Get rid of commas in numbers, excel output

[RichD]

I have team members requesting when I output numbers into an excel format, that those numbers don't have commas (emp Id's).  They also don't like when I push them out as strings because it has the leading apostrophe when it shows up and they have issues doing joins.  I have searched around and haven't found a solution that allows me to fully automate. I did see the feature that allows to overwrite a range of a previously formatted excel sheet.  But that doesn't allow me to dynamically write out new files each month without previously having a template already in place.  I am needing to send out hundreds of reports each week.

Is there really is no way to write out new excel files (not pre-formatted overwrite) where the number shows up without commas, or if it goes out as a string it does not have the apostrophe?  Or am I just misunderstanding? 

[Hannah_Lissaman · Accepted solution]

Hi @RichD 

Just to make sure I have understood correctly, I assume based on what you have described that you are using the reporting tools with Table and Render to create an Excel file, rather than just a regular Output tool?

If you are happy with an unformatted report (i.e. no borders or colour coding applied) then a regular Output tool would fix your problem. 

With the reporting tools, the comma is inserted by Excel rather than Alteryx. When Alteryx outputs a numeric field via the reporting tools, it applies the 'Number' type in Excel, which has a thousand separator by default. The Render tool actually applies the 'Number' type to all fields when creating an Excel file, even strings. This is not a setting that you can change. 

[RichD]

Thank you for your quick reply.  Yes, i am using the reporting tools for formatting.  It sounds like their ideal is not possible (both formatting and numbers without commas in it).

Thank you again!

[aroumpelaki]

Hello!
I had the same issue. I have solved it as suggested in https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Desktop-Discussions/How-to-set-render-tool-to-avoi...

You basically set the column as string and increase the column width on the Table tool