Query on Adding New Column for Custom Attributes in Unity Catalog

Question

Hi Team,

I have a quick query regarding Unity Catalog. In the Overview section of tables/views, we can currently see column-level details such as column, type, comments and tags.

Is there any supported way to introduce an additional custom column or field to capture user-defined attributes (for example, a “Customer Attribute” or any other custom metadata) alongside these existing fields?

Regards,
Aamer

Answer 1

Hi Mohammed Aamer,
Thankyou for reaching microsoft Q&A!
At the moment, Unity Catalog doesn’t support adding new custom fields or extra columns in the Overview section of tables or views. The metadata layout in Catalog Explorer is fixed and only shows the default attributes such as column name, type, comments, and tags, so introducing something like a separate “Customer Attribute” field in the UI isn’t supported today.

If you need to capture additional business or user-defined metadata, the recommended approach is to use tags or comments, as they are fully supported, searchable, and designed for governance scenarios. Many teams use column or table tags to represent business attributes, classifications, or custom labels. Another alternative is to store extended metadata in table properties or maintain a separate metadata table/data dictionary if you require more structured custom attributes.

So in short, extending the Overview UI with new custom columns isn’t currently available, and tags/comments are the best-practice workaround for managing custom metadata within Unity Catalog.