Live Mode
Live mode is a sync mode that keeps your destination table as an exact copy of your source table. When a source record changes, we update the destination record. When a source record is deleted, we delete it from the destination.
Use Live mode when you want the destination to reflect the current source state and don't need to keep deleted records in the destination.
Live mode uses hard deletes. If a record is deleted in the source, we delete the corresponding record from your destination. Use soft delete mode or history mode if you need to retain deleted records.
Sync overview
In Live mode, we don't add the _fivetran_deleted, _fivetran_active, _fivetran_start, or _fivetran_end columns to the destination table for sync mode behavior. The destination table contains the current source records. For more information about system columns, see System Columns and Tables.
| Source change | Destination result |
|---|---|
| Insert a record | We insert the record into the destination table. |
| Update a record | We update the existing destination record. |
| Delete a record | We delete the record from the destination table. |
Live mode also affects schema changes and re-syncs:
- If you exclude a table or column in the Fivetran dashboard, we drop the corresponding table or column from the destination.
- If the data type of a source column narrows, Live mode may narrow the corresponding destination column type to match the new source type. This changes the column schema; it does not automatically trim string values or replace values with NULL. If existing or incoming data is incompatible with the new type, the sync reports a schema incompatibility and instructs you to drop and re-sync the table.
- During a re-sync, we use hard deletes instead of soft deletes. Rows that aren't present in the source at re-sync time are deleted from the destination.
Dropping excluded tables or columns and narrowing destination column types can affect downstream queries, models, and dashboards. Review your dependencies before you exclude objects or switch a table to Live mode.
Connector support
Live mode is available only when both the connector and the table support it. A connector may support Live mode for some tables but not others. The Schema tab displays Live mode in a table's menu only when it is supported for that table. Availability can also depend on connection configuration and rollout status.
To see whether your connector supports Live mode, check your connection's Schema tab. If Live mode is available for a table, the table's Sync mode drop-down menu includes Live mode.
Switch to Live mode
You can switch tables that support Live mode to that mode from your connection's Schema tab.
- Go to your connection's Schema tab.
- In the Sync mode column, open the table's drop-down menu.
- Select Live mode.
- Click Save changes.
You can also set Live mode as the connection's Sync mode default in Schema change settings. New tables that support Live mode use it by default. Existing tables with a named table-level mode keep that selection. To make an existing table use the connection default, select Default from its Sync mode menu.
For more information, see Connection Schemas.
Switch from Live mode
When you switch a table from Live mode to another supported sync mode, we update the destination table for the selected mode during the next sync. The exact migration depends on the source, destination, and selected sync mode.
Live mode doesn't retain rows deleted before you switch to another sync mode. Switching from Live mode to soft delete mode or history mode doesn't restore rows that were already hard deleted from the destination.