External tables store their data in locations outside of the predefined managed storage location associated with the metastore, unity catalog, or schema. An external table references an external storage path by using a

LOCATION

clause. For more information on external tables, see the Databricks Delta documentation.

The following lists the data types that Databricks Delta supports when you create an external table:

Array*
Binary
Bigint
Boolean
Date
Decimal
Double
Float
Int
Map*
Smallint
String
Struct*
Tinyint
Timestamp

*Only applicable for mappings in advanced mode.

When you create an external table, specify the table location when you create a new target at runtime. For more information, see Create a target table at runtime