Dropdown list in Excel output

Question

hi,

i have created an excel file as my output and now i want to add a column that has a dropdown list so that the people receiving the file can choose from the pre-selected dropdown list and send the file back to me. This would be the equivalent of the Data Validation "List" feature in Excel.

Does anyone know how to do this in Alteryx?

Thanks,

Diana

MatthewO · Answer

@dattina2287 my recommendation is to create the Excel file with the data validation field as a template. When writing from Alteryx, you can choose to "Preserve Formatting on Overwrite" and specify a specific range of cells to write the data to. This would allow you to update/overwrite the data in certain fields, while preserving the drop down. There is not a way to create a drop down in Excel from Alteryx.

cpapaioannou · Answer

I think this case falls under the category of having "alteryx to output to an excel template" that you have pre-created.

The excel template will contain the Data validation configuration that you need, and you can have alteryx update anything else within the file.

The output method can be directly to the template itself or use blob input/output to always output to a new just-copy-pasted excel template.

If this is your case, there are various threads within the community so depending on your case you can see what suits best.