Metadata Change

[JoeDiedri]

Hello Alteryx Community.

I have the following problem.

Problem:

I have a lot of excel files (hundreds). They all have the same columns with identical headers. I would like to load them into Alteryx by using the wildcard. This did not work. The Excel files always have the same headers. But the metadata of each Excel file is different.

Example: In the first Excel file, field D1 = Double. In the second Excel file, field D1 = String. And so on. Always different.

This means, it is not possible to load the Excel files using wildcards.

Is there a way to automatically change the metadata of the Excel files to all the same metadata?

For example, I load an Excel file into Alteryx. This is my reference file. Then I load the other excel files into Alteryx and tell it to change the metadata to the reference file.

Or does anyone have other solutions?

I would be very happy about new approaches.

Thank you very much.

Joe

[Christina_H]

If the metadata is different every time, you need to use a macro to import them all.  Use a directory tool to get the list of files, send those to the control parameter of a batch macro.  Within the macro, use the control parameter to update an input tool, then use a select tool to set the data types before sending the data back out of the macro.

[binuacs]

@JoeDiedri I think the batch macro should work on your use-case. The below post will help you how to use batch macro

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/The-Ultimate-Input-Data-Flowchart/t...

[JoeDiedri]

Thank you for the quick feedback. I will try it out and report if it works :)

[JoeDiedri]

Hey guys thanks for your comments. This has helped a lot. I built two Makros, which change the Metadata to right one :)