Accessing Excel Files on Sharepoint - not through Onedrive

[JLiou]

Hi community,

We currently have an Alteryx workflow which we share between different users who run them on Desktop.  However we face issue with sharing the workflow because the excel files are saved on sharepoint and the only way to connect Alteryx to sharepoint is via a Onedrive sync folder:

1. when another person picks up the share alteryx workflow they have to remap the path to where the input excel files are saved as their onedrive sync folder to the shapepoint folder is different to my.

2. we have macros that are saved in sharepoint and it faces the same issue in that when someone else uses the alteryx workflow they have to change the location of the macro folder saved in sharepoint.

Do anyone know a way around this issue where all 3 different users can use the same sharepoint folder without having to remap the location of the input files or macros every time?

[dwstada]

have the workflow, macros, outputs/inputs on sharepoint as well, then just use relative paths to the files.

If you have a folder structure like:

workflow.yxmd

macros_folder

input_folder

output_folder

then inside a macro you would use paths like

"..\inputs_folder\input_file.xlsx"

"..\output_folder\output_file.yxdb"

etc

this is basically saving: from the folder that the macro is in, go back one folder, go into inputs_folder, use input_file.xlsx

2 dots .. means go back one folder, then find the rest of the path

1 dot . means stay in the same folder and find the rest of the path

[JLiou]

Thanks for your reply but I'm still not sure what the solution should be.

At the moment everyone in the team access the same sharepoint folder for the input files and macros.  However the issue is that within Alteryx the sharepoint path is actually "C:Users\12345789\OneDrive\...." for one person but not another as 12345789 is the user id so the 2nd person's onedrive id is 34567891 for example.  As a result when the 2nd person open the file he/she have to remap the sharepoint/onedrive path.

Thanks

John

[dwstada · Accepted solution]

@JLiou that's why you use the relative paths, it removes/ignores all the individual parts so it does not matter who opens it, anyone that has the sharepoint folder synchronized to a onedrive folder will be able to run the workflow

this is how your synchronized sharepoint folder should/could look like

a macro saved in the "Macros" folder should then look like this

see how it does not have any specific user path? When you run the macro it will use the relative path to get the correct file:

1. where is the macro? -> in the "Macros" folder

2. from the "Macros" folder, go back one folder (that's the "..")

3. from the current folder, go into "Macros_Inputs_Outputs" and access the file from_JOIN_INPUTS.yxdb

you just have to make sure, that every single path in the workflow is relative

[JLiou]

That works perfectly.  Thanks.

[JLiou]

Hi again,

I'm trying to enter the relative path to the folder where the macros are save but when i input the relative path Alteryx gives me an error, please see screen shot.  Any idea how I could enter the relative path in this screen?

[JLiou]

hi,

more information, i can put in the full path to the sharepoint folder but by doing so it creates a user specific onedrive path which we could not share with the other team members.