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Install Connectors and Custom Tools

You can use custom tools to expand the capabilities of Alteryx Designer. One method for deploying a custom tool is to package the tool and its dependencies into a single YXI file. Go to Package a Tool for more info.

Another option is Connectors. Connectors are custom tools that can access cloud applications and products to read and write data or download and upload files. Alteryx publishes connectors to the Alteryx Community. You have to install a matching version of a connector on Alteryx Server to publish a workflow that uses the connector. Connectors are released independently from Server and require manual updates for new version releases.

Install a Custom Tool in Designer

Server Admins can install connectors on Alteryx Server for workflows published to Gallery to use.

To install a connector:

  1. Download the YXI file for the connector from Alteryx Community.

  2. Right-click the Designer icon and select Run As Administrator. Important—If you don’t Run as Administrator, the file won’t install to the correct folder.

  3. In Designer, go to File > Open Workflow > Browse and select the downloaded YXI file.

  4. Select Install for all users. and

  5. Select Install. The connector files install to C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\Tools.

  6. Repeat the installation steps on all nodes or copy the folders to other nodes. You must install the connector on all worker nodes. The connector folder is all Server needs to use the connector so you can copy the folder between the nodes to install.

Important

The first time you install a Python connector, contact Customer Support to enable the connector to run successfully on Server.

Find and Select Versions

To display all available versions if you have more than one version of a connector installed, you can right-click the connector icon on your Designer canvas. Then select Choose version.

To see the version if you have only one version installed, go to the installation folder C:\ProgramData\Alteryx\Tools and note the version in the folder name.

Troubleshooting

If you installed a connector as a user (instead of admin), you might have the connector’s folders installed in multiple locations. This causes workflows to fail. To fix this issue, delete the connector folder from each user's folder in \Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Tools.

Note

Alteryx loads tools in Designer from these locations in the following order:

  • \Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Tools

  • \ProgramData\Alteryx\Tools