# INFORMATION\_SCHEMA table information not available until table has been queried

**URL:** <https://community.dremio.com/t/information-schema-table-information-not-available-until-table-has-been-queried/12157>\
**Category:** Dremio Cloud\
**Created:** [August 9, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://community.dremio.com/t/information-schema-table-information-not-available-until-table-has-been-queried/12157 "2024-08-09T11:17:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jamie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aca169/32.png) [@Jamie](https://community.dremio.com/u/Jamie)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://community.dremio.com/t/information-schema-table-information-not-available-until-table-has-been-queried/12157/1 "2024-08-09T11:17:07Z")

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Hi,

INFORMATION\_SCHEMA table information not available until table has been queried…

We are making Iceberg tables on AWS S3 available in metastores in Dremio Cloud.

I rely on INFORMATION\_SCHEMA.TABLES and INFORMATION\_SCHEMA.COLUMNS to discover the tables present and columns available to build queries to be run against these tables.

When we make new tables available or change schemas of the tables - the information for the tables seems not to be available in INFORMATION\_SCHEMA unless I first do a SELECT \* FROM the tables.

I would expect INFORMATION\_SCHEMA to reflect the objects available without me having to query the objects first.

Are my expectations too high or misguided?

Thanks,  
Jamie

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**Author:** ![balaji.ramaswamy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.dremio.com/balaji.ramaswamy/32/843_2.png) [@balaji.ramaswamy](https://community.dremio.com/u/balaji.ramaswamy)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 6:00am UTC](https://community.dremio.com/t/information-schema-table-information-not-available-until-table-has-been-queried/12157/2 "2024-08-12T06:00:03Z")

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@Jamie Current behavior is that only promoted datasets are part of `information_schema."tables"`.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jamie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aca169/32.png) [@Jamie](https://community.dremio.com/u/Jamie)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 8:07am UTC](https://community.dremio.com/t/information-schema-table-information-not-available-until-table-has-been-queried/12157/3 "2024-08-12T08:07:17Z")

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Hi, So does ALTER TABLE REFRESH METADATA… force promotion, or can that only be done by querying the table?  
Thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![balaji.ramaswamy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.dremio.com/balaji.ramaswamy/32/843_2.png) [@balaji.ramaswamy](https://community.dremio.com/u/balaji.ramaswamy)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://community.dremio.com/t/information-schema-table-information-not-available-until-table-has-been-queried/12157/4 "2024-08-12T14:47:26Z")

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@Jamie Either works, it is not FORCE PROMOTION but AUTO PROMOTION

> **[ALTER TABLE | Dremio Documentation](https://docs.dremio.com/cloud/reference/sql/commands/alter-table/)**
>
> Update a table’s definition or schema.

You can also use API

> **[Table | Dremio Documentation](https://docs.dremio.com/current/reference/api/catalog/table/#formatting-a-file-or-folder-as-a-table)**
>
> Use the Catalog API to retrieve tables, format files and folders as tables, update and refresh tables, and revert tables to files and folders.