Yes, but not natively. Alteryx doesn’t continuously monitor files or folders for changes like a file watcher. Instead, workflows need to be triggered through scheduling or an external automation process.

The most common approaches are:

• Alteryx Scheduler: Schedule the workflow to run at regular intervals (e.g., every 15 or 30 minutes) and process any new or updated files.
• Windows Task Scheduler + PowerShell: Use a script to monitor the file’s last modified timestamp and launch the workflow only when a change is detected.
• Power Automate or other orchestration tools: If your files are stored in SharePoint, OneDrive, or cloud storage, these platforms can trigger an Alteryx workflow whenever a file is created or modified.
• Alteryx Server: For enterprise environments, Alteryx Server offers centralized scheduling, API integration, and workflow orchestration, making it easier to automate complex data pipelines.

One recommendation is to design the workflow so it’s idempotent—meaning it can safely run multiple times without creating duplicate records or inconsistent results. This makes scheduled or event-driven automation much more reliable.

If your use case requires near real-time processing, combining a file monitoring service with the Alteryx command-line interface or Server API is typically the most effective solution. For most business workflows, however, a scheduled execution every few minutes is simpler to maintain and provides a good balance between responsiveness and operational overhead.