Releasesby GlyphThe Databricks Excel Add-in is now generally available
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.
Also shipped Sep 10, 2026Databricks in September 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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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 .
More from Databricks Data Intelligence PlatformEvery Databricks Data Intelligence Platform release →
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 .
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.
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.
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
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 .
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.
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.
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 .