No Copy job connection in pipeline

[ABSOmar]

Hello Community,

I'm running into an issue while using my copy job item in a pipeline.

In the Settings tab, there is a mandatory field for selecting the connection to use for the copy job :

My copy job already references a valid gateway connection, and it works correctly.

I also tried using Refresh and Browse all, but I still cannot see my connection in the OneLake catalog or anywhere else :

Has anyone encountered this before or knows what might be causing the issue?

Thank you in advance!

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @ABSOmar ,

We haven’t received an update from you in some time. Could you please let us know if the issue has been resolved?
If you still require support, please let us know, we are happy to assist you.

Thank you.

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @ABSOmar2 ,

The behavior you observed is consistent with a metadata-sync issue on the pipeline side. When a Copy Job item is created before Fabric fully associates the underlying connection with the workspace, the pipeline UI may not display it in the Connection dropdown even though the job itself can run without any problems.

By creating a new Copy activity, Fabric refreshes the internal metadata bindings for that pipeline, which forces a new lookup of available connections. This is why the newly created activity was able to recognize and surface the connection immediately.

Your configuration is correct, and the outcome you saw is expected with the current UX behavior. If this occurs again, recreating the activity or refreshing the artifact configuration will typically resolve it.

If you have any additional questions or need further assistance, please feel free to reach out to the Fabric Community.

Thank you.

[ABSOmar2 · Accepted solution]

Hello @Ugk161610, hello @Mauro89,

Thank you for your help, and sorry for the delay,

I tried applying the suggested methods, but unfortunately they didn't work for me.

What did work was simply creating a new copy activity (renamed on the fly), and strangely enough, it worked!

Thank you for your time !
Best regards.

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @ABSOmar ,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

Could you please let us know if the issue has been resolved? I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided by @Ugk161610 and @Mauro89 . If you still require support, please let us know, we are happy to assist you.

Thank you.

[Ugk161610]

Hi @ABSOmar ,

Yes, this can definitely happen, and it’s confusing the first time you hit it. The key thing to know is that the connection used inside the Copy job itself is not the same thing as the “Connection” the pipeline is asking for in the Settings tab. Even if your Copy job works perfectly on its own, the pipeline still needs its own connection context to “attach” to that job.

When the dropdown shows No results found, it usually means the pipeline can’t see any connections that belong to the same workspace or that it doesn’t have permission to use. This happens a lot when the Copy job was created in a different workspace, or when the connection exists but the pipeline owner doesn’t have rights on it.

What fixed it for us was:
We recreated the connection directly inside the same workspace where the pipeline lives, then refreshed the list. As soon as the connection existed in that workspace, it immediately appeared in the dropdown.

Another thing to check is ownership. If the connection belongs to a different user or was created by someone else, make sure you’ve been granted permission on it. Without that, it simply won’t show up in the picker — Fabric hides it instead of showing an error.

In short, even though the Copy job runs fine, the pipeline still needs:

• the connection to exist in the same workspace

• your user to have access to that connection

Once both are true, it should appear instantly.

If it still doesn’t show up after that, reopening the pipeline sometimes helps refresh the metadata cache.

– Gopi Krishna

[ABSOmar]

Hi @Ugk161610,

Thank you very much for your explanation — it was really clear!

However, I still don’t understand how I’m supposed to switch my connection to the worksapce used in my pipeline.

Is it possible to create a connection in the same way we create artefacts inside a workspace?

For context, my copy job is located in the same workspace as my pipeline. When I refer to a “connection,” I mean the ones listed under Manage connections and gateways — and I do have permissions there, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to run the copy job.

What’s your view on this?

[Ugk161610]

Hi @ABSOmar ,

Good question — this part really isn’t obvious in Fabric.

Connections aren’t created the same way as artifacts like pipelines or notebooks, so you won’t see a “New connection” button inside a workspace like you do for other items. Connections are created globally under Manage connections and gateways, but they still have to be usable by the workspace.

Since your Copy Job runs successfully, the connection itself is fine. The real problem is that the pipeline UI is looking for connections that are explicitly usable in that workspace context, and sometimes Fabric doesn’t sync them correctly.

What worked for us in this situation was:
Open Manage connections and gateways, open the connection you are using, save it again (without changing anything), then come back to the pipeline and click Refresh in the dropdown. This forces Fabric to resync the connection into the workspace.

If that still doesn’t make it appear, the workaround is to create a new connection (even if it points to the same gateway and server) from Manage connections, save it, and then refresh the pipeline settings again. The new one should show up in the list.

So yes — connections are not created “inside” a workspace like pipelines are, but they do get attached to the workspace behind the scenes. When that link breaks, they stop appearing in the dropdown even though the Copy Job still works.

It’s definitely more of a Fabric metadata sync issue than a permission issue on your side.

– Gopi Krishna

[Mauro89]

Hi @ABSOmar,

maybe to clarify the connection topic in Fabric check out this page, clarified some thing for me. 

https://biinsight.com/microsoft-fabric-connections-demystified/?amp=1

Best regards!