# Change default snapshot meta column names and values

**URL:** <https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/change-default-snapshot-meta-column-names-and-values/1903>\
**Category:** Archive\
**Created:** [December 14, 2020, 1:27pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/change-default-snapshot-meta-column-names-and-values/1903 "2020-12-14T13:27:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![krlv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f475e1/32.png) [@krlv](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/krlv)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 1:27pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/change-default-snapshot-meta-column-names-and-values/1903/1 "2020-12-14T13:27:49Z")

</div>

Hi all!

I was wondering, is there any way to change snapshot’s default meta columns names (e.g. `dbt_valid_from`) to my custom names? I’m also wondering if it is possible to change the default value of `dbt_valid_to` column from `null` to specific date (like 2199-01-01)?

Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.getdbt.com/amy/32/446_2.png) [@amy](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/amy)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/change-default-snapshot-meta-column-names-and-values/1903/2 "2021-01-06T13:56:22Z")

</div>

My assumption would be that you can easily change the default column names by either creating a view that refs the snapshot model or adding in a CTE. I think the view would be the easier option since you could also just convert the default value of null to a specific date as well in this downstream transformation model. However it would add more model files to your project.