Transaction splitter issue / Saved Splits

Ramona · May 21, 2023, 6:27pm

Hello - I am new to Tiller and Google Sheets.
I have however managed to get the Saved Splits into my Google Sheet.

My problem is that in the Saved Splits sheet, when I go to pick a category, it just says loading.
Apparently I have done something wrong and I am hoping someone can help me fix it.
I do have the required columns in my Transactions sheet.

In my Transactions Sheet - Category Column is “D”. In Saved Splits Sheet - Category Column is “C”. Is this my problem?

Thanks for any advice!

randy · May 22, 2023, 11:05pm

That is an interesting problem, @Ramona.

After drawing the Transaction Splitter sidebar pane, the TMF add-on tries to load your categories from the Categories sheet. It sounds like this process isn’t working for you.

Here are a few things to look into and try:

If you go to the “Add Manual Transaction” pane in TMF, do your categories load into the dropdown?
Is your categories sheet called exactly “Categories”? (Pay attention to whitespace characters on either side.)
Is there a column in your Categories sheet called exactly “Category”? (Pay attention to whitespace characters on either side.)
Can you respond with a screenshot of the first few rows of your Categories and Saved Splits sheets?

The horizontal position of the columns shouldn’t matter too much so long as the header names are correct and in the first row.

Ramona · May 23, 2023, 11:28pm

Hi @randy, Thanks for getting back to me.

Add Manual Transaction - Categories load into dropdown fine
Categories Sheet - Is exactly called Categories
Categories Sheet Column - Is Exactly Category

randy · May 24, 2023, 1:22am

Oh interesting… I thought you meant it was “loading…” in our add-on.

What happens if you just rebuild the data validation? Can you clear the data validation in the Saved Splits sheet (Category column) and then recreate the reference in that sheet to column A in the Categories sheet.

Can you let me know if that works?

Ramona · May 25, 2023, 3:20am

Sorry @randy for the delay.

I would love to do as you suggested, however I am new to google sheets and have no idea how to do it.
I deleted the sheet and tried again, but it still didn’t work. I must be doing something wrong regarding the instructions.

I think I figured out how to get the existing data validation. This is what is says

tom · May 26, 2023, 5:18pm

Hi @Ramona,

Looks like you have it working now, the categories are showing. Is the loading… issue resolved as well?

Ramona · May 27, 2023, 4:48pm

Hello @tom thanks for the reply

Unfortunately I haven’t resolved the issue of the categories loading.
The screen shot above was when I first downloaded the saved split sheet.

I have paycheck as a category
I don’t have any of the other categories though (the red triangle)

I posted it to show the data validation rules for the column (Far Right).
To see if someone can tell me if the validation rules are correct.

randy · May 31, 2023, 1:08am

It looks like your Saved Split template’s data validation is not correctly linked to your Category sheet. Some things that will help:

Can you click on the data validation rule over to the right and send a screenshot so we can see the range that C2:C41 are linked to?
Can you share a screenshot of the first few rows of your Categories sheet including the column letters and the row numbers?
Can you confirm the “Saved Splits” sheet is called EXACTLY “Saved Splits” with no spaces or hidden characters?
Can you confirm the “Categories” sheet is called EXACTLY “Categories” with no spaces or hidden characters?

I think we can get to the bottom of this, @Ramona.

Ramona · June 17, 2023, 5:21pm

Sorry for the delay @randy. I have been working on getting my husband’s taxes done and finally finished and met the deadline on June 15.

Now for relaxing and learning google sheets, and all of the cool things that I can do with Tiller. Next years taxes are going to be a breeze!

Starting from scratch. I deleted my old saved splits sheet and then tried to follow the instructions (As they didn’t exactly match what I did) to add a new splits sheet again.

Splits - Instructions

Step 2 - Copy To

I chose Existing Spreadsheet

Splits - 1

Then I Got The Screen Below

Step 3 - Paste in the URL of your Tiller sheet

at the bottom of this window

⦁ Beside Select a Spreadsheet - I Pasted In the URL of my Tiller sheet
⦁ At the top of the window and Pressed Enter
⦁ I Clicked on My Tiller Document

and then choose “Select”

⦁ I Chose Insert

So Assuming I Did the Getting the Saved Splits Sheet Right. Below is the Result in My Tiller Document

I didn’t add these rows, they were already there. I do have a paycheck Category, But I don’t have Social Security, State Tax, or Federal Tax Categories.

OK. So Now Please see the Answers to Your Questions

I Didn’t see a data validation rule on the right - So i went to the Data Tab and Chose Data Validation

Thanks for your help Randy! I really appreciate it!

randy · June 19, 2023, 11:03pm

Thanks for all the screenshots, @Ramona.

I THINK all that is happening is that we populated the template with some sample Saved Splits that you can delete. The error is because our sample sheet had different categories that don’t all match up with what is in your local sheet.

Have you tried wiping out the four sample transactions and see if the data validation works when you use categories from within your spreadsheet?

Ramona · June 20, 2023, 1:38am

So I decided to try something, and I kind of cheated, but hey, in the end it worked.

SUMMARY
My 1st Problem - I had never used google sheets, till I found Tiller.
My Tiller Problem - The category dropdown was not prepopulating with my categories. I was just getting a “Loading” message.

So I cheated and looked at the data validation for the category column in the transactions tab.
I changed the formula in My Saved Splits sheet from 201 to 186 - which is the total number of rows in My Categories sheet.

And wooo hooo it now works! You learn something new every day!
Splits - Randy 6

A special thank you from me to @randy for sticking with me to help me solve my issue. Have a great week.