I am facing 'Failed to import source schema. The function convertTimeZone is currently not supported for schema operations.' error in copy activity pipeline in synapse .

Question

I am facing 'Failed to import source schema. The function convertTimeZone is currently not supported for schema operations.' error in copy activity pipeline in synapse .

Sebika Pradhan 0

Hello,

I am facing 'Failed to import source schema. The function convertTimeZone is currently not supported for schema operations.' error in copy activity pipeline in synapse . Can you please Help

Error

I am adding an additional column in source tab of copy activity at source as Dynamic Column

Extract_Timestamp =

@convertTimeZone(utcNow(), 'UTC', 'Romance Standard Time', 'yyyy.MM.dd HH-mm-ss')

Venkat Reddy Navari 1,780 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-04-18T10:12:06.1966667+00:00

@Sebika Pradhan We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.

1 answer

Your answer

Venkat Reddy Navari 1,780 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-04-18T10:12:06.1966667+00:00

@Sebika Pradhan We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.

Answer 1

Hi @Sebika Pradhan

Failed to import source schema. The function convertTimeZone is currently not supported for schema operations.

occurs because the convertTimeZone() function is not supported during schema inference (i.e., design time) in Azure Synapse pipelines, particularly when used in the "Additional columns" section of the Copy Activity source.

While this expression is valid and works at runtime:

@convertTimeZone(utcNow(), 'UTC', 'Romance Standard Time', 'yyyy.MM.dd HH-mm-ss')

the schema import tries to evaluate the expression during pipeline validation, and unfortunately, convertTimeZone() is not supported at that stage — hence the schema import fails.

Recommended Solutions: Here are some ways to overcome this challenge

Use @utcNow() Instead: If you don’t need time zone conversion, you can simply use:

@utcNow()

Move the Timestamp Logic Downstream:

Remove the Dynamic Column: Eliminate the timestamp column from the Copy Activity's source.
Add the Timestamp Column Later: You can do this in a Data Flow using a Derived Column transformation. For example, you can create a new column in the Data Flow that applies the convertTimeZone() function after the data has been copied.
Populate the Timestamp During Sink Mapping: Alternatively, you can set the timestamp during the Sink mapping or use a Set Variable activity to store the timestamp.

For more information on supported functions and how to work with Data Flows, you can refer to the Azure Synapse Analytics documentation https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/synapse-analytics/. I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.

Kindly consider upvoting the comment if the information provided is helpful. This can assist other community members in resolving similar issues.

Venkat Reddy Navari 1,780 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-04-21T08:19:19.3166667+00:00

@Sebika Pradhan Following up to see if the above answer was helpful. If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
Sebika Pradhan 0 Reputation points

2025-04-22T15:35:41.7666667+00:00

Thank You Venkat for the support. I could be able to achieve this by the solution provided by you.
Venkat Reddy Navari 1,780 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-04-22T18:27:22.95+00:00

@Sebika Pradhan You're very welcome! I'm glad the solution worked for you. Please don’t forget to click “Accept Answer” and select “Yes” if you found it helpful — it helps others too!

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I am facing 'Failed to import source schema. The function convertTimeZone is currently not supported for schema operations.' error in copy activity pipeline in synapse .

1 answer

Your answer