Dataverse Image Column – How to Use

A few days back, I was working on a project where the client wanted to store images directly inside Dataverse. The requirement was simple: users should be able to upload photos like profile pictures, documents, or site images from a Power Apps form, and those images should be saved securely in Dataverse instead of SharePoint or local storage.

At first, it looked easy, but then I realized that Dataverse handles images a bit differently compared to other columns. Understanding how the Dataverse Image column works, how to configure it, and how to use it properly in Power Apps is very important to avoid issues later.

In this tutorial, I will explain the Dataverse image column, how to create an image column in a Dataverse table, and much more, like:

• Add an image in a Dataverse form
• Dataverse image size

Dataverse Image Column

A Dataverse Image column is a special column that allows an app to display one image per record.

You cannot add an Image column to Dataverse standard tables. Image columns can only be added to Dataverse custom tables. However, some standard tables already have image columns built in.

Even if a table has an image column, the image will not show automatically. You need to enable a couple of settings in a model-driven app:

• Set the Primary Image for the table.
  • For standard tables, use the default image column.
  • For custom tables, create an image column and set it as the Primary Image.
• Turn on Show image in the form for the form where you want the image to appear.

Once these settings are enabled, the image will be visible in the app.

NOTE:

Business process flows, business rules, charts, rollup columns, and calculated columns cannot be used with image columns.

Create an Image Column in a Dataverse Table

Let’s create an image column and learn how to use it in a Dataverse table.

Let’s assume we have a Dataverse custom table called TSinfo Site Galleries. In this table, we want to create a column named SiteImage to store images.

To create an image column in the Dataverse table, click on + New column and enter the required details in the new column panel.

Column	Description
Display name	This is a required field. Enter the name of the image column (SiteImage) that you want to create in the Dataverse table.
Description	This is an optional field. Provide the field description for the purpose to create it.
Data type	Expand the chevron, go to the File and then select the Image option.
Primary image	The image column set as the primary image appears in the top-right corner of the form. Each table can have only one primary image.
Schema name	This column is auto-filled from the display name and includes the Dataverse solution publisher’s prefix. Once the table is saved, this value cannot be changed.
Maximum image size	10,240 KB is the default value for the image size. The total maximum size must be between 1 KB and 30720 KB.
Can store full images	To store the full images, we need to enable this option.
Enable column security	If it is enabled, then it will be used to restrict access to particular columns.
Enable auditing	If enabled, it allows tracking of user access changes and table record modifications so you can evaluate the activity later.
Sortable	It defines how the column will be set up for interactive dashboards.

Once everything is done, click on Save. After a while, the image column will be created in the Dataverse table.

This is how to create an image column in the Dataverse Table.

Add an image in the Dataverse Form

The image field in the Dataverse form is now ready to be added. so that a user can upload a picture straight through the form itself. Follow the steps below to do so:

1. In the Dataverse table (TSinfo Site Gallery), tap on the Forms under the Data experiences section.

2. Select the Information Main form on the Forms page, as shown in the screenshot below.

3. On the next page, go to the Table columns (from the left navigation) -> Drag the Image field (SiteImage) and drop in the main form where you want to place it. Once the image field is placed in the form, the main form will display as in the figure below. Finally, save and publish the form to enable users to access the image column.

4. Now go back to the table and open the dataverse table using the Edit button.

5. Expand the + New row and select the New row using form option to create a new record in the specific table.

6. Enter the Site Name on the next screen, and then save the data. The image field (SiteImage) will prompt you to upload the image once you save the record. Until you save the record, a message like this will appear in the image field “This record hasn’t been created yet. To enable image upload, create this record.“

7. Then, tap on the Choose File button to upload the picture, select the specific image from your local system and click on Open.

8. Again save the record and click on the Open button from the image field. You can display the full-size image in the new browser tab. Also, the image also displays on the top left of the form since the image column in this example acts as the primary image. Similarly, to delete the picture from the record and Dataverse table, choose the Delete button.

9. Once you go back to the dataverse table, you will see the table entry looks like the screenshot below.

This way, we can add an image in the Dataverse Forms.

Dataverse image size

When using a Dataverse image column, we usually choose to upload images only from within our system. It’s also important to know the image size limits before uploading.

The image size must be less than 10 MB and should be in one of the following formats:

• jpg
• jpeg
• gif
• tif
• tiff
• bmp
• png

When an image is uploaded, Dataverse automatically converts it to a .jpg format. If the image is an animated GIF, only the first frame is saved.

Dataverse also creates a small thumbnail image with a maximum size of 144 × 144 pixels. All images are cropped into a square shape.

To get the best result, users should crop or resize their images before uploading. If both sides of an image are smaller than 144 pixels, the image is cropped into a square based on the smaller side.

I hope this article found you helpful to learn about Dataverse image column, how to create and use an image column in a Dataverse table, Add image to a Dataverse form with a few examples.

Also, you may like some more Power Apps and Dataverse tutorials:

• Dataflow in Dataverse
• Power Apps Image Control
• Power Apps Dataverse Yes/No Field
• Create Dataverse File Field
• Set Autonumber for Primary Name Column in Dataverse