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Alteryx Designer Desktop Knowledge Base

Definitive answers from Designer Desktop experts.

Output as Text File

JordanB
Alteryx
Alteryx
Created

Output data as Text File

Within Alteryx there isn't an output option directly to a text file. To achieve this you will need to use a flat ASCII file.

Step 1: Bring in an output data tool and choose the ‘Flat ASCII file (*.flat) option

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Step 2: You will then see this below screenshot in the output tool configuration window.

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Step 3: You will now need to change the file extension from .flat to .txt, this will chage the flat file to a text format.

Pic 3.png

Step 4: You can now click on the hyperlink in the results window and open your text file in a supported application.

Pic 5.png

Pic 4.png

Example attached.

Attachments
Comments
CristonS
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Hey @JordanB, great post!

 

One question:  since this process also works when you select .csv [Comma-Delimited Text File (*.csv)] as the output format (still using the extension .txt) why did you choose the ‘Flat ASCII file (*.flat) option?  Is there a performance difference?  Are we avoiding excel driver issues...?

 

Thanks!

JordanB
Alteryx
Alteryx

Hi @CristonS,

 

Thanks for asking such a great question! 

 

You can indeed use a CSV file to output .txt and is valid in a lot of circumstances, such as CSV will guarantee seamless data movement between systems and is visually easier on the eye. However, there are other instances where you have a large amount of transaction data, flat ASCII files have been found to process quicker due to haing fixed widths rather than variable field widths which CSVs have. Therefore, from a performance point of view uploading large sets of data an ASCII file is the most cost-effective method. 

 

So ultimately depending upon the size of your data and how you want the data to be visualized, the use of CSV or ASCII flat files is really up to personal preferance or best business practices.

 

Best,

 

Jordan Barker

Solutions Consultant  

 

 

CristonS
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Good to know!  Thanks @JordanB, keep up the good work!

Bwilliams_dup_59
5 - Atom

I would like my output to be a pipe delimited text file. Is this possible with using the  ‘Flat ASCII file (*.flat) option, or is the csv route best for this?

 

Thanks,

Brittani

JordanB
Alteryx
Alteryx

Hi @Bwilliams_dup_59

 

CSV would be the best option for this. Looking at ASCII the option to delimit is not there. 

Pipe Delimited.png

 

Best,

 

Jordan Barker

Solutions Consultant 

Andy_Katona
8 - Asteroid

Stupid question, if I wanted it to be "tab delimited" would I utilize the ASCII or the CSV?

JordanB
Alteryx
Alteryx

Hi @Andy_Katona

 

You can use CVS and use \t for tab delimited.

 

Best,

 

Jordan

Andy_Katona
8 - Asteroid

Thank you, of course I found it & got it to work right after I posted. I am still amazed & keep trying to break/challenge this tool . My biggest issue is the slowness over VPN at home. Hopefully they have a fix for that problem soon.

Andy_Katona
8 - Asteroid

I just re-created it to help speed up time. It appears the issue was somehow embedded in the output. All good

HTWebb
5 - Atom

I followed all the directions and I get my flat file however there are extra blank rows between each row. I have researched it and I can't fix it. In Alteryx you can't see if but when I load the file to mainframe it picks up the extra carriage return. Any ideas?

BKro23
5 - Atom

When I save as Flat and then do the txt conversion the format of the file columns are different than the original file. How do I maintain the file format when converting Excel file to txt?

L_Gordon
8 - Asteroid

I would like to output to a text file that is pipe delimeted.  As noted, .csv works, but what happens when one of the text fields includes a comma?

ClaraLin
7 - Meteor

I encountered error message Error: Make entry text file: The field "field name" is too big (1073741823 bytes) for a flat file. The limit is 64K.  What could cause this?  

I switched to CVS and use \t for tab delimited.  All good.  Thanks!

rockeylearning
8 - Asteroid

This is an old post, pulling this back up, as I am running into the same issue with the 

Error: Output Data (34): The field "Field1" is too big (1073741823 bytes) for a flat file. The limit is 64K.

 

How to fix this?

 

The original field width is only 4

 

Thanks