MS Purview for Governance | Glossaries | Display Custom Fields as Columns in Views

Hey NV ,

it looks like you’d like to be able to pick and choose which custom glossary-term attributes show up as columns in the Purview UI glossary views so you don’t have to drill into each term to see your critical fields. Unfortunately, today the Purview glossary UI doesn’t support configuring custom fields as additional columns. Here are a couple of workarounds and next steps you can consider:

1. Export to CSV • Use the “Export Glossary Terms As Csv” REST API to pull down all your glossary terms, including any custom attributes you’ve defined in your term templates. • Open the CSV in Excel (or your BI tool of choice) and you’ll see each custom field as its own column. Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/purview/catalogdataplane/glossary/export-glossary-terms-as-csv?tabs=HTTP
2. Programmatic retrieval via Atlas API • If you need a more dynamic or integrated view, you can call the Atlas APIs to fetch glossary terms along with their attribute GUIDs and values, then build your own UI or dashboard. • Steps: a. GET all glossary term GUIDs b. GET each term by GUID to retrieve custom attributes c. Render your custom grid with the fields you care about Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/purview/catalog-concept-atlas-rest-api
3. File a feature request • If neither of the above options fits, we recommend submitting a feature request on the Purview feedback portal (aka “Ideas” in the Purview Studio). The product team regularly reviews these suggestions for future releases.

Hope one of these approaches helps you get visibility into your custom fields without manual clicks on every term! Let us know if you have any questions on the APIs or CSV export.

Reference list

• Export Glossary Terms As Csv

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/purview/catalogdataplane/glossary/export-glossary-terms-as-csv?tabs=HTTP

• Import Glossary Terms Via Csv

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/purview/catalogdataplane/glossary/import-glossary-terms-via-csv?tabs=HTTP

• Glossary – Assign Term To Entities (Atlas API)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/purview/catalogdataplane/glossary/assign-term-to-entities?tabs=HTTP#atlasrelatedobjectid

• Atlas REST APIs overview

https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/purview/catalog-concept-atlas-rest-api

• Purview glossary best practices

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/purview/concept-best-practices-glossary

Note: This content was drafted with the help of an AI system. Please verify the information before relying on it for decision-making.

Displaying custom attributes as separate columns in the glossary list view in Microsoft Purview Data Governance is not documented as a supported capability.

Current documented options for working with custom attributes and glossary terms include:

1. Custom attributes on glossary terms
   • Custom attributes are defined through term templates in the glossary and are visible on the term’s details page under Custom attributes.
   • In the classic experience, term templates and custom attributes are managed via Glossary → Manage term templates, where attributes can be created, ordered, and marked as required, but this configuration applies to the term form, not to list-view columns.
   • In the Unified Catalog experience, glossary term details similarly show custom attributes under Custom attributes, with an option to toggle Show attributes without a value.
2. Filtering by custom attributes instead of showing them as columns
   • In the Enterprise glossary and in governance-domain views, business concept attributes (custom attributes) can be used as filters when browsing glossary terms:
     • Go to Unified Catalog → Discovery → Enterprise glossary.
     • On the Glossary terms tab, select Add filter.
     • Choose an attribute at Filter, pick an Operator (for example, Equals, Starts with), enter a Value, and select Apply.
   • The same pattern exists for other business concepts such as Critical data elements (preview), where custom attributes can be used to filter the list but are not exposed as separate list columns.
3. Observability and related views
   • Glossary terms can be linked to data products and surfaced in observability views, but these views focus on relationships and lineage, not on tabular display of custom attributes as columns.

Given the available documentation, the supported way to work with critical custom fields at scale in list views is to:

• Use attribute-based filters to narrow down terms by key custom attributes.
• Open term details to see or edit the full set of custom attributes.

The requested feature—showing custom attributes as configurable columns directly in glossary list views—is not described as available and would require a product enhancement request through Microsoft support or feedback channels.

References:

• Create and manage glossary terms
• Microsoft Purview data governance glossary
• How to manage term templates for business glossary
• Observability views (preview)
• Enterprise glossary (preview)
• Critical data elements (preview)