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Metadata Editor

Admin get special super powers in Catalog; they can perform metadata edit in Bulk 🦸‍♂️

For Tables, Dashboards and Knowledge​

Actions you can perform in bulk on your assets are:

  1. Add owners
  2. Add tags
  3. Certify/uncertify
  4. Deprecate/undeprecate

It's a 3 step process:

  1. Select the tables you want to modify - Use the enhanced filtering system with intelligent cascading filters and lineage-based options:

    Smart Filtering Options​

    Basic Filters:

    • Source, Database, Schema: Hierarchical selection where database options depend on selected sources, and schema options depend on selected databases
    • Tags: Filter by existing tags
    • Owner: Filter by asset owners

    Advanced Lineage Filters:

    • Ancestors: Filter tables by their upstream dependencies using lineage relationships
      • Supports flexible search formats: database.schema.table or database schema table
      • Case-insensitive search
      • Considers all lineage types: AUTOMATIC, MANUAL_CUSTOMER, MANUAL_OPS, and OTHER_TECHNOS
    Smart Cascading Selection

    The Source → Database → Schema filters work hierarchically to prevent invalid combinations. When you select a source, only databases from that source appear. When you select databases, only schemas from those databases appear.

    Lineage-Based Filtering

    Use the Ancestors filter to find all tables that depend on a specific upstream table. This is perfect for propagating ownership, tags, or other metadata changes downstream through your data lineage.

  2. Click on the action you want to perform

  3. Apply your changes

Your assets are immediately updated!

Advanced Use Cases​

Propagating Governance Downstream​

The Ancestors filter is particularly powerful for data governance workflows:

Example Scenario: You have a core customer table prod.core.customers and want to assign the same owner to all downstream tables that depend on it.

  1. In the metadata editor, use the Ancestors filter
  2. Search for prod.core.customers or prod core customers
  3. All tables with lineage relationships to this table will be displayed
  4. Select the tables you want to update
  5. Apply ownership changes in bulk

This eliminates the need to manually navigate through lineage tabs for each dependent table.

Multi-Source Environment Management​

The hierarchical filtering system makes it easy to work across complex data environments:

Example Scenario: You need to tag all tables in specific schemas across multiple Snowflake databases.

  1. Select your Snowflake source first
  2. Choose the relevant databases (only Snowflake databases will appear)
  3. Select the specific schemas (only schemas from chosen databases will appear)
  4. Apply tags to all selected tables

This prevents accidentally selecting tables from the wrong source or invalid database/schema combinations.

Columns​

Actions you can perform in bulk on your assets are:

  1. Add, replace remove descriptions
  2. Add, replace tags
  3. Flag as PII
  4. Flag as Primary Key

Many columns have the same names... Shouldn't they also have the same description ?