guess they might should put an * before the word Free). Thankfully, the registration process is painless, and I have yet to receive a single email from the company. CRM Extensions has several other products that cost $ and are really just the same as other ISV offerings (Sharepoint Connector, Import Manager, etc.).

The Counter product is very easy to install and setup. My testing took me less than 30 minutes to have a counter up and running from start to finish. The instructions that come with the download are extremely precise and easy to follow. After the installation, Counter will add a "Counter" entity to your CRM system. This is where you will create your new counters for your entities. After you create the counter in CRM, Counter (am I saying that word enough?) requires you to make some minor edits of the files that were part of the install, but it really is quite simple. After editing the files, you will be ready to start auto incrementing your fields based on the prefix, number scheme, and postfix that you specified in the Counter entity.

This add-on has really been a gem! Thank you CRM Extensions for making this a free product.