A macro is a workflow or group of tools built into a single component which will be available at the tool palette that can be inserted into another workflow. Create a macro to save an analytic process you perform repeatedly. Use the macro within a workflow without having to recreate the analytic process each time.

You can create or convert any workflow to a macro by changing its type in the configuration window as shown below.

You can also find a set of macros that you can download and use from the Alteryx Gallery. You can download and import them to alteryx designer.

Requirement

Data cleansing is the most important task in any ETL process. Alteryx provides a data cleanse tool which helps you to perform cleaning operation in the data. With this tool, you can handle special characters, spaces, nulls and cases letters.

Let us assume you have a requirement to handle date and phone numbers, you can find an advanced data cleansing tool with which you can handle date formats, phone numbers and validation of data and more. Let us see about importing this “Cleanse macro” in alteryx.

Importing a macro

Let’s walk through the steps with an example where we are going to import the custom data cleanse tool with additional options.

The macros will be saved as alteryx package(.yxzp file) in the gallery, which on opening will prompt us whether to import or not. By selecting  ‘yes’ it will show us the list of files in the package then you can import the package into the application.

Once the application is imported, open the .yxmc file and then save the file in the macro repository then the macro will be added as a tool in the alteryx designer.

Macros repository

You can find the macro repository from  Options > User Settings > Edit User Settings > Macros tab

If there are any folder selected, you can select a folder as Macros repository using icon.

Any .yxmc file saved in the folder will be loaded as a tool in the alteryx designer as shown below which can be used in any workflows.

Cleanse Tool configuration window

Conclusion

Macros reduce the work to a great extent in development as you can build a logic that you might reuse in multiple workflows. Let’s discuss more on macros in successive blogs.

Read more about similar Self Service BI topic here and learn more about Visual BI Solutions Microsoft Power BI offerings here.