Managing glossary terms

---
title: Managing glossary terms
description: Glossary terms define business concepts and provide business context for catalog assets through definitions, synonyms, related concepts, and ownership information.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/integrate-applications/managing-glossary-terms.html
release: brazil
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 2
keywords: [glossary term, business glossary, data catalog, business context]
breadcrumb: [Data Catalog, Workflow Data Fabric]
---

# Managing glossary terms

Glossary terms define business concepts and provide business context for catalog assets through definitions, synonyms, related concepts, and ownership information.

Link glossary terms to catalog assets to provide business context and help users understand data meaning and usage. Terms include definitions, synonyms, related concepts, and ownership information. Use glossary terms to bridge the gap between technical data structures and business understanding.

\[Omitted image "dc-glossary-list.png"\] Alt text: List of glossary terms showing name, description, and status columns

## Bulk operations

Bulk upload glossary terms using spreadsheets. You can also download and edit existing glossary terms.

**Note:** Use the bulk download and upload feature to manage the business glossary within an instance only. This feature is not intended for downloading the glossary from one instance and uploading it to another instance.

-   If this is the first time you are adding a glossary to an organization, download the template from the application. Follow the instructions in the spreadsheet, and upload your glossary to the application.
-   If you are working in an instance that already has a glossary, download the existing glossary as a spreadsheet and make edits to it or add new terms. After you are done, upload the updated glossary to the application.
-   The spreadsheet has guidelines on how to make edits and set field values. Follow those instructions carefully to ensure successful upload.
-   You cannot use the bulk feature to delete business terms.

-   **[Create a glossary term](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/integrate-applications/create-glossary-term.md)**  
Create glossary terms to define business concepts and provide context for data assets.
-   **[Bulk export glossary terms](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/integrate-applications/bulk-export-glossary-terms.md)**  
Download existing glossary terms to an XLSX file for offline review and editing, or download an empty template to create new glossary terms with properly formatted fields.
-   **[Edit glossary spreadsheet](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/integrate-applications/edit-glossary-spreadsheet.md)**  
Edit the downloaded glossary spreadsheet to add or update glossary terms before importing them back into the Data Catalog.
-   **[Bulk import glossary terms](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/integrate-applications/bulk-import-glossary-terms.md)**  
Import multiple glossary terms at once using an XLSX file to quickly populate your data catalog with business terminology and definitions.
-   **[Glossary import error scenarios](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/integrate-applications/glossary-import-error-scenarios.md)**  
Error and warning messages that can occur when uploading glossary term files, and their impact on the import process.

**Parent Topic:**[Data Catalog](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/integrate-applications/data-catalog.md)