Why Is the _fivetran_deleted Column Missing From Salesforce System Tables?

Question

Why don't Salesforce connector system tables, such as FIVETRAN_PICKLIST_FIELD_VALUE, contain the _fivetran_deleted system column?

Environment

Connector: Salesforce

Answer

We include the _fivetran_deleted system column in tables that track deleted records. However, Salesforce system tables are snapshot tables, not changelog tables. We re-create them with every sync to reflect the current source data, and we don't track changes over time. As a result, they don't include the _fivetran_deleted column.

For example, the FIVETRAN_PICKLIST_FIELD_VALUE system table contains the list of valid picklist values from when we started the sync. It does not contain a record of all the choices that have ever existed. This behavior is consistent across all other Salesforce system tables.