The Databricks Excel Add-in is now generally available

GASep 10, 2026VerifiedAdded Sep 22, 2026

The Databricks Excel Add-in is now generally available. Connect Microsoft Excel to your Databricks workspace to browse and import governed Unity Catalog tables and views, run SQL queries, build pivot tables, use custom functions, and write data back to Unity Catalog.

SQL Governance Observability

Read Databricks's release notes

https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/release-notes/product/2026/september#the-databricks-excel-add-in-is-now-generally-available

Summaries of vendors' own notes. Product names and logos belong to their owners; logos via logo.dev.

More Databricks Data Intelligence Platform releases

Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformSep 9, 2026

Configurable retention for system tables is in Beta

Account admins can now set an account-wide retention period from 30 to 3,650 days for supported system tables. See Configure system table data retention .

BetaDeveloper toolsSource

Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformSep 8, 2026

The partner-powered AI features setting will be removed

On November 1, 2026, Databricks will remove the account- and workspace-level toggle for partner-powered AI features. Each workspace will keep its current setting value: if the setting is enabled, it stays enabled, and if it's disabled, it stays disabled. Removing the toggle doesn't change any setting values.

DeprecationSource

Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformSep 8, 2026

Partner-powered AI features can no longer be disabled in the settings UI

You can no longer disable the partner-powered AI features setting in the account or workspace settings UI, but can still enable it. Until November 1, 2026, you can still use the Settings API to enable or disable the setting. On November 1, 2026, the setting will be removed, and any change will then require contacting your Databricks account team.

UpdateDeveloper toolsSource

Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformSep 8, 2026

See which chunks support each ai_search answer (Beta)

You can now turn on the generate_citations option in the ai_search function to see which retrieved chunks the model used to support each answer it generates. ai_search function

BetaSource

Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformSep 14, 2026

The counter_diff SQL window function is now available

The counter_diff window function calculates differences between consecutive cumulative counter values and handles counter resets, for time-series analysis of counter data. It is available in Databricks SQL and Databricks Runtime 19 and above. See counter_diff analytic window function .

UpdateSQLSource

Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformSep 15, 2026

Automatic change data feed will soon be available in all supported regions

Automatic change data feed (Auto CDF) is rolling out to workspaces over the next month and will be available in all supported regions by the end of October 2026. Auto CDF computes row-level changes at query time using row tracking, so you don't need to enable change data feed on each Delta Lake or Apache Iceberg v3 table.

UpdateSQLApache IcebergRegionsSource

Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformSep 16, 2026

Anthropic models will be removed from AWS GovCloud IL5 workspaces

On September 19, 2026, Anthropic models will be removed from Databricks on AWS GovCloud and AWS GovCloud DoD workspaces that have the DoD Impact Level 5 (IL5) compliance standard selected. After this date, IL5 workspaces can't create or use endpoints that serve Anthropic models.

DeprecationGovernanceSource

Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformSep 16, 2026

Unused OAuth client secrets are automatically deleted after 90 days

Databricks now automatically deletes a service principal's OAuth client secret after 90 days without use, consistent with unused access token cleanup. If a deleted secret is still needed, create a new OAuth secret .

UpdateSecuritySource

Also shipped on Sep 10, 2026

Google Cloud BigQuerySep 10, 2026

BigQuery conversational analytics adds ML.CORRELATION in preview

Conversational analytics can now use ML.CORRELATION to calculate statistical correlations between a target column and one or more metric columns in a table.

PreviewSQLSource

Google Cloud BigQuerySep 10, 2026

BigQuery ML.METRICS evaluates predictions without a stored model

The preview ML.METRICS function computes classification or regression evaluation metrics on any table or query with actual and predicted values, with no need to create or reference a stored model.

PreviewSQLGovernanceObservabilitySource

Google Cloud BigQuerySep 10, 2026

You can use the AI.CAUSAL_EFFECT function to quantify the impact of specific interventions on time series data

You can use the AI.CAUSAL_EFFECT function to quantify the impact of specific interventions on time series data. This feature is in Preview .

PreviewSource

Google Cloud BigQuerySep 10, 2026

BigQuery Data Engineering Agent integrates with BigQuery Graph

The Data Engineering Agent now uses BigQuery Graph for extra context between source and destination schemas, improving schema mapping accuracy in data engineering pipelines. It is generally available.

GAAI agentsSQLData integrationSource

Snowflake SnowflakeSep 10, 2026

Using dbt artifacts for Slim CI and defer to production in dbt Projects on Snowflake (General availability)

Slim CI, defer to production, failed-execution recovery, and concurrent execution are now generally available for dbt Projects on Snowflake. Reuse dbt artifacts from recent production executions to accelerate development, streamline CI/CD workflows, and recover from failed production runs without maintaining a separate artifact store.

GAStreamingSource

Snowflake SnowflakeSep 10, 2026

External secret providers (Preview)

External secret providers are now in preview. If your organization already keeps API keys, database passwords, and similar values in AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, or Google Cloud Secret Manager, Snowflake can read those values when a query needs them, so you don't have to maintain a second copy in a Snowflake secret .

PreviewSQLSecurityDeveloper toolsSource