Add back deleted columns

[anush_petrosyan]

Hello,

I mistakenly deleted some columns at the input step and can't figure out how to add them back. Could you please help?

[joshbennett]

I am not sure what you mean by "at the input step" - what is your data source (e.g., Excel file, DB connection, etc.)? Are you saying they are not coming into your Input Data (or equivalent) tool?

If you mean you had fields that came in from your Input Tool that you mistakenly removed at some point, adding them back will depend on how / where they were removed. For example - Did you manually de-select them from a Select tool? A Join tool? Not include them in either the key / data fields for Transpose / Cross Tab? Fields can be dropped from a dataset in a number of ways, so it would be difficult to give you a pointed recommendation without more detail. 

That said, once you know where you dropped or de-selected them, you should just be able to adjust the configuration of that tool so as not to remove them. You might have to update some downstream tools as well depending on your workflow (e.g., Summarize, Unique, etc.). After running your workflow, you can click each tool's output anchor(s) to see the data within the Results pane that was processed by that tool. So, if you don't know where you dropped them, just run your workflow and start from the very beginning input tool and click through each successive tool's output to find out where they got dropped. Most of the time, this can be quickly determined from looking at the tool's configuration. If nothing else, you can compare the input vs. output anchor(s) of each tool in the Results pane to visually see where your fields are getting dropped.

If I misunderstood your question, please provide some clarifying detail (e.g., additional explanation, screenshots, draft workflows, etc.) around what you are trying to do and I'm happy to try and help!

[anush_petrosyan]

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I removed the columns at the Text input step by selecting the column and using the "Delete" button on the Input Configuration pane. I guess because they were inputted as text there is not an easy way to reverse the deletion other than copying those fields back into the text input?

[joshbennett · Accepted solution]

If your Text Input tool used a source input file (restricted to 10,000 rows by default - https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/text-input-tool), you could recover your deleted columns by re-loading your source input file.

If you instead copied / pasted the data into the Text Input tool, you could potentially undo an action like that via Cntrl+Z if the undo action is within the level set within your User Settings:

Otherwise, I am not aware of any way you could 'reverse' that action.