Have you ever needed to remove all the data in your production instance of Dynamics CRM Online? This is a loaded question as most people will generally say no. However, if the situation arises where you do need to do this, you will notice that there is not an easy way to remove all of the content or reset production instances outside of creating a Microsoft Support Case to remove all data. Lucky for you, we have the steps to do this yourself in today's blog!

There are a couple scenarios that you may find yourself in. The first is that you have both a production instance and at least one Sandbox instance. Or, you might only have a production instance. For both of these scenarios, you will follow the same steps in order to clear out the production instance.

Please note before beginning that the assumption here is that you are a CRM System Administrator with Global Admin rights to Office 365, your system is not live, and/or you are in a maintenance window. Remember that resetting your production instance will erase all data from within the instance.

1. From your Office 365 CRM Online Administration Center, click Admin Centers.

2. Click on CRM. This will pop up a new tab or a window.

3. From this new tab or window, click on the Instances Tab.

4. Select your production instance.

5. Then click Edit. This will take you to a new screen.

6. Under Instance Type, select Sandbox Instance.

7. Click Next. This will bring you to a verification page.

Note: There is a warning regarding your licenses.

8. Click Save. This will take you back to the Instances Page of the CRM Online Administration Center.

9. You will see that your Org Type is listed as Sandbox Instance.

10. You will also see that you have a Reset button available. If you click Reset, it will take you to a reset instance page.

11. Click Next. This will bring you to the next page. On this page you can select your language and currency.

12. Click Reset. This will pop up a warning page that you will have to accept.

13. Click Yes.

You will now be taken back to the Instances Page of the CRM Online Administration Center.

14. You will notice a warning that states your instance is being set up.

15. You will also notice that your open instance button is greyed out.

The resetting process will take some time. Once it is completed, you will notice the notification is gone and the Open button is active again. We now need to put this Sandbox instance back in production.

16. Click on Edit. This will pop a new screen.

17. Click on Instance Type and select Production instance.

18. Click Next. This will take you to a new screen.

19. Please note the warning regarding your licenses.

20. Click Save. This will bring you back to the Instances Page of the CRM Online Administration Center.

Now you are back to a production instance that has been completely reset! That's all for the blog today. Take a coffee break now and check out a few CRM videos on PO TV before Season Two of The CRM Minute starts next Wednesday! Watch the trailer!

Happy CRM'ing!