Inconsistent Schema Prefix Behavior in Fabric Lakehouse Semantic Model

[Bhargava05]

Hi all,

I'm working with a schema-enabled Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse, and I've noticed some inconsistent behavior regarding schema prefixes when accessing tables through the semantic model and notebooks.

Scenario:

My lakehouse contains multiple schemas, and many tables are organized under those schemas.
When viewing the semantic model, I’ve noticed the following:
- If a table name is unique across all schemas, the schema prefix is not shown.
- If multiple schemas have the same table name, the semantic model displays the schema prefix to disambiguate.

This makes sense.

Issue:

I have a Fabric notebook that performs schema swaps; moving tables from one schema to another by dropping and recreating them. However, I've observed inconsistent behavior in how tables are referenced after the swap:
- Sometimes, the schema prefix appears in the semantic model even though the table name is unique.
- Other times, the prefix doesn’t appear as expected.

Is there a way to force schema-qualified names consistently in the semantic model? Is this behavior due to metadata caching or some other underlying logic?

Any insights or workarounds would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

[v-vpabbu · Accepted solution]

Hi @Bhargava05,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

Currently, there’s no setting or toggle available in Microsoft Fabric to force schema-qualified names consistently in the semantic model. The platform uses automatic disambiguation logic.

When schema changes occur, the semantic model may not immediately reflect them, leading to stale schema references or unexpected schema prefix behavior.

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting as solution to help the other members find it more quickly, don't forget to give a "Kudos" – I’d truly appreciate it!

Regards,
Vinay Pabbu