Still Using Ribbon Workbench for Command Bar Customization? It’s Time for a Smarter Way!

If you’ve been working with Power Platform or Dynamics 365 for a while, chances are you’ve used Ribbon Workbench to customize buttons in the command bar. It has been a go-to tool for years—but let’s be honest, it often feels complex, time-consuming, and a bit outdated.

👉 The good news? You don’t need it anymore for many common scenarios.

Microsoft has significantly improved the platform, and now you can add and customize command bar buttons directly within Power Apps—no external tools required!


🔍 The Old Way: Ribbon Workbench

Ribbon Workbench was powerful, but it came with challenges:

  • Requires the creation of a separate solution for ribbon customizations.
  • Publishing changes through the tool can be time-consuming.
  • Manual configuration of commands, actions, and rules
  • Dependency on third-party tooling
  • Harder maintenance and upgrades

While it’s still useful in advanced cases, it’s no longer the default choice for everyday command bar customization.


✨ The New Way: Command Designer in Power Apps

With modern enhancements in Power Apps, you can now:

✅ Add new buttons directly in the command bar
✅ Configure actions using Power Fx or JavaScript
✅ Use a visual designer (no more XML headaches!)
✅ Apply rules and visibility conditions easily
✅ Work within the same environment—no switching tools


🛠️ How to Add a Command Bar Button (Modern Way)

Here’s a quick overview of how you can do it:

  1. Go to Power Apps (make.powerapps.com)
  2. Navigate to your solution
  3. Navigate to Apps

  4. Open the desired Model driven app and hover on view and click on three dots then you will get option edit Command bar, click on it:

  5. Select Edit or Edit in new tab



  6. Next, select the specific component that needs to be edited.


  7. In this scenario, the Main Form has been selected, which displays all the available ribbon buttons associated with that form.


  8. Click on New and choose what to add in ribbon:


  9. Configure:
    • Button label & icon
    • Action (Power Fx / JavaScript)
    • Visibility rules
    • Tooltip

  10. Save and publish.

🎉 That’s it—your button is live without touching Ribbon Workbench!


Why Switch to the Modern Command Designer?

FeatureRibbon WorkbenchPower Apps Command Designer
Ease of use❌ Complex✅ Simple & visual
Setup❌ Requires tool✅ Built-in
Maintenance❌ Hard✅ Easy
Performance⚠️ Depends✅ Optimized
Future support⚠️ Declining✅ Actively enhanced


⚠️ When You Might Still Need Ribbon Workbench

Despite the improvements, Ribbon Workbench still has its place:

  • Highly complex enable/disable rules
  • Legacy implementations
  • Advanced customization not yet supported in the modern designer

But for most new development scenarios, the modern approach is the way forward.


🚀 Final Thoughts

The evolution of Power Platform is making development more intuitive, faster, and cleaner. Moving away from Ribbon Workbench to the native Power Apps command designer is a big step in that direction.

👉 So if you're still relying on Ribbon Workbench for basic button customization, now is the perfect time to modernize your approach.


What’s Your Experience?

Have you started using the modern command designer yet?
Or are you still sticking with Ribbon Workbench?

Let’s discuss in the comments! 👇


Cheers,

Rocker

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