How to Remove Synthetic Keys in Qlik Sense: 1-Min Guide

How to Remove Synthetic Keys in Qlik Sense

Updated on:

April 16, 2026

By:

Use this interactive demo to learn how to remove synthetic keys in Qlik Sense.

This tutorial shows how to identify and remove synthetic keys in Qlik Sense by renaming or qualifying fields in the Data Load Editor.

Note:

Synthetic keys appear when two or more tables share more than one common field name. Changes are made in the Data Load Editor using Qualify, Rename, or field removal.

Login and open Qlik Sense App and click your app from the hub to launch it.
Go to Prepare from the top menu, then open the Data Load Editor.
In the Data Load Editor, click Load data and review your load script and identify fields that appear in multiple tables (for example, Region and Region Code).
In one of the tables, rename a duplicate field using AS (for example, Region as rg).
Click Load data to reload the script and apply the changes.
Open the Data Model Viewer to confirm the synthetic key has been removed.

📌 Why this matters

Synthetic keys are Qlik Sense's way of handling ambiguous data relationships, but they come with a cost; they slow down your app, make the data model harder to understand, and can cause incorrect associations between tables. Left unresolved, a single synthetic key can cascade into multiple compound keys that are nearly impossible to debug later. Cleaning them up forces you to define explicit, intentional relationships in your data model, which leads to faster load times and more predictable analysis. For teams sharing apps across departments, a clean data model also means anyone opening the app can trust the associations they see.

Your product deserves an interactive demo

Start free

How to Create a QVD File in Qlik Sense

How to Link Map in Qlik Sense

How to Create a QVD File in Qlik Sense