topic Regarding External Tables and Temporary Tables with Azure Synapse Analytics as the Target in Qlik Replicate

Regarding External Tables and Temporary Tables with Azure Synapse Analytics as the Target

iti-attunity-sup — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 07:40:02 GMT

Hi, all.

In Qlik Replicate, when targeting Azure Synapse Analytics, the data processing flow appears to operate as follows:

Uploading CSV files to storage
Creating an external table based on the CSV files
Performing a COPY INTO operation from the external table into a temporary table
Joining the temporary table with the target table to execute a bulk UPDATE/DELETE

Regarding this workflow, I have a question about the design: If we were to join the external table directly with the target table instead of using a temporary table, we could skip the COPY INTO process entirely. I assume this would be faster and more efficient.

Could you please explain the reason why Qlik Replicate is implemented to follow this specific flow?

Best Regards.

Re: Regarding External Tables and Temporary Tables with Azure Synapse Analytics as the Target

Rahul_Kale — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 12:44:41 GMT

Hello iti-attunity-sup,

Thank you for reaching out to the Qlik community.

Qlik Replicate uses external table → COPY INTO → temp table → MERGE because:

External tables are slow for joins and DML in Synapse.
Microsoft recommends loading into staging/temp tables first for best MPP performance.
COPY INTO is optimized for high‑throughput ingestion into native tables.
Temp tables enable fast, set‑based CDC updates/deletes instead of row‑by‑row operations.

Joining the external table directly would usually be slower and less scalable.

Re: Regarding External Tables and Temporary Tables with Azure Synapse Analytics as the Target

iti-attunity-sup — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 04:41:15 GMT

Hi, Rahul_Kale-san.

I now understand that external tables have a disadvantage in terms of speed, and that using temporary tables resolves this issue.
Thank you again for providing this very important information.

Best Regards.

Re: Regarding External Tables and Temporary Tables with Azure Synapse Analytics as the Target

Rahul_Kale — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:09:16 GMT

Happy to help @iti-attunity-sup.