Skip to main content

Activate Desktop Automation with Alteryx One

Desktop Automation is activated through Alteryx One when your organization has purchased Desktop Automation access and your Alteryx One user has the required Designer and Desktop Automation roles.

For administrator steps, go to Assign Desktop Automation Access.

If you use license key activation instead, go to Activate Desktop Automation with License Keys.

Before You Begin

Make sure that:

  • Your organization has purchased Desktop Automation seats.

  • You have access to the applicable Alteryx One workspace.

  • You have the Designer access required by your Alteryx One edition.

  • A Workspace Admin has assigned you the Desktop Automation User role.

  • You use a Designer version that supports Desktop Automation activation through Alteryx One.

  • Your computer can connect to Alteryx One when the license is activated or refreshed. Offline activation isn’t supported for this Desktop Automation licensing model.

Activate Desktop Automation

  1. Sign in to Alteryx One with the account that has your Designer and Desktop Automation access.

  2. Open Designer and complete Alteryx One authentication if prompted.

  3. Designer checks your Alteryx One entitlements and enables Desktop Automation when your user has the required capability.

You don’t need a separate Desktop Automation Flexera key when you use the Alteryx One activation model.

If the Desktop Automation User role was assigned after Designer was already activated, restart Designer to refresh the license token. Otherwise, the updated role can take up to 12 hours to appear in the refreshed token.

Configure Desktop Automation

Desktop Automation uses AlteryxService on your computer to run scheduled workflows.

For a new Desktop Automation configuration:

  1. In Designer, go to Options > Advanced > Settings.

  2. Complete the System Settings configuration, then select Finish.

  3. Open the Services application in Windows.

  4. Find AlteryxService, then open Properties.

  5. On the Log On tab, configure the service to run under the same Windows user account that activated Designer.

  6. Confirm that the service startup type is Automatic or Automatic (Delayed Start), then restart the service if required.

Important

With Alteryx One licensing, Desktop Automation doesn’t work when AlteryxService runs as the default SYSTEM user or as a different Windows user than the user who activated Designer.

Verify Desktop Automation Access

After activation and service configuration:

  • Confirm that Options > Schedule Workflow is available in Designer.

  • Confirm that Options > View Schedules is available.

  • Confirm that My Computer is available as a scheduling location.

The computer must remain powered on and awake when a scheduled workflow is due to run.

For scheduling instructions, go to Schedule Workflows.

If Desktop Automation Isn’t Enabled

If Desktop Automation isn’t available:

  • Confirm that you signed in with the Alteryx One account and workspace where Desktop Automation access was assigned.

  • Ask your Workspace Admin to confirm that the Desktop Automation User role is assigned and that a Desktop Automation seat is available.

  • Confirm that you have the required Designer access.

  • Restart Designer to force a license token refresh after access changes.

  • Confirm that AlteryxService runs under the same Windows user that activated Designer, not SYSTEM or another Windows account.

  • Confirm that you use a supported Designer version.

Limitations

  • Offline activation isn’t supported for this Desktop Automation licensing model.

  • Desktop Automation scheduling doesn’t support all Designer connection types. For current scheduling limitations, go to Schedule Workflows.

In this section: