User Settings

The User Settings window contains options for configuring workflow appearance and system resource usage to optimize performance.

System resource usage can be configured in three different areas: User Settings, System Settings, and Workflow Configuration. Settings configured in User Settings override settings in System Settings, and settings in Workflow Properties override settings in User Settings and System Settings.

To edit settings, click through the tabs and edit settings as desired, then click Apply.

The Defaults tab lists the Alteryx default runtime settings. The System Settings section shows settings configured in System Settings.

Defaults

Override System Settings: Select to configure settings different from settings configured in System Settings.
- Default Dedicated Sort/Join Memory Usage: Define the minimum amount of memory the Engine uses to perform sort and join operations in a workflow. Generally, this value should not be changed. For more information on how Designer uses memory, see Memory Use.
- Default Temporary Directory: Displays the path to the location where temporary files used in workflow processing are saved.
- Logging Directory (blank for no logging): Displays the path to the location where output logs produced during workflow processing are saved.
- Run Designer x64 at a Lower Priority: Select to run other memory intensive applications at the same time as Designer. This setting impacts workflow processing speeds.
Collect and display data profile information: Enables data profiling in the Browse tool. Deselect to disable data profiling features. If disabled, the Browse tool does not display data profile information. This does not improve runtime performance. See Browse Tool.
Show Start Here at startup: Select to display Start Here when Alteryx starts. Start Here displays a helpful set of starter samples when Alteryx starts up.
Pop Up Dialog at Completion of Workflow: Select to display a notification when a workflow finishes running. The workflow status is always displayed in the Results window.
Send Alteryx Tool Usage as Part of the Customer Experience Improvement Program: Deselect this option to opt out of sending usage data to Alteryx. When enabled, Alteryx collects usage data each time a workflow is run or Search is used. This information is used to plan future releases and prioritize fixes and features.
Deselecting this option does not prevent your IT department from collecting usage data.
Alteryx usage data
- Sample workflow data: Includes the date and time the sample workflow was run, the version of Alteryx running the workflow, the serial number of the computer or server running Alteryx, and the name of the sample workflow.
- Workflow data: Includes the same data collected for sample workflows and also the name of the tools in the workflow, the number of times a tool is used in the workflow, and tool connection data in the workflow.
- Search data: Includes the terms on which users search and which results were clicked.
Open Alteryx files as new workflow tabs in same Designer window: Select this option so that when Alteryx file types (.yxmd, .yxmc, .yxwz, .yxwg, .yxzp, .yxi) are double-clicked, they open as a new workflow tab within an existing Designer instance.

On the Dataset Defaults tab, you can set your default datasets for all tools that require an installed dataset. When the tool uses a dataset, the dataset you selected will be used. If you have not installed a dataset, you will not have an option to select.

Dataset Defaults

Behavior Analysis: Select the default dataset to be used by tools in the Behavior Analysis category. See Behavior Analysis.
Demographic Analysis: Select the default dataset to be used by tools in the Demographic Analysis category. See Demographic Analysis.
Drivetime: Select the default dataset to be used by tools that calculate drivetimes. See Distance Tool, Find Nearest Tool, and Trade Area Tool.
Geocoder: Select the default dataset to be used when geocoding. See Street Geocoder Tool and US Geocoder Tool.
Reference Base Map: Select the default base map for mapping. See Map Input Tool, Browse Tool, Report Map Tool.
Default Location for Map Input/Question: Click Set Location to position the map bounds. This is the default view for the Map Input Tool.

The Canvas tab lists the settings that control the appearance of items on the canvas including the workflow background, tool connections, and annotations.

Canvas

Adjust your Default Canvas Settings to change how the canvas workspace appears.

Background: Click to select the color of the canvas on which workflows are created.
Containers: Click to select the default color for Tool Container Tool.
Show Grid: Select to display a grid over the canvas.
- Grid Color: Click to select the grid color.
- Grid Size: Type or click to set the width of boxes in the grid. The size is defined in pixels.
Snap Tools to Grid: Select to place tools and annotations so they align to canvas grid.
Zoom Level: Click to select the zoom level at which to display the workflow.
Remember last zoom level per workflow: Select to remember the last zoom level used for the previous workflow. The zoom level is determined by the zoom level at which the workflow was last saved.
Layout Default: Click to select a vertical or horizontal orientation for workflows on the canvas.
Display macro indicators on tools: Select to show on any tool that is a macro. Right-click a macro tool to open its source workflow.

For more on the workflow canvas, see Workflow Configuration.

Adjust your Connection Settings to change how connections between tools look and behave.

Type: Select the type of connection.
- Auto Route Bezier: (default) Draws connections with curves.
- Auto Route Perpendicular: Draws connection with perpendicular bends.
- Straight: Draws connection with straight lines.
Lines: Click to select the color of the connection line.
Progress: Select when to show the progress of workflow processing. Progress displays the record count and the total record size of data passing through each connection, and the line width adjusts to the data passing through it.

For more on connections, see Connection Configuration.

Adjust your Annotation Settings to change how the tool configuration label displays on the canvas.

Font: Click to select font, font size, font style.
Text Color: Click to select text color.
Background: Click to select the annotation background color.

For more on annotations, see Tool Configuration.

The Advanced tab lists settings related to memory usage which affects program performance.

Advanced

Undo Levels: Type or click to set the number of actions Alteryx remembers and allows you to undo. The default value is 10. Increasing the value negatively impacts performance.
Disable Auto Configure: Select this option to manually configure tools in a workflow. With this option selected, press the F5 key to manually refresh tool configurations. This option may optimize performance.
Display XML in Properties Window: Select to view the XML of the configuration for each tool in a workflow.
Display Asset Management in Properties Window: Select to view the file dependencies or assets for each tool in a workflow.

Autosave

Alteryx automatically saves at least one of the files being processed in a workflow. Go to File > Open AutoSaved Files to view auto-saved files.

Autosave Interval in Minutes: Type or click to set the time Alteryx waits before saving automatically saving a file. The default is 10.
Autosave per File: Type or click to set the number of times a file is saved before it is saved again as a new version. The default is 3.
Days to Keep Autosave Files: Type or click to set the number of days to keep auto-saved file.

Tool Results Settings

These settings control the size of the data that displays in the Results window for each output anchor in a workflow.

Override System Settings: Select to edit the default setting.
- Memory Limit per Anchor: Select to set a memory limit per anchor. Then, type or click to set the memory limit value in KB. The default value is 1024 KB (1 MB).

Proxy Settings

Enable Proxy Credentials: Select to use a proxy to access the internet instead of directly connecting to an internet host. The following tools and connections will work with a proxy: Download tool, Amazon Redshift Bulk loader, Amazon S3 Upload tool, Amazon S3 Download tool, and HDFS connections via the Input Data, Output Data, Data Stream In, and Write Data In-DB tools.
You must manually configure a proxy in order to use this setting.

To set up a proxy, go to Network and internet settings on your computer, or Internet Options in Internet Explorer. In Internet Explorer, Internet Options, click the Connections tab, click LAN Settings and deselect Automatically Detect Settings, then select Proxy Server.

After setting up a proxy, select Enable Proxy Credentials and click Configure. Once configured, Designer will Autodetect proxy in use.

Confirm the correct proxy is selected.
Select Proxy requires password.
Type credentials in Username and Password.
Click OK.

Admins can configure a proxy in System Settings. Go to Options > Advanced Options > System Settings > Engine > Proxy.

Macros

On the Macros tab, you can create a repository of macros and set a default location to save macros. Alteryx displays the macros in the Tool Palette for you to use in building workflow. Each macro must have a unique name.

To add a path to the repository:

Click to open the Add Search Path for Macros window.
Category Name: type a name. The default name is Macros.
Search Path: Click to browse to the location where you save macros on your computer or a network.

Any macro .yxmc file in the selected location displays in the tool category on the Tool Palette.

Sub-folders in a search path cannot be added individually if their parent folder already exits in the Macros repository.

To set a default repository location:

Click the repository search path in the list.
Click Set as Default. An asterisk (*) displays next to the default repository.

Localization

The Localization tab lists settings related to internationalization and localization, including language and measurement conversion.

Code page: Select the code page to be used in encoding your tool set in Designer. See Code Pages.

Default System Font: Select the default font used by Designer.

Default Distance Units: Select the default units for measuring distance. Spatial tools use the selected unit of measure.

Use the following options to customize your Help settings.

Source: Click to select the source of Help. By default, Auto-Detect displays online Help when internet is available and displays offline Help when internet is not available.
Language: Click to select the language used to display the online Help.