Comments not reflecting on Unity Catalog tables

Update the Apache Spark configuration to enable automatic metadata updates.

Written by guruprasad.bn

Last published at: December 12th, 2024

Problem

You add or alter comments to your Unity Catalog table from either the Catalog UI or a notebook and you see the command executes successfully. However, when you review the UI, you don’t see the comments in the table. 

 

Cause

The spark.databricks.delta.catalog.update.enabled configuration is set to false in the cluster or SQL warehouse settings. When this setting is false, automatic updates to Unity Catalog metadata (such as comments) are disabled, and the UI doesn’t show changes made through any means. 

 

Solution

For All-Purpose Clusters

  1. Go to the cluster's Spark configuration settings.
  2. Locate the spark.databricks.delta.catalog.update.enabled property.
  3. Change the setting to true.
  4. Restart the cluster to apply the changes.

     

For SQL Warehouses

  1. Navigate to Workspace Settings > Compute.
  2. Under SQL Warehouses, select Manage.  
  3. In the Data Access Properties section, find spark.databricks.delta.catalog.update.enabled.
  4. Set it to true.
  5. Save the changes and restart the SQL Warehouse.

 

Note

When spark.databricks.delta.catalog.update.enabled is set to true, the Delta catalog shows changes to Delta tables, such as schema updates or data modifications, in the Catalog UI without requiring manual action. It doesn’t change anything in the database.