# dbt\_external\_tables: can I create a materialized: table (and not external table)

**URL:** <https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/dbt-external-tables-can-i-create-a-materialized-table-and-not-external-table/5444>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** snowflake\
**Created:** [November 30, 2022, 7:05am UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/dbt-external-tables-can-i-create-a-materialized-table-and-not-external-table/5444 "2022-11-30T07:05:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![itzik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@itzik](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/itzik)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 7:05am UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/dbt-external-tables-can-i-create-a-materialized-table-and-not-external-table/5444/1 "2022-11-30T07:05:06Z")

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Hi,  
the package “dbt\_external\_tables” create in snowflake an “external” table and I would like to create a “real” table (materialized: table).

can I do it with this package?

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**Author:** ![joellabes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.getdbt.com/joellabes/32/3980_2.png) [@joellabes](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/joellabes)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2022, 2:14am UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/dbt-external-tables-can-i-create-a-materialized-table-and-not-external-table/5444/2 "2022-12-01T02:14:17Z")

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External tables have to be created as the `external` type, but once you have created them you can create an additional model which selects \* from the external one and is materialized as a table, at which point the data will actually be persisted inside of Snowflake.

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**Author:** ![itzik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@itzik](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/itzik)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2022, 1:41pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/dbt-external-tables-can-i-create-a-materialized-table-and-not-external-table/5444/3 "2022-12-01T13:41:38Z")

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Hi,  
that’s what I did.  
I thought maybe there was another option as a part of the package.

Thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joellabes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.getdbt.com/joellabes/32/3980_2.png) [@joellabes](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/joellabes)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/dbt-external-tables-can-i-create-a-materialized-table-and-not-external-table/5444/4 "2022-12-01T21:41:05Z")

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> [@itzik](#):
>
> I thought maybe there was another option as a part of the package.

The package just provides an abstraction over Snowflake’s functionality - as far as I can tell from looking at Snowflake’s docs, there isn’t a way to copy data from an external table directly into a “real” table without first staging them.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/getdbt/original/1X/a7a7ca1fe379aaf90952b0e13118a817babcd14f.png) [@system](https://discourse.getdbt.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://discourse.getdbt.com/t/dbt-external-tables-can-i-create-a-materialized-table-and-not-external-table/5444/5 "2022-12-08T21:41:58Z")

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