Replace Reference Functionality

[Raphael_Kotzock]

So many times, a given source field name could change. If you have a complex workflow it can be time consuming to update various join, select and other tools to replace the old field name with the new field name. For example in sales you may have fields that include the year  "Sales_2020".

It would be nice to "mimic" the functionality that Tableau provides where you can somehow click/select a field (e.g. Sales_2020) and then select "Replace Reference" and select the new field you want to use instead (e.g Sales_2021). This functionality would then automatically carry through the entire workflow and wherever you used Sales_2020 you will now automatically use Sales_2021.

Thoughts on this?

[KylieF]

Thank you for your idea and feedback!

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[patrick_digan]

This would be a nice add!

[Varshaa]

Thank you for posting this suggestion. I logged onto this section to post the exact same request as you. I've recently developed a complex workflow where renaming a field has caused quite some hassle. While in some cases I did encounter an error from Alteryx notifyi8ng me that the old field does not exist; in other cases I've had to retrace my steps to make sure I made the replacement in all tools that the field name shows up.

Ex: non-existent field gets selected in Join tool and Select tool while the new field remains deselected (no error from Alteryx here), variables within the formula tool and filter tool need to be manually changed in each expression (this gives an error).

It would be great to have auto-replacement of field name across the entire workflow.