diff --git a/lamindb/_curate.py b/lamindb/_curate.py
index 9e0c69c9b..7ef18fb71 100644
--- a/lamindb/_curate.py
+++ b/lamindb/_curate.py
@@ -117,7 +117,8 @@ def __init_subclass__(cls, **kwargs):
 
         # Deprecated methods
         if "sphinx" not in sys.modules:
-            cls.add_new_from_columns = cls._add_new_from_columns
+            if hasattr(cls, "_add_new_from_columns"):
+                cls.add_new_from_columns = cls._add_new_from_columns
 
     def validate(self) -> bool:
         """Validate dataset.