
## Link terms to assets

URL: https://docs.atlan.com/product/capabilities/governance/glossary/how-tos/link-terms-to-assets

> Once you've [set up a glossary](/product/capabilities/governance/glossary/how-tos/set-up-glossaries), you can link terms from your glossary to your data assets in Atlan.

Once you've [set up a glossary](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/glossary/set-up-glossaries/llms.txt), you can link terms from your glossary to your data assets in Atlan.

Linking glossary terms with your data assets can help you:

- Provide additional context for your assets to other users in your organization.
- Create common definitions once and apply them many times to multiple assets.
- Offer an abstract point for applying [tags](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/tags/what-are-tags/llms.txt) to be propagated to all linked assets - including their downstream and child assets - if [propagation is enabled](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/faq/tags-and-metadata-management/llms.txt).

## Example

If your data assets include personal information - for example, email addresses - you can link your assets to an `Email Address` term to provide context to your users.

- You can define the term `Email Address` once in the glossary.
- You can link the term to all the columns where an individual's email address appears.
- You can also tag the term as `PII` - and all of the linked assets will be [tagged](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/tags/attach-a-tag/llms.txt) as `PII`.

## Link terms to your assets

:::warning

You will first need to [create a glossary](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/glossary/set-up-glossaries/llms.txt) and add terms to it before you can link terms to your assets.

:::

To link a term to an asset:

### From a term

1. From the left sidebar, click on **all assets** and then view the glossary.
 * If you are using the **Old UI (Classic)**, click on **Glossary** from the left sidebar.
2. Under _Glossary_ in the left menu, click the name of your glossary.
3. Under your glossary name, click the category in which your term is nested and then click the term you would like to link to your assets.
4. In the term profile, next to _Overview_, click **Linked assets**.
5. Click **+** **Link Assets** to get started. 
6. (Optional) In the sidebar on the right, under the search bar, click an asset type to filter your assets - for example, _Column_.
7. In the sidebar on the right, select the asset(s) to which you would like to link the term.
8. At the bottom of the sidebar, click **Link asset(s)** to confirm your selections.
9. (Optional) Under _Linked Assets_, next to the search bar, click the export icon to [export linked assets](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/integrations/export-assets/llms.txt) for terms to spreadsheets.

### From an asset

1. From the left menu of any screen in Atlan, click on **all assets**.

 If you are using the **Old UI (Classic)**, from the left menu of any screen in Atlan, click **Assets**.
2. On the _Assets_ page, select the asset to which you would like to link a term.
3. Under _Terms_ in the asset sidebar, click the **+** sign to add a term to your asset.
4. In the dialog, expand the glossary menu and then click the term you would like to link to your assets.
5. Click **Save** to confirm your selections.

You can now view linked assets for your glossary term! 🎉

:::info **Did you know?** 
 You can also [set up playbooks](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/playbooks/set-up-playbooks/llms.txt) to automate the task of updating asset metadata, such as terms and more.

:::

## Unlink terms from your assets

To unlink a term from an asset:

### From a term

1. From the left sidebar, click on **all assets** and then view the glossary.
 * If you are using the **Old UI (Classic)**, click on **Glossary** from the left sidebar.
2. Under _Glossary_ in the left menu, click the name of your glossary.
3. Under your glossary name, click the category in which your term is nested and then click the term you would like to unlink from your assets.
4. In the term profile, next to _Overview_, click **Linked assets**.
5. (Optional) Under _Linked Assets_, next to the search bar, click the export icon to [export linked assets](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/integrations/export-assets/llms.txt) for terms to spreadsheets before unlinking them.
6. Under _Linked assets_, navigate to the asset(s) from which you would like to unlink the term.
7. To the right of the asset name, click the **three dots** and then click **Unlink asset**.

### From an asset

1. From the left menu of any screen in Atlan, click on **all assets**.

 If you are using the **Old UI (Classic)**, from the left menu of any screen in Atlan, click **Assets**.
2. On the _Assets_ page, select the asset from which you would like to unlink a term.
3. Under _Terms_ in the asset sidebar, hover over the term, and in the top right of the term popover, click the **unlink button** to unlink the term from the asset.

Your assets will now be unlinked from the glossary term.

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