How to update column metadata in Google Sheets

Once you've connected Atlan with Google Sheets, you can import the column metadata for all your data assets in Atlan and make changes to them directly in Google Sheets.

Atlan currently supports importing and updating column metadata for the following asset types:

• Tables
• Views
• Materialized views
• Looker explores
• Microsoft Power BI tables
• Salesforce objects
• Tableau data sources

Import column metadata

You can import column metadata for your data assets directly into Google Sheets.

To import column metadata for your data assets into Google Sheets:

1. In the menu bar of your Google spreadsheet, click Extensions.
2. From the dropdown menu, click Atlan. 
3. From the list of options in the Atlan add-on, click Enrich metadata to view a list of your data assets in a sidebar.
4. (Optional) To filter your assets by a specific asset type, in the Atlan sidebar, click the asset type — for example, Tableau Datasources.
5. In the Atlan sidebar on your spreadsheet, select the data asset(s) you want to import.
6. Click Import to import column metadata for your selected assets.

The column metadata for your selected assets are now available in Google Sheets! 🎉

Update column metadata

Once you've imported your data assets from Atlan, you can edit the metadata for your selected data asset in Google Sheets. You can make changes to the column metadata once all the columns have been successfully imported.

You can only make changes to the metadata in the following columns:

• Description
• Certification Status
• Certification Message
• Announcement Type
• Announcement Title
• Announcement Message
• Tags

You cannot make the following changes:

• Edit headers for any of the columns
• Edit the metadata in the Column Name, Data Type, Propagated Tags, and Qualified Name columns
• Delete any columns or rows

Any of these changes will not be pushed to Atlan and you'll receive an error message.

Bulk update tags for columns

Navigate to the Tags column to add tags to your column assets in Google Sheets:

When adding tags to columns:

• The tag must already exist in Atlan. If the tag does not exist in Atlan, updates will not sync and you will receive an error message.
• Tag match is case-sensitive, ensure that the tag is formatted exactly as it exists in Atlan. For example, if the tag in Atlan is formatted as Marketing Analysis, then columns tagged with marketing analysis will not sync.
• You can add multiple tags in the Tags column — separate multiple tags with a comma ,. If you are in a region that uses a separator other than a comma, you will need to modify your spreadsheet’s settings to use commas as separators.
• If you have added tags that exist in Atlan as well as ones that do not, only the existing tags will be synced. The unsupported tags will not sync and you will receive an error message.
• Tag propagation is disabled by default in Atlan, hence tags will not be propagated.

Push your changes to Atlan

Once you've made changes to the column metadata, complete these steps to push your changes:

1. In the menu bar of your Google spreadsheet, click Extensions.
2. From the dropdown menu, click Atlan and then click Push to Atlan.
3. A dialog box will appear once the changes have synced.
   1. (Optional) Click Open in Atlan to verify the changes.
   2. In Atlan, an Updated using Google Sheets stamp will appear in the activity log for updated assets. (Optional) Click the Google Sheets link to view the source spreadsheet from Atlan.

View asset profiles in Google Sheets

Once you've imported your data assets into Google Sheets, you can also view their asset profiles. Complete these steps:

1. In the menu bar of your Google spreadsheet, click Extensions.
2. In the dropdown menu, click Atlan.
3. Next, click Open asset in sidebar to view the asset profile on your Google spreadsheet.

You can also update components of your asset profile directly in Google Sheets. Your changes will sync automatically to Atlan.