Output to Excel Named Range without destroying the Excel formatting

[jay_hl]

Hi GUI Gang

At the moment, I have a lovely formatted XLS with corporate branding, logos, filled cells, borders etc.  The data from the Alteryx output needs to start in cell B6.  I have tried the output tools to this named range, but Alteryx destroys all the Excel formatted cells in the data block.

As a workaround on the forums, many Alteryx users pump out to a hidden "Output" tab, and then code =OutputA1 in the formatted sheet.  This looks messy to the users who then go hunting for the hidden tab.  Personally I end up pumping the workflow out to a temporary CSV file.  Then opening that in Excel, selecting all, and then pasting values in the pretty Excel file.

This is fine for one file, but I need to split the output report block by a country field and do this 100s of time for each month end.

Please can we have a output tool that does the same as my workaround.  Outputs directly from a workflow to a range in Excel that doesnt destroy the workbook's formatting.

Jay

[JPoz]

Do you really mean XLS, or do you mean XLSX?

[jay_hl]

We have both formats, but I guess I would prefer .XLSX

[Actuary_ASB]

In the meantime, you could also consider writing up a short Macro in VBA in an excel file, which you can then call using VBScript called from Alteryx as an "Event" after the workflow completes successfully.

I had a report that was compiled on a year-to-date basis, so I used a macro in the file to prepare it for new data, then run my Alteryx workflow to populate new data, and then another macro to do the final re-formatting of the newly written data.

There is some community post about using this work-around, as that's how I learned you could call an Excel Macro from Alteryx.