Alteryx workflow - Dates format issue

[Anjankumar2021]

Hi All,

could someone help me on below date format issue?

Problem: - Input file we have date format as MM/DD/YYYY and  I have converted as per my requirement YYYY/MM/DD in workflow (successfully converted in workflow). but in output file i got date format as MM/DD/YYYY (just like as input file)

I don't understand why date format not changed in output as per workflow.

Input:

Date_1	Date_2
06-14-21	06-15-21
06-14-21	06-15-21
06-14-21	06-15-21
06-15-21	06-16-21

Workflow:

2021-06-08 2021-06-09
2021-05-31 2021-06-01
2021-05-28 2021-05-28
2021-05-28 2021-05-28

Output:

Converted_Date_1	ConvertedDate_2
14/06/2021	15/06/2021
14/06/2021	15/06/2021
14/06/2021	15/06/2021
15/06/2021	16/06/2021

[ArnaldoSandoval]

Hi @Anjankumar2021 

Please check the attached workflow, I did not experience any issue, althought your workflow could be different, do you mind sharing yours.

Hope this helps,

Arnaldo

[Anjankumar2021]

Hi Arnaldo,

In the workflow date format changed to YYYYMMDD ( i have done successfully) but when we download output file as excel, in that excel date format DDMMYYYY

Input file: date format - MMDDYYYY

Workflow: date format- YYYYMMDD

Output file: in the excel date format- DDMMYYYY

[Raj]

The issue you are experiencing is likely due to the default date format settings in Excel. When you push the data from your file to an Excel file, Excel tries to interpret the date values based on its regional settings.

To resolve this issue, you can follow these steps:

1. Open the Excel file where the date column is displayed in dd-mm-yyyy format.
2. Select the column containing the dates.
3. Right-click on the selected column and choose "Format Cells" from the context menu.
4. In the "Format Cells" dialog box, go to the "Number" tab.
5. Select the "Date" category on the left side.
6. From the list of date formats, choose the format that matches your desired format (yyyy-mm-dd).
7. Click "OK" to apply the formatting changes to the selected column.

By changing the cell formatting in Excel, you can ensure that the dates are displayed in the desired format.

Hope this help 

[Anjankumar2021]

is there any way to fix it from Alteryx instead of changing in excel manually?

[Raj]

No,

You need to fix it from Excel.

[ArnaldoSandoval]

Hi @Anjankumar2021 

Actually Excel displays dates based on the workstations Windows Settings, if you want to customise the output workbook, you have two options:

1. Change Windows Settings as explained here: Change the default Date format (easier way).
2. Write a macro that will change Excel date format as described by the steps shared by @Raj 

Unfortunatelly, Excel does not have a workbook date configuration feature.

hth

Arnaldo

[Anjankumar2021 · Accepted solution]

I have resolved issue just now. we can fix from Alteryx by changing data _type to Vw_String instead of Date. so excel wont change date in output file.

thank you all for your inputs :) 

thanks,

Anjan