Alteryx Input tool and initial file size

Question

Hello everybody,

so I have noticed, that whenever I drag a file into the Alteryx Designer, its file size suddenly increases by about 250%.

Example: I have a 400mb csv file which, if read into an input tool, grows to 1GB. This also happens to xlsx files, so I don't think it's about additional spacing due to the csv delimiters. I already tried different code page options and opted out on "output File Name as Field" (which increases the file size to 1,9GB).

Am I missing some settings or is the Alteryx display of my file just always using much more space? It's troublesome because at some point my file seemingly gets too large and the workflow stops working.

danilang · Accepted Answer

Hi @BastianB

The file size displayed by Alteryx while the workflow is running is an estimate of the amount or RAM used to hold the data.  Alteryx uses some clever tricks in the engine to keep this value as small as possible, but if the amount of RAM necessary to hold the data is more than the amount of available RAM on your system, it will start swapping to disk and the workflow will slow down enormously.

How much free RAM do you have on your system when you start the workflow?

Dan