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How to create and manage glossary terms (Preview)

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In Microsoft Purview, glossary terms provide a vocabulary for business users. These terms allow users to discover and work with data in the vocabulary that is more familiar to them, rather than using abstract technical jargon inherited from data sources.

This article describes how to manage glossary terms in Microsoft Purview. It provides steps to create a business glossary term in a business domain. It also shows you how to link data product to your terms.

For more information about glossary terms in general, see our glossary terms concept page.

Prerequisites

Access glossary terms

  1. In the Microsoft Purview portal, open the data catalog and select the Data management drop-down.
  2. Select Business domains.
  3. Select the business domain you'd like to see glossary terms for.
  4. On the glossary terms card, select View all.
  5. You'll see a list of all the glossary terms for that business domain.
  6. You can search or sort through these glossary terms, filter them, or change the view between a list, a compact list, or a tree.

Note

There may be multiple pages of terms. Toggle between these pages using the arrow buttons and the page selector.

Create glossary term

Note

To create a glossary term you need the steward role.

  1. In the Microsoft Purview portal, open the data catalog and select the Data management drop-down.
  2. Select Business domains.
  3. Select the business domain you'd like to add a term to.
  4. Select the Glossary terms button.
  5. To create a single new term, select Create term.
  6. Enter a name and a definition for your term.
  7. Select an owner, or several owners for the term.
  8. Optionally select an existing term as a parent term.
  9. Optionally add any related acronyms.
  10. Optionally add any related resources, like links to documentation or other sources that provide context for your term.
  11. Select Create.

Your term is created in a draft state, where only stewards and domain owners can see it. To make it visible to all users, you need to publish the term. You're taken to the details page for your new glossary term, where you can edit or manage your term, publish your term, or link the term to data products.

Add a custom attribute group to a glossary term

Attaching a custom attribute to a glossary term allows you to add more information to your glossary terms.

  1. Open the Data Catalog in the Microsoft Purview Portal.
  2. Select the Data management drop-down.
  3. Select Business domains.
  4. Select the business domain where you want to add custom attributes to your glossary term.
  5. Select the Glossary terms card.
  6. Select a glossary term you want to add an attribute group to.
  7. Select the + Add attribute group button.
  8. Select your custom attribute group (you can filter by business domain), and select Add.
  9. Fill in any required values and select the check mark button to save the changes.

To update or edit the values for your added attributes, hover over the attribute group and select the edit pencil icon. Update your values, and then select the check mark button to save your changes.

Publish

Once your term is ready to be used in your business domain, you can publish your term by:

  1. Select the domain where your term resides.
  2. Select the Glossary terms button.
  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.
  4. Select the Publish button next to the Edit button.

Manage term policies

To manage term policies, you need data steward permissions.

  1. On your glossary term page, select Manage policies.
  2. From the policy configuration window, you're able to create and manage your term policies. For more information, see the documentation about managing access policies.

Add, remove, and view data product links all from within your glossary term.

  1. Select the business domain where your term resides.
  2. Select the Glossary terms button.
  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.
  4. Select the Related tab.
  5. To link your term to a data product, select the + Link data product button.
  6. Search for the data product, or data products, you want to link and select them.
  7. You can remove any selected products from the Selected list by selecting the X button next to their name.
  8. To add your selected data products, select Add.

Tip

There may be multiple pages in your data product search results. Check the page selector to view all pages.

View linked data products

You can view all your linked data products from within your glossary term. The Related tab lists the first 10 linked data products. Select View all data products to see and search the entire list.

Remove linked data products

To remove a linked data product:

  1. Open the term where the data product is linked.
  2. Select the Related tab.
  3. Find the data product on the details page or select View all data products to search for it.
  4. Select the ellipsis button (...) next to the data product and select Remove link.

You can also link or remove glossary terms from the data product details page. For more information, see the data product documentation.

Related glossary terms from across all your business domains can be added to a term to provide better business context.

  1. Select the business domain where your term resides.

  2. Select the Glossary terms button.

  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.

  4. Select the Related tab.

  5. To add a term, select the + Add term button, and choose whether to add the term as a synonym, or a related term.

    Note

    Terms from across business domains can be linked.

  6. To remove a related term, select the X button next to the term.

Edit glossary term

  1. Select the domain where you'd like to edit one of the terms.
  2. Select the Glossary terms button.
  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.
  4. Select the Edit button to edit the name, definition, and owners.
  5. To update status, select the ... ellipsis button, and select the new desired status.

Expire glossary term

Expiring a glossary term will limit its visibility to stewards and business domain owners.

  1. Select the business domain you'd like to remove or retire a term from.
  2. Select the Glossary terms button.
  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.
  4. Select the ... ellipsis button.
  5. Select Set to Expired.
  6. Select Save.

Can you still access the classic business glossary?

For now, yes. You can access the classic business glossary by:

  1. In the Microsoft Purview portal, open the Data Catalog.
  2. Select the Data management drop-down.
  3. Select Business domains.
  4. Select the Business domains header and then select Glossaries.