Output Data Tool - Record Limits

[mmunozjr]

I wanted to test the Data Output tool by creating an Excel file from a source containing 32,166 records. Since it was just a just a test, I limited the "Max Records Per File" option to 20. To my surprise, It created 1,608 Excel documents. It divided 32,166 into 20. Why was that? Do you know how to output just 20 records in this scenario?

Thanks!

MM

[DataNath · Accepted solution]

Hey @mmunozjr, the option you used there does exactly what it says on the tin - it limits the number of records per file. Therefore, when the number of records in your dataset breaches this, they will be divided into as many files containing that number of records as necessary. If you want to make a small sample of your data to test the output I would recommend using the Sample tool where you can just keep the 'Top N records', setting N to 20 or whatever sample size you'd like!

[mmunozjr]

Thank you for your reply and clarification.