Newbie: Will my AutoCat workaround break Tiller if I add columns to Transactions?

Google Sheets
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I’m testing out TillerHQ as a replacement for Mint, but AutoCat’s 200-rule limit is going to be a dealbreaker for me. I think I’ve found a workaround that will let me automatically categorize transactions based on a longer lookup table, but I’d love it if a more experienced Tiller user can tell me if I’m going to break my Google Sheet (I started from the Finances template) by taking this approach.

In particular, I’m wondering:

  1. Will it create problems if I add additional columns to my Transactions tab?
  2. If I fill down my own formula in the “official” Categories column in the Transactions tab, will the categories generated by my formula get overwritten when Tiller syncs with my bank?
  3. Is there anything magic about Tiller’s built-in Categories column, or can I just ignore it and use my own home-brewed AlexCategories column instead?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

  • Alexandra

And for those who are curious about what/how I’m getting around the AutoCat limit, or who need more context on the above, here’s a quick summary of what I’ve got working:

  • I already have an extensive list of keyword:category associations in Excel, which I can use to categorize my transactions based on keywords in the description column. To make use of that list, I’ve added an extra tab (AlexCategories) to the my Google Sheet.
  • The AlexCategories tab consists of two-column list that will eventually hold about a thousand keywords (column A) plus the categories each keyword should trigger (column B).
  • In the Transactions tab, I added a “Better Categories” column to lookup whether the transaction Description includes a keyword in my AlexCategories list; if it does, it returns the associated category from column B
  • The formula that does this is based on Regexmatch so the keyword can appear anywhere in the description field – ie partial matches work fine (but yes I have to be careful that the “fee” in Coffee doesn’t match to both Coffee Shops and Bank Fees)

FORMULA DETAILS

For those who want to try this, the formula that worked is =ARRAY_CONSTRAIN(IF(C2="",IFERROR(FILTER(AlexCats!$B$2:$B,REGEXMATCH(C2,AlexCats!$A$2:$A)),“No category”)),1,1)

(where column C is the Description column in my Transactions tab)

NB this solution was inspired by a (non-Tiller) demo sheet I found in this stackexchange thread: Google Sheets formula for “if contains” from range - Web Applications Stack Exchange

1 Like
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:wave:, @awsamuel!

I just added you to our beta group for AutoCat via Tiller Money Feeds add-on that should address your needs here. Thanks!

If anyone else is looking for multiple match feature described here, are comfortable participating in a beta, and already using a Tiller Money Feeds sheet, reply here and we’ll get you set up.

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Thanks so much! I will look forward to digging in.

A.

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I added two personal columns to my transactions sheet and this seems to have broken my AutoCat. It categorizes some transactions according to my rules but misses others, even though I have it set to run on all transactions, rather than just uncategorized transactions. Is there a way I can add my own columns to the transactions sheet without breaking AutoCat?

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:wave: @ytulpar!

Adding columns to your Transactions sheet should not break AutoCat.

One thing to note is that AutoCat rules are processed top to bottom, so you’d want you more granular rules at the top of the list and broader rules lower down in the list.

Does that help?