Glossary term assignments link business terms to your data, providing consistent definitions across your organization. You can assign terms to catalog assets (tables, views, streams, BI assets) and schema fields (individual columns within assets).

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Note

Glossary terms can be assigned to catalog assets and schema fields only. They are not assignable to sources or validators.

Assign Terms via Popover

The term assignment popover is the primary interface for managing which terms are assigned to an asset or field. It appears in multiple locations across the platform:

• Catalog asset or schema field lists -- Use the glossary column in the table.
• Catalog asset sidebar -- Open the sidebar for any asset in the catalog list and use the glossary terms section.
• Schema field sidebar -- Navigate to an asset's Schema & Profiling tab, click a field, and use the glossary terms section in the sidebar.
• Lineage sidebar -- Select a node or field in the lineage graph and open the sidebar to manage term assignments.

To assign a term:

1. Click Add term (or the + icon) in the glossary terms section.
2. Search for a term by typing in the search field.
3. Click a term to toggle its assignment on or off. Assigned terms show a checkmark.

Assign Terms in Bulk from the Catalog

You can assign terms to multiple catalog assets at once:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Assets.
2. Select multiple assets using the checkboxes.
3. Click Update terms in the selection toolbar.
4. Use the popover to add or remove terms for all selected assets.

Assign Terms from Lineage

You can assign terms while exploring the lineage graph:

1. Select a node (asset) or field in the lineage graph.
2. Click More info in the status bar to open the sidebar.
3. Use the glossary terms section to add or remove assignments.

For more information, see Using Lineage.

Visual Indicators

Glossary term assignments are displayed throughout the platform using visual indicators:

• Term chips -- Shown inline in list columns, sidebars, and lineage nodes. In tables, term chips display a count when there are more than one assigned term, and you can hover over the chip to view the list of assigned terms in a tooltip.
• Propagated terms -- Terms that were propagated via lineage (rather than manually assigned) are shown with a distinct visual style and a tooltip indicating "Propagated". For more information, see Glossary Term Propagation.

View Assignments on the Term Details Page

Navigate to a term's details page to see all resources linked to that term:

• Catalog assets count -- Click to navigate to the catalog assets list filtered by this term.
• Schema fields count -- Shows the number of individual fields assigned to this term.
• Linked resources section -- Lists all assigned assets and fields.

Related Resources

• Business Glossary
• Glossary Term Propagation
• Catalog Assets
• Using Lineage