Changing File Format without using Output Data Tool

[Bland]

This is a pretty basic question but how would I go about changing the format of a file without using the Output Data tool? I have 2 use cases below but  ideally I both would be a macro that I could insert into the workflow.

Use Cases:

1. I have created a workflow that runs through a directory and only pulls .xlsx and .csv files. However some files are .xls. I was hoping to insert a macro into the workflow that would look through the directory and save each xls file as xlsx.

2. This is very simple but some .xlsx files need to be converted into .csv files. This needs to be a macro as it is another step in my workflow.

The problem I am having is that the Data Output tool is the end piece of a workflow and does not allow the use of a Macro Output after it. What are some possbile work arounds and or different ways of approaching this issue?

[KaneG · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Firstly, changing file formats will generally only happen when you open the file up and then save it as the different format or bring the data into Alteryx and then output it as another format. The difference between xls and xlsx is significant and you can't just rename the file (try right-clicking an xlsx file and unzipping it to see what is in it).

That being said, there is a question around at what point you need these xls files to be xlsx. Do you need to convert them and then read them back into the same flow, or can you just output them to xlsx but use the file that you have bought in to do any further processing....

Sidenote:

As I write this, I'm suspecting that you may want to take advantage of the <List of Sheet Names> option for XLSX files... if this is the case, then your best option is going to be to use either of these blog posts to read in all the sheets of the xls file:

http://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works-Blog/Reading-Multiple-XLS-Tables/ba-p/1941

http://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works-Blog/The-Ultimate-Alteryx-Holiday-gift-of-2015-Read-ALL...

Back to the question at hand, if I understand the question the below setup should work:

Kane