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Overwrite Existing Gallery Workflow

I'm really enjoying the new Save As functionality to push to the gallery, but had a request that would make it even more useful for me. 

 

I saw that you can open workflows directly from the Gallery and edit them with version control, but it would be nice if it was possible to do a Save As on a local workflow and point it at an existing copy on the server.  I need to maintain a local copy of my workflow for dev/prod separation, but currently my way to push to prod is to do a Save As to my Private Gallery, remove the existing copy from the company gallery, and then share my newly created workflow into the company gallery.  This causes some headaches like no version control, switching out icons everytime, and overall just a messy way to push to prod.  

 

It would be helpful if there was a way to overwrite an existing workflow in the gallery rather than editing it directly.  

25 Comments
EEdLoh
8 - Asteroid

@TimGarstin1 There is another workaround. The time to complete either one is roughly the same and each has their pros and cons:

  1. Save the local copy locally
  2. Open the Server copy using the Open Workflow -> Your Gallery option
  3. CTRL-A (select all) and delete all of the tools in the Server copy
  4. CTRL-A and copy all of the tools from the local copy, then paste to the Server copy
  5. Click the Save button (not save as) on the Server copy.

It's primarily a matter of preference. If you're a bit obsessive about the Version Control comments like I am, then this method will maintain those. The Replace Workflow method changes the comment to something that is definitely not helpful.

klonergan
8 - Asteroid

When you save-as a workflow to an Alteryx Gallery, an option is not provided to overwrite an existing workflow with the same name if that workflow wasn't opened directly from the gallery (e.g., if it was opened from disk).  This is contrary to how almost every other application works and what you would intuitively expect, and leads to duplication of workflows on the Gallary.  For example, when using Tableau, a message would be provided such as "A workbook named ... is already in use. Overwrite it?"  Or said another way, why does the Gallery allow multiple workflows of the same name to be published?  There seem to be multiple reasons why you may want to save a workflow locally prior to re-uploading to server, including saving during the change process when you don't want updates to be published until they are fully complete.  

I am aware that duplicate workflows can be cleaned-up on server (https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Server-Knowledge-Base/Clean-Up-Duplicate-Workflows-In-the-G...), but please consider changing the functionality within Designer to make this process more intuitive.  Thank you. 

MJ
8 - Asteroid
Why is this one in "New Idea" status after showing that it was moved to "Under Review" in 2015? Seems it could have fallen through the cracks...
SeanAdams
17 - Castor
17 - Castor

Agree with this - if we use the upload API to automate SDLC migrations from dev to prod, this is an important capability to have.

mmcoll
6 - Meteoroid

Adding the ability to replace existing workflows on the gallery as we save would be amazing!

DanM
Alteryx Community Team
Alteryx Community Team

@mmcoll,

 

There is a functionality like this now. We have versioning in the Gallery. If you pull down the workflow from the Gallery, make changes and hit save, it will save that version back to the Gallery. 

mmcoll
6 - Meteoroid

@DanM Great point!
I usually have a working copy on my machine but will occasionally replace the version I am running on the gallery.
When opening the workflow saved on the gallery, I can push updates directly to that workflow.
I cannot see a way to do that with workflows I have saved on my PC.

TanyaS
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Status changed to: Under Review

Thanks to everyone for continuing to check in on this idea. This is an idea we're looking at in partnership with the Collections functionality. Feel free to reach out with any comments or concerns related to this functionality!

 

~Tanya

KylieF
Alteryx Community Team
Alteryx Community Team
Status changed to: Implemented

Thank you for your idea! This feature was implemented with the Functionality 'Replace Workflow' where you can select a workflow and actively replace it with a new version or replacement workflow while keeping the version history.

klonergan
8 - Asteroid

The current 'replace workflow' is cumbersome, confusing, and multiple steps (i.e., this idea has not been implemented and that status should not be changed).  I'd strongly encourage you to change this design to match the much more intuitive functionality in other desktop/server applications like Tableau.