Bulk upload terms in the glossary

Who can do this?

Currently, only member users with edit access on glossaries and admin users in Atlan can start a bulk glossary upload - you may not have access yourself.

You can upload multiple terms and categories into a glossary using the bulk upload option:

Download the template

A dynamic template can be generated per glossary. The template contains drop-down values for Type, Category, Owner Users, Owner Groups and Tags.

To download the template from within Atlan:

• Click on the desired glossary, choose Bulk Upload tab and proceed to download the sample template.

• Or to download the glossary bulk terms template from within Atlan:

  1. From the left menu, click Glossary.
  2. Terms and categories can only be added/updated to an existing glossary.
  3. Click All glossaries and then click the glossary you want to add terms to. To the right of the glossary's name in the glossary tree, click the Bulk Upload tab and proceed to download the sample template.
  4. Read the notes on each column before you start to edit the template.

  A file named {glossary_name}.xlsx downloads. You can edit this file with your existing terms and definitions in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.

Populate the template

Populate the downloaded template following the template field structure. You can find the same details below in the comments embedded in the {glossary_name}.xlsx file.

Column explanations

danger

Except for the terms and category, these objects must already exist: users, groups, and tags.

Term name

Enter the name of the term under the Name column.

• This is a mandatory field.
• Enter the term or category name. Avoid using @ in the name. If the name already exists, it updates the asset metadata based on the rest of the columns.
• Term names must be unique within a glossary, categories with same name can exist only at different levels in a glossary.
• Category of an existing term can't be updated via this sheet. It's considered as an attempt to create duplicate terms.
• Avoid having empty rows in between.

Did you know?

You can use bulk upload to bulk edit term or category information.

Type

Select the type of the entry in the Type column.

• This is a mandatory field.
• Specify whether the entry is a term or a category. Only Term or Category are valid options.
• Use drop-down to fill the value.

Categories

Enter the category to which to add the term in the Category column.

• Only one category can be mentioned, therefore don't use comma-separated values. You can manually add categories or select from drop-down options.
• Categories that don't exist get auto created. Even sub categories can get auto created.
• Use @ to define hierarchy (for example, Sales@USA), where sub-category USA is present/created under category Sales.
• Categories with same name can exist only at different levels. For example, one can add Term "Customer" at level 2 category with path Users@Users.

Description

Enter the definition of the entry in the Description column.

Business name

Enter the alternative name of the entry in the Business name column.

User owners

Enter the usernames of owners in the User owners column.

• The users must already exist in Atlan.
• User owners are responsible for maintaining the data asset.
• You can manually add usernames or select from drop-down options. Enter valid Atlan usernames to assign ownership.
• Separate multiple owners with commas.

Group owners

Enter the group names of owners in the Group owners column.

• The groups must already exist in Atlan.
• You can manually add group names or select from drop-down options. Enter valid group names responsible for the term.
• Separate multiple groups with commas.

Certification

Enter the certification status in the Certification column.

• The value must be one of Verified, Draft, Deprecated, or leave empty.
• Keeping the cell empty removes the certificate status if it exists already.

Certification message

Enter any additional information related to the certification in the Certification message column.

• Certification message is added only when Certification column contains non-empty value.

Tags

Enter any tags to apply to the term in the Tags column.

• You can manually add tags or select from drop-down options.
• Tags must already exist in Atlan before being used. Comma-separated values can add multiple tags.

Did you know?

Tag propagation is disabled by default in Atlan. You can enable tag propagation to any assets linked to the term.

Example

Following is a simple example of a filled in template, pivoted for readability:

Column name	Example value
Name*	Monthly Active Users
Type*	Term
Description	The number of users who are active over a month, often abbreviated MAU.
Categories	Metrics@Critical Metrics
User Owners	jsmith,jdoe
Group Owners	finance,ops
Certification	Verified
Certification Message	Agreed by governance council on May 10, 2021.
Tags	PII, Confidential

Save as CSV or XLSX file

Before uploading the completed template to Atlan, save it as a CSV (.csv) or an XLSX (.xlsx) file.

You may also need to check the following:

• Atlan requires the file to be comma-separated. If you are in a region where your preferred spreadsheet editor saves CSV or XLSX files with a separator other than a comma , you need to modify your spreadsheet's settings to use commas as separators.
• If your file contains special characters - for example, ñ, ç, õ, and others - Atlan recommends uploading the completed template in an XLSX file to retain the special characters. If uploaded in a CSV file format, the bulk upload and decoding of special characters may fail.

Upload the file

To upload your CSV or XLSX file to Atlan:

1. From the left menu, click Glossary.
2. Under All Glossaries, click the glossary you want to add terms to. (Terms can only be added to an existing glossary.)
3. To the right of the glossary's name, click the Bulk Upload tab, and then use Click to upload or drag it here..
4. Click Select a CSV or XLSX file to upload* or drag and drop the file into the dialog.
5. Review the summary of changes displayed and proceed .

Monitor the upload

To track the status of your upload, from the glossary:

1. View the history from the same Bulk Upload tab.
2. If there are errors in your file, you see a message indicating Failed to upload.
   1. If you see the link Download file with errors, click it to download a copy of the file with notations on what the errors are. If you don't see this link, retry the process or reach out to Atlan support.
   2. Update your file, save your changes, and upload the edited file following the steps earlier.
3. If your upload is successful, you see a message indicating Success. You can hover on the record to see View Summary.

That's it, your terms and categories are now available in Atlan! 🎉