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Blue speech bubble with white cube containing a blue circle. Tool Container Tool

One Tool Example

Tool Container has a One Tool Example. Go to Sample Workflows to learn how to access this and many other examples directly in Alteryx Designer.

Use Tool Container to organize tools in a workflow. You can use the tool to isolate a section or process in a workflow. You can disable tool containers to prevent the tools inside from running. You can also collapse them so they take up less room on the canvas.

Control Container

Looking for Control Containers? The Control Container is a separate tool from the Tool Container and behaves very differently. Use Control Containers to manage the sequence in which tools run in your workflow and ensure that the steps in your process are executed in the correct order. Go to the Control Container help page to learn more about this new tool.

Group Tools in a Container

There are multiple ways to group tools in a container:

  • Select one or more tools on the canvas and right-click, then select Add To New Container.

  • Drag the Tool Container tool to the canvas and place it near the tools you want to group. Select Ctrl, select tools, then drag and drop them into the container.

To expand or collapse a container, select the icon in the upper-right portion of the container.

Modify Container Contents

  • To delete a container without deleting the tools in it, right-click the expanded container and select Delete Container Only.

  • To remove a tool from a container, select the tool and drag it out of the container.

Disable a Container

Disable a container when you do not want to run a section or process in a workflow you are building. The disabled container remains expanded on the canvas and appears dimmed to indicate the disabled state. The tools within the container do not process data until enabled again.

Disable Container

To disable the container, you have 2 options:

  • In the container's Configuration window, check Disabled.

  • Select the toggle at the top left of the container so the slider is to the left.

You can collapse a disabled container to hide its contents. Select the expand/collapse icon within the tool container to do so.

Enable Container

To enable the container, you have 2 options:

  • In the container's Configuration window, deselect Disabled.

  • Select the toggle at the top left of the container so the slider is to the right.

A container can also be enabled or disabled dynamically within an app or macro via an Action tool.

Configure the Tool

  1. In the Configuration window, enter a name for the container in Caption, or double-click the container box on the canvas and enter text directly into the box. The default text is "Container" plus the tool ID displayed in the ID field.

  2. Set the color theme for the tool container.

    • Select "..." next to Text Color, Fill Color, and Border Color and select a color from the palette or enter RGB values.

    • In Transparency, enter a value or use the up/down icons to set the color transparency.

    • In Margin, select a width to change the space between the tool container border and the contained tools.

To set the default fill container color...

  1. Go to Options > User Settings and select the Themes tab.

  2. Under Default Canvas Settings > Containers set your desired RGB values or use the "..." button to select a color.

  3. Save your settings.