The most frequently used tools in a workflow are in the Favorites category. Assigning a tool as a favorite will be helpful in building your workflow. Furthermore, create your personal tool category consisting of multiple tools from different tool categories. Alteryx has preconfigured 13 tools under the Favorites category that are used most often by many users.
The Favorites tools consist of: Browse, Filter, Formula, Input, Join, Output, Sample, Select, Sort, Summarize, Comment, Text Input, and Union. It is vital to get used to using these tools, since they are widely used in workflows.
There are currently over 200 tools available in Alteryx, and becoming familiar with the Favorites tools will be the first building block to building an effective production workflow.
to the right of the tool icon. The yellow star 
indicates it's a Favorite tool. 
