Workflow not able to read files from network drive.

Question

I can successfully connect to files saved on our Shared Group Drive (G:) but when running the workflow it takes over 10 minutes to read the data. If I save this file to my desktop and connect to the input file this way, Alteryx can read the file in seconds, but I want to avoid as much manual work as possible.

I have also tried updating all mapped drive values to the full UNC path but this doesn't solve the problem.

Any advice would be appreciated 🙂

SeanAdams · Answer

Hey @Emma5  - there will be a performance impact from reading from a network drive - since all the data has to travel across the network, and also it may be in a platform like OneDrive or Drop-Box that does some processing on the file.

If you wanted to - you could write a simple Alteryx job (using the Run tool) to copy the file from the network to your desktop to see if the total time (for copying the file and importing it) is equivalent or faster than just reading it off the network.    You can find more about this here: https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/Tool-Mastery-Run-Command/ta-p/31548

Emil_Kos · Answer

Hi @Emma5,

In my organization shared group drives are box folders. For me, box folders just aren't so efficient as a local drive.

Did you check with your colleagues? Other teams using Alteryx? Maybe they have some kind of workaround / best practices that might help you.