The Synthetic Key That Kept Coming Back.

You remove one synthetic key. Qlik Sense creates another. The cycle never ends.

Author

Glenda Carnate
August 21, 2026

Read time: 2.5 minutes

Developer: "I got rid of the synthetic key." Qlik Sense: "We have another one." The endless cycle continues.

The developer discovered a synthetic key and eliminated it. Quick and easy. Next, Qlik Sense made another one. He got rid of that one too. Next, there was another one. And so it went on.

3 Strategies to Manage Synthetic Keys in Qlik Sense

1. Realize how synthetic keys come into existence.
❌ Taking them off without thinking.
✅ Realizing the reason behind: there are several tables having the same names of fields but having no links.
Stop the slop and eliminate the root cause.

2. Apply AutoNumber and Qualify for elimination of synthetic keys.
❌ Allowing DQL to make connections on its own.
✅ Implementing AutoNumber for the creation of keys or Qualify for field differentiation.
Maybe this will help it to avoid unnecessary work!

3. Check table links prior to loading data.
❌ Loading all data aiming for success.
✅ Checking links in advance before processing data.
Keep synthetic keys at bay.

💡Key Takeaway: 

Qlik Sense synthetic Keys are similar to weeds as once you remove one, many others pop up. The first step is to take care of the data model.

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