Alteryx Designer Desktop Knowledge Base

We’ve developed this handy Getting Started Document to ensure success throughout your lifecycle with our powerful Alteryx technology. The following document outlines the stages and steps taken through the onboarding process. Topics include Onboarding Community Training Support Resources Check it out, let us know if you have any questions or comments!  

Here is the PDF file with all the Tips & Tricks we gathered for this year's conference.

You'll notice some of the menus have been rearranged in version 10+. So if you are looking to export a workflow package, you will find that under the Options menu,  Export Workflow.  By default, you will see all the assets that the workflow depends on to run properly, but sometimes you will want to include additional files to package with the workflow.

How to create your own custom tool palettes

Sometimes, especially when interacting with tools/files outside Alteryx, you need to explicitly control the order of tool execution. The classic example is a process whereby you 1) INSERT to a SQL table where an auto-incrementing ID is applied 2) read the records back in order to get the auto-incremented id 3) insert the auto-incremented ID into a different table.   In Alteryx worflow streams that terminate (as in an Output or Render), you can't reliably use Block Until Done to control the stream. One way to reliably control the order of events is with batch macros.   Batch macros guarantee that 1) every iteration is complete before the next iteration begins, and 2) that all iterations are complete before the macro reports itself complete. So if you place a process inside a batch macro and create an output stream from that macro, all processing will be done and the macro still can exist in the middle a workflow stream. You don't even need a Block Until Done as part of the process.   Please see the attached examples

Data Integrity refers to the accuracy and consistency of data stored in a database, data warehouse, data mart or other construct, and it is a fundamental component of any analytic workflow. In Alteryx, creating a macro to compare expected values to actual values in your data is quite simple and provides a quality control check before producing a visual report. Let me show you how to build this.       The two inputs represent the actual and expected values in your data. These data streams are passed through a Record ID tool to keep positional integrity and then passed on to the Transpose tool to create two columns. The first column contains the field names and the second column shows the values within each field. This data is then passed on to a join, matching on Record ID and the Name of the field, in order to compare each value. Lastly, if the data does not match from expected to actual, a custom message will appear in the results messages alerting the user where the mismatch happened within the dataset. The image below shows the error message produced if values differ across datasets.      

The latest installment of our famous Tips and Tricks series. A must read or experts and newbies alike!

When bringing data into Alteryx a lot of users often add a select tool to check the data type and structure. Data types are very important because of the available operations/functions in tools can be adjusted to fit the data type being used!

Workflow optimization tips

How to Always Run Alteryx as an Administrator

The important thing to know is that when you least expect it, this file can become a lifesaver if something happens to your original workflow, so please don't delete them!

Alteryx includes a printing feature which allows you to print out a workflow you've developed.    To Print, navigate to File > Print   To change the Print Settings: File > Print Settings   This is a simple feature that does not require much explanation, so I will make this quick.   The Print Screen        Print the workflow or select a printer with the drop-down arrow. Set the zoom level of the preview window with the down arrow or fit to the page by clicking on the magnifying glass. Choose how many tiles to print to; larger workflows may require multiple tiles. Scroll through the workflow pages. Change the scale so that the entire workflow fits on a single page or the original or custom scale. Change the format to Landscape or Portrait. The preview of your workflow.   This feature is very useful when reviewing the overall workflow parts with colleagues. Enjoy!

Where can I find commonly used Alteryx Cheat Sheets?

Here are some potential ways you can achieve this goal:

Instruction on how to obtain the list of deprecated tools in Alteryx Designer!

Truncated data is usually defined as numeric rounding or cut off, string shortening, or datum deletion - essentially any time information is lost.

how to export workflows with attachments

Any tool that performs a Sort will increase processing time. This article will show you how to improve efficiency!

The 11.0 Tool Sheet is a handy reference document where you can view all the Alteryx tools and Macros included in the 11.0 Tool Palette. The tool sheet is attached to this article.

Thanks to the brilliance of @RobertB during last year’s Alteryx Innovation Days, we now have a command line tool in beta that generates visual markup in the Designer to compare two workflows!

If you are installing two different versions of Alteryx Designer and their respective predictive tools- there is an order of operation.    1.  Install the Administrative Version of Alteryx Designer. 2.  Install the Administrative Version of Alteryx R/Predictive tools. 3.  Install the Non-Administrative Version of Alteryx Designer. 4.  Install the Non-Administrative Version of Alteryx R/Predictive tools.