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.

[KylieF]

Thank you for posting to the Alteryx Community. Your idea is currently being reviewed by the Alteryx Development Team for a possible future release. Please note that this review process can take some time, we’ll do our best to keep you up to date on the status of your idea.

[KylieF]

Thank you for your idea! 

Our product team is currently finalizing this feature and it will likely be included in an upcoming release! We'll update this idea again once it's available.

[jpoz]

Thank you for this suggestion! As of the 2020.1 release, you can utilize the 'Preserve Formatting on Overwrite' option in the Output Data tool when writing to a range in an Excel file. There are other Excel enhancements in the 2020.1 release as well. You can view the release notes here.

[tdollin]

@jpoz You say this has been implemented? I don't see the option you're alluding to in the output tool configuration?

[jpoz]

@tdollin In the Output Tool, when using xlsx, you will see a check box option for 'Preserve Formatting on Overwrite (Range Required)'

[mbmcdonald2]

Hi @jpoz I'm having a bit of trouble with the Preserve Formatting on Overwrite (Range Required) feature. I have it checked and while the formatting on my sheet stays preserved, when I re-configure the output to show a different list of items in a field, it still keeps the previous items in the list if my new list isn't long enough (i.e. it doesn't delete the old list). You'll see in the screenshot I included below the highlighted items are not supposed to be in that list but didn't get deleted once I updated the configuration. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!