Multiple input files into a single output file?

[jaypee1217]

I have an input file that goes through my workflow and spits out a final output file with 1 sheet.  I want to then insert my original input file as a 2nd sheet in the final output file.

[Amilley · Accepted solution]

Yes - you can do this, use the 'block until done tool' to ensure that you don't have a conflict, and then make sure you select the same file, and name the sheets separately. This can be done and is not too bad.

[Robin_McIntosh · Accepted solution]

@jaypee1217 - Here's an example using the Block Until Done tool @Amilley mentions.

[jaypee1217]

thank you both very much. The block tool worked perfectly. 

[Amilley]

@jaypee1217 glad it worked! and @Robin_McIntosh great simple example to illustrate (thank you!).

[BonusCup]

@Amilley or @Robin_McIntosh how would you go about doing this for 3 sheets in the same xlsx?  I have an input file that I join to some other data.  I would like to create an xlsx with the original data as one sheet, the Left for another sheet and the Join as the last sheet.

[jaypee1217]

in your example, make sure your output file has 3 sheets in it. One sheet for each input. 

[Amilley]

@BonusCup  Something like the below should work. Also you could even do 4 or 5 or 'n' # of sheets - sometimes you have to get creative w/ joins to string the workflow together. That said, the 3 sheets should be straight forward.

[BonusCup]

@Amilley thanks so much.  Just to make sure, for the bottom output, I added browses to #1 and #2 and moved the write output to #3.  Not sure if it made a difference but I wanted to make sure the other 2 sheets wrote first.  Your solution worked great.

[haraldharders]

Hi all,

I've been using something like this:

 

In principle, this works in most cases but not always. Especially when one of the first two worksheets is quite big and I am saving on a network drive, I still frequently get the error

"Error: Output Data (1267): Unable to open file for write: [...] - Can't open file: [...]: Der Prozess kann nicht auf die Datei zugreifen, da sie von einem anderen Prozess verwendet wird. (32)" (which means cannot access because the file is being used by a different process).

This happens both with and without AMP.

I guess the operating system needs some time to really close the file after Alteryx believes it is ready with writing. I have even tried with some waiting times before writing sheets 2 and 3.

Has anybody of you had the same experience and maybe a solution?

Would this be worth a feature request that a workflow should ensure that there are no file conflicts within the same workflow. Alteryx core engine could take care that it does not try to write to a file which itself is currently already writing... What do you think?

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