Temporary File Creation

[AngelaO]

Question: In order to perform tasks like sorting, loading or some other tasks does Alteryx create temporary files?

Answer:

Yes - if you select the Workflow-Configuration, Runtime tab you will see the path used for writing out Temporary files for your individual workflow.

To set your Default Temporary Directory, Click Options-User Settings-Edit User Settings, and change the Default Temporary Directory.

Advantage:

1. You can either configure the temp file path globally in your user\system settings or per-workflow on the workflow configuration tab
2. You can write output to the temp file path using %Engine.TempFilePath% (e.g. %Engine.TempFilePath%MyFile.yxdb)
   • When your workflow finishes and you close Alteryx, content in %Engine.TempFilePath% is deleted -- this is a great way to let Alteryx clean up interim content without your intervention.

Some things to be aware of:

1. If a process 'dies', the temp file isn't necessarily cleared out. It's a good idea to check the temp file path periodically for abandoned temp files/folders.
2. Temp files must be stored on the machine running Alteryx (e.g. you can't put the temp files on a network drive).

For more information, search the Alteryx help (F1) for %temp%!

[DmtCoj]

Hi @AngelaO,

Thanks for the article. Please correct me if I'm wrong but as I understand the destination for the temporary files cannot include BOX ( C:\Users\....\Box\....), am I right?

Therefore, the only option for large amount of temp files (more than 100GB) to be stored is an additional hard drive.

Thanks in advance.