Alteryx Directory Tool Grabbing Files That Start With "~$"?

[shaheer]

Hello. I am using the directory tool to grab all files that end with .xlsx in a folder. Here is what it looks like.

So in this folder there are multiple files, each with almost the same name except they are numbered differently at the start. For example,

1. File Worker January.xlsx

2. File Worker February.xlsx

...

12. File Worker December.xlsx

When I use the sort tool

These files that are NOT in the folder end up being included:

What does the ~$ mean? How can I remove them? My goal is to retrieve the most recent file added by number (so in this case 12) and then use that as my dynamic input file for my flow. I cannot do this as it gets the ~$12 file which cannot be read. 

[Felipe_Ribeir0 · Accepted solution]

Hi @shaheer 

I have this problem here as well, just filter out the files that have this '~$'

'

Here you can see some explanation about why these files are being shown for you.

What’s that ~ squiggly mark in front of my filenames? :: Accurate Die Design Software

If the provided answer helped you to solve the problem/was correct, please accept it as a solution :)

Thanks.

[gautiergodard]

@shaheer strange, are any of the file open on your desktop of the desktop on a colleague?

Can you just filter these files out using a filter tool? 

!Contains([FileName],"~$")

[Garabujo7]

Hello @shaheer ,

I've tried to replicate the issue you have, however for me works fine if I read *.xlsx just brings me the right files in the current folder.

If the files are in the same folder, will bring it as well  because it have the .xlsx extention.

By the way, the excel files that starts with ~$ sign are almost certainly a temporary file created by Excel when you open a workbook.

Gabriel