How to Retrieve More Than 5000 Records Using FetchXML and Dynamics 365 Plugin

Server-Side FetchXML Paging Using a Dynamics 365 Plugin

If you're working server-side inside a Plugin or Custom Workflow Activity, you can bypass client-side paging limits and fully control how many records to pull using FetchXML and paging cookies.

When to Use a Plugin for This

• Fetching large datasets for processing on the server
• Validating or aggregating records during business logic
• Keeping logic secure and non-reversible from the client
• Integrating real-time, record-heavy automations

Step 1: Base FetchXML Structure

Start with this structure:

<fetch mapping='logical' count='5000'>
  <entity name='account'>
    <attribute name='accountid' />
    <attribute name='name' />
    <filter>
      <condition attribute='statecode' operator='eq' value='0' />
    </filter>
  </entity>
</fetch>

💡 Tip: Keep your base FetchXML free of paging logic—this will be dynamically injected.

Step 2: Plugin Implementation

This plugin fetches all active account records, 5000 at a time, using the PagingCookie and MoreRecords flags.

public class FetchAllAccountsPlugin : IPlugin
{
    public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        ITracingService tracer = (ITracingService)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(ITracingService));
        IPluginExecutionContext context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
        IOrganizationServiceFactory factory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
        IOrganizationService service = factory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);

        string pagingCookie = null;
        int pageNumber = 1;
        int fetchCount = 5000;
        bool moreRecords = true;
        List<Entity> allAccounts = new List<Entity>();

        while (moreRecords)
        {
            string fetchXml = CreateFetchXml(pagingCookie, pageNumber, fetchCount);
            EntityCollection results = service.RetrieveMultiple(new FetchExpression(fetchXml));

            allAccounts.AddRange(results.Entities);
            tracer.Trace($"Fetched page {pageNumber}: {results.Entities.Count} records");

            moreRecords = results.MoreRecords;
            if (moreRecords)
            {
                pagingCookie = results.PagingCookie;
                pageNumber++;
            }
        }

        tracer.Trace($"✅ Total records fetched: {allAccounts.Count}");
    }

    private string CreateFetchXml(string pagingCookie, int pageNumber, int fetchCount)
    {
        return $@"
<fetch mapping='logical' page='{pageNumber}' count='{fetchCount}'{(pagingCookie != null ? $" paging-cookie='{{System.Security.SecurityElement.Escape(pagingCookie)}}'" : "")}>
  <entity name='account'>
    <attribute name='accountid' />
    <attribute name='name' />
    <filter>
      <condition attribute='statecode' operator='eq' value='0' />
    </filter>
  </entity>
</fetch>";
    }
}

⚠️ Watch out: Don’t forget to escape the pagingCookie! Use System.Security.SecurityElement.Escape() to avoid breaking XML syntax.

Bonus Tips

• Use an async plugin or Custom API for long-running tasks
• Consider streaming results or batching when working with >50,000 records
• For external systems, push the results into Azure or a Data Export Service

Registration Ideas

This plugin can be triggered via:

• A Custom API (for on-demand calls)
• A Workflow or Power Automate Flow
• Or bound to Entity Events like Create/Update (with filters)