Engine Works
Under the hood of Alteryx: tips, tricks and how-tos.
Editor's note: CLICK HERE for up-to-date, single source help on magnification, mouse keys, mouse, and keyboard shortcuts in the Alteryx Designer product.
Alteryx 10.1 includes new controls to make it easier to navigate around the canvas with large workflows. Download Alteryx 10.1
Scrolling and Panning
Holding the spacebar will now change the mouse cursor to indicate that you are in panning mode. In this mode, simply left-click with the mouse and you can drag the canvas in any direction.
If you only want to scroll in a straight line up or down, you can still roll your mouse wheel. To scroll left or right, hold the Shift key while rolling the mouse wheel. If you don't have a mouse wheel (or simply prefer keyboard commands) you can now use the arrow keys to accomplish the same movements. When using the arrow keys to scroll, the Shift key can be used to increase the distance that the canvas will move.
If you want to jump to the beginning or end of your workflow, hit Home or End to go to the top or bottom. Hold the Shift key while pressing Home or End to jump to the far left or right.
Zooming
You can now zoom back out to see the entire workflow by double-clicking the center mouse button, or by pressing Ctrl + 0, as long as no tools are selected. If there are tools selected, Ctrl + 0 will zoom to frame them.
If you just want to zoom in and out, the existing command (Ctrl + mouse wheel) still works, but you for those who prefer keyboard commands, you can now also hold Ctrl and press the + or - key.*
Right click zoom menu
Right Click Menu Options
You can click the right mouse button for a few new zooming options, such as Zoom > All and Zoom > Selected Tools.
Additiionally, if you use Tool Containers to organize your workflow, the Right Click Menu now provides option to zoom to each Tool Container.
Of course, it this makes it important to to give your Tool Containers recognizable names.
I can't remember what's going on in Container 3!
This is great... but I need a cheat sheet!
We tried to make the new controls as intuitive as possible. Many of them should match controls you may be familiar with from other software.
All of the new controls are documented in the Alteryx Help, but we also thought a print-out might be helpful.
Click the image on the right for a one-page reference guide you can print out and keep near your computer.
Please give the new controls a spin and tell us what you think in the comments below.
- What works well for you?
- What else could we do to make it easier to navigate in Alteryx?
If you want to read more about Alteryx 10.1 or download this release, visit the Alteryx Downloads page.
* In previous versions of Alteryx, pressing the Ctrl key along with + or - would cause the selected tools to become aligned vertically or horizontally. With Alteryx 10.1, the shift key has been added to these commands. For example, if you want to align two tools horizontally you can select them both and then press the Shift key and the Ctrl key and the - key.
