Database driver Files MultiSource

Note: This feature is available in Lite, Enterprise, Ultimate and Team editions only.

This guide explains how to set up and use the Multi Source driver in DBeaver. This driver allows you to work with multiple files of different formats within a single connection, including:

• CSV
• JSON
• Parquet
• XML
• XLSX

You can query data from different sources simultaneously, apply filters and sorting, and even join data across files.

Important: When using the Multi Source driver, all connected files are read-only. To make changes, update the original files outside DBeaver.

Before you start, create a connection in DBeaver and select the Multi Source driver. If you haven’t done this, see our Database Connection article.

This section describes how to set up a connection using the Multi Source driver. The connection settings page requires the following fields:

Tip: When using the Folder option, DBeaver scans the directory up to two levels deep for supported files. If the folder contains multiple files, DBeaver organizes them into schemas based on their directory structure. For more information, see folder structure.

The Multi Source driver supports the full range of SQL queries:

• Simple queries (e.g., SELECT * FROM table): Data is read directly from the files.
• Complex queries (e.g., using WHERE, JOIN, ORDER BY, GROUP BY): When a complex query is executed for the first time, the driver imports the data from all selected files into an internal database to enable advanced SQL functions. Subsequent queries run faster because the data is already imported into an internal database.

Note: If you join data from different files, they must be opened in the same connection.

When working with multiple files and folders, DBeaver organizes them as follows:

If your folder structure looks like this:

Data/
├── employees.csv
├── sales.json
└── Reports/
    ├── monthly.xml
    ├── yearly.parquet
    └── summary.xlsx

DBeaver will create:

• Default schema: employees, sales
• Reports schema: monthly, yearly, summary

Tip: To focus on specific files, consider selecting individual files or folders when configuring the connection.

When you execute a complex query (such as WHERE, JOIN, GROUP BY, or ORDER BY.) on multiple files for the first time, the Multi Source driver processes the data by importing it into a temporary internal SQLite database.

By default, this internal database stores data temporarily on the disk during your session and is cleared when DBeaver restarts. To speed up queries on the same files in future sessions, you can specify the internalDbFilePath option in the Driver properties tab (e.g., C:\User\database.db) to reuse the processed data.

For more details on driver properties, see File-based driver properties.

DBeaver provides additional features compatible with Multi Source driver, but not exclusive to it: