Selecting Columns on Excel Data Import

[thelegazy]

Hi All, 

First time post, I've looked through a lot of threads and couldn't find the answer. 

I have an Excel Workbook that I'm trying to Input data from, but I only want about 6 columns of the 80 columns that have data. 

I've seen where I can select a range of data, but I don't want to pull in all the columns between G and FX. Is there anyway I can call out in the SQL which columns to import? 

Any help would be appreciated!

[JoshKushner · Accepted solution]

You can do this in the input tool or with the select tool after reading in all 80 columns.

Input Tool:

When reading an excel doc you can modify the SQL. Press the '...' in the 'Table or Query' section. Then add the range you want (in this case 'A:F') after the '$' of the sheet name but before the apostrophe. This will only take in the first 6 columns. 

Select Tool:

Make sure you deselect the '*Unknown' field to only take in the columns you want. You can deselect all in the options menu then select the columns you want.

[thelegazy]

Thank you so much!!

[jakub-mg]

Hi Is there a way to refer to the columns by name? I know I can read all columns then use a select tool, but was wondering if selecting individual columns would speed it up. The file loads fine if I don't try individual columns. Thanks Jakub

[MPohlers]

Is there a way to do this in Alteryx 2018.2? Neither the excel input nor the legaxy excel input allow my to define a query.

[fiorano]

Hi,  can we also define which row to import from?  I need to import columns A:AH and my header row is row 3..... 

Thanks

Fiorano

[Nik]

Hi Fiorano,

Yes, where you select the range A:AH, you can just add the row after the column, just like in excel.

In your case Sheet1$A3:AH'

Bye

[D12monkey]

@JoshKushner Or anyone else.... Sorry to highjack the tread but my alteryx comes up like so when I click on the "..." in the input tool:

Is this a because my company makes me run an non-elevated version of alteryx? Could it be that my company has disabled the query tool from alteryx?

I also can not enter a command directly into the line on the input tool.

[lepps77]

My alteryx comes out the same way. I cannot enter a command directly on the line nor edit the line. Is there a reason for that? 

[sonyakasenkramer]

Same. Has anyone found a solution to this?