Failed to Update Balance History / Maybe SOLVED

Google Sheets
1

Please let me know if I should go directly to Customer Support for this.

This morning, my Tiller update failed for the first time in over 2 years. Google Sheets reported this error message:

Failed to update Balance History with Error: “Exception: This action would increase the number of cells in the workbook above the limit of 10,000,000 cells.”

There are 43 tabs in my workbook with a total of 1,295,081 cells (including blanks). This is well below the 10 million cell limit.

The Balance History tab mentioned in the error message has 2,888 rows and 43,320 cells (rows x columns).

Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this problem. I’m not sure if this error affects updating the Transactions tab or just the Balance History tab but I’d like to get this resolved because it’s a sign something is amiss. I’m nowhere near the 10,000,000 cell limit for the workbook.

Thanks for any and all help.

ScottC

UPDATE … making a copy of my Tiller file seemed to fix the problem so, it you run into the same error about exceeding the max number of cells allowed in Sheets when you know you don’t have more than 10 million cells in your file, try making a copy of your Tiller file. That’s worked so far. I’ll post the Apps script that automates the process of counting the number of rows and cells, including blanks, in each tab of a workbook.

1 Like
2

Could you expand on what steps you’re making?

Initially, I’m just thinking File->Make a Copy creates a new file and doesn’t change the existing file.
Are you switching to use the new copy?

3

Of course.

Yes. I am switching to the new copy of the file. When I Fill Transactions, I don’t get the error that I described earlier.

Multiplying the rows x columns for all of the tabs in my Tiller workbook results in about 1.2 million cells which is way under the 10 million cell limit that was mentioned in the error. Google might use other factors besides rows x columns to calculate total cells in the workbook. I suppose that’s possible.

Also, the error specifically mentioned that the error was related to the Balance History tab which I never look at. That sheet has a little over 43,000 cells.

Today was the first error I’ve ever had with my Tiller / Google workbook and, if making a copy does indeed fix it, it’s an easy fix.

I’ll find out soon if the problem isn’t fixed and I’ll contact Tiller Support.

Let me know if this answers your question or if you have other questions.

ScottC

4

Will you get duplicate transactions linking the new copy? It’s a completely new file now to the Tiller system.

1 Like
5

That’s an interesting question. I think the answer is no.

I renamed the old file and named the new file with the old file’s name. I linked the new copy to Tiller and it updated as expected. The updates to the new file did not appear on the old file.

Tomorrow will really tell. At this point, the Tiller console hasn’t updated to reflect the changes but I’m optimistic.

6

Thanks for the info, that is interesting.

I did a little testing out of curiosity:

  1. Make a Copy, in the Copy, remove all transactions, link to Tiller, link one account that was linked in source file, Fill does not add any new transactions.
  2. Start with completely empty Sheet, link to Tiller, link one account that was linked in source file, Fill appears to download all the transactions since the initial Fill from initial account connection to Tiller.

So, it seems a Copy of a Tiller linked spreadsheet really does still contain some information that tells the Tiller Fill process what data it has downloaded. And it does not come from the Transactions sheet metadata column.

A Copy is not really a completely new file to the Tiller Fill system.
One difference is a Copy wouldn’t have the source file’s archive history attached to it.