"Preserving Formatting on Overwrite" not working?

Question

Hello,

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, but my searches proved fruitless.

I am outputting a sheet of data into Excel, which has "simple" formatting (like font size/colour, alignment and row height) and conditional formatting.

I am outputting to the Excel file like below:

The data itself is fine, but it does not keep the "simple" formatting. I have tried using a named range, this did not work. Currently using the cell references is the best option because it doesn't overwrite the column headers. I know that Alteryx doesn't paste values, but instead inserts rows into the Excel, but in this case what formatting is supposedly being preserved  in this case?

Version: 2020.4.6.36807

Hopefully I'm being an idiot and this has a simple solution that I've just missed, but if someone could provide some insight on this that would be very helpful.

Thanks

BGallop · Answer

Hi @AZuc

Please see the files linked in the message above, I would love it if I could get to the bottom of this issue as it will determine how I structure the reports I make going forwards.

Ben

BGallop · Answer

Hello @AZuc

Here are the attached files.

There are two outputs, one going to a raw data sheet (where formatting is not an issue), and the Shipments List one, where it does.

In the excel template I set all columns to be centered aligned (then manually adjusted for the title of the sheet). Font colour and alignment are all present, conditional formatting is also in place so I can make it look like a table once the data is inserted (since you can't insert data into tables from Alteryx).

I realise that regarding font colour, I could just use conditional formatting which I will likely do regardless, but the alignment issue is my main concern.

Thanks

Ben

Packaging Data Quality Dashboard v2 - Copy.xlsx

Formatting not Preserved Workfow.yxmd

AZuc · Answer

@BGallop ,

Could you provide a sample workflow (and data, including the formated Excel file) that could reproduce this behavior?