Output Files are Read Only and Unable to Edit

Question

Hello All, Not sure if anyone else is facing this problem. I have built a workflow and the excel output is saved in our team shared folder. However when we open the excel output it goes into a "Read Only" mode and we cannot edit anything in our excel output. One more issue is once we open the excel output and close it then if we try to re-run the workflow then it will throw an error saying "unable to access/write into output file as it is open". Not sure how to solve this issue because we have comment section in our output file where we need to add our comments but none of my team members are able to edit the output file. Thanks SK

dhavaldoshi · Answer

Might not be exactly what you would like to hear but this happens especially when we are working with replace files, can you try dynamically writing a file everyday?

You can use a forumla tool to create the entire file path and use output tool to dynamically change the path and choose where to save or what name to save the file with.

Hope this helps!

skotian1289 · Answer

HI, Yes the file is not open with any of my team members still getting the same error. Tried closing and re-opening designer but got the same error and still was unable to edit the output file. Outputting file in different location works but it is not feasible because the workflows runs every day and whenever we open the excel output it always opens in a read only mode which makes editing and re-saving difficult. Is this a bug that excel output will always open up in a read only mode and cannot be edited ? Thanks SK

atcodedog05 · Answer

Hi @skotian1289

1. Make sure file is not kept open by anyone.

2. Try closing the alteryx designer and opening the file. Does that work?

3. Try outputting again to different location with different file name and check.