Alteryx pulling blank data from excel workbook cells with formulas.

Question

hey all,

I'm working on one of my first workflows so I apologize for a possible dumb question....

The workflow is pulling data from a database and putting different parts of it into an excel workbook template.

It then goes back into the workbook and pulls some data from a few cells that are basic equations (mostly just references) but formatted in the order that I need and writes it to a different workbook. The issue I'm running into is that I'm getting no data back when I run this second part. It writes blanks to the second workbook.

My 2 theories are that its either a) only seeing the a formula and not pulling numbers back (which its not formatted for)

or more likely b) the formulas aren't calculating when alteryx runs these workflows. Ive set the template to "automatic calculations" for formulas but that doesn't seem to help.

Is there some way to have alteryx run the calculations before pulling data?

Thanks!

MattBSlalom · Answer

I think I understand what you're trying to do now. I do not believe what you're trying to do is possible.  The issue is how Excel behaves, it will not update the values in your formula cells until you actually Open the file (and then save it to store those updated formula values).  The "automatic calculations" option you mention in the Excel file only deals with the behavior of Excel upon Opening the file.  Changing it to "Manual" would keep the previous values in those formula cells when you Open the file even if Alteryx updated the underlying referenced cells.

I would still suggest you'd be better served in the long run by performing the lookups/calculations inside Alteryx instead of the Excel file (even if the Excel formulas were an option).

jcboyle82 · Answer

I'm not sure how much this will help but here is the piece of the workflow I'm talking about.

Its pulling from the hidden tab in the template workbook.

Thanks!

Export_part.yxmd

Alteryx_Run_Stats_2021_TEMPLATE.xlsx

MattBSlalom · Answer

It would help us provide better guidance if you could attach your workflow & workbook template to see the details of your setup.  My initial reaction to your described process is wondering if the formulas you're doing inside the Excel would be simple to build in Alteryx instead to avoid the complications you're seeing.