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Excel's #N/As read as zeros! UNACCEPTABLE!

The excel driver (.xlsx) converts these values to 0.  If you use the legacy excel driver (.xlsx) it brings in the #N/A values.  This issue was reported in the community and I am forwarding it to the New Idea as a problem that needs to be addressed on behalf of @JohnDoe.

11 Comments
ARich
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Status changed to: Coming Soon

This is part of the 10.1 release. Alteryx will read error strings from Excel as nulls, so as not to convert numeric type columns to string type columns.

 

Thanks for submitting, Marquee!

MarqueeCrew
20 - Arcturus
20 - Arcturus

Thanks for the update!

JohnDoe
8 - Asteroid

Alex, thank you for the update. However, the point is NOT that numerical columns are read as strings. The point is that error values in numerical columns are read as zero, which is way worse because it fundamentally changes the data. Would anyone possibly care to elavborate how Alteryx could have possibly messed up so much, and why I should trust Alteryx isn't guilty of other colossal errors elsewhere???

Cristian
9 - Comet

AlexP,

 

Alteryx 10.1 has been released, could you please let us know that the issue was ironed out?

 

Thank you.

 

Regards,

Cristian.

JohnDoe
8 - Asteroid


Cristian,

 

when updating, the software uninstalled the previous version, and in doing so lost all licence data. I tried to use the same license file I was sent last time, but it is not recognised.

 

I am now waiting for tech support to get their act together and sort this out.  It is simply ridicolous and reflects extremely poorly on Alteryx. Is it too much to ask not to spend a day reactivating your licence after an update? Why on earth did the update not recognise the license? When I first installed Alteryx it took 2-3 days and multiple attempts to finally receive a working licence from Alteryx. What a joke!

 

MarqueeCrew
20 - Arcturus
20 - Arcturus

John,

 

has your licensing issue been resolved?  If not, would you like some help from me?

ARich
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Status changed to: Implemented
 
ARich
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Status changed to: Implemented

With the 10.1 release, error strings in Excel are read as nulls, not zeros.

MarqueeCrew
20 - Arcturus
20 - Arcturus

Great news!  Thanks for the update. 

JohnDoe
8 - Asteroid

I have received a new licence file and it works.

I created a test spreadsheet with these errors:

  • division by zero
  • #name (I intentionally used a non-existing formula, e.g. MyRandomFormula(1,2,3)
  • #n/a (vlookup with no match)
  • #value (summing two cells containing text)

They are all imported as nulls now. Finally!