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Tiller for Microsoft Excel Troubleshooting
Tiller for Microsoft Excel Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting guide for using Tiller with Microsoft Excel

Heather Phillips avatar
Written by Heather Phillips
Updated over a week ago

Use the table of contents to the right to review troubleshooting tips for common issues and questions for the Tiller Money Feeds add-in and the Tiller Foundation Template for Microsoft Excel.

Tiller Money Feeds add-in Troubleshooting

I'm having issues getting the Excel add-in installed and opening in Excel

If you're having trouble installing the Excel add-in here are some things to check or keep in mind

  • If you're using Windows the My Add-ins button has moved to the Home ribbon (from the Insert ribbon) in the latest Windows and Excel updates.

  • The add-in only works in the Excel application installed via a Microsoft 365 subscription. If you're using a standalone install version of Excel this may be why you're unable to install the add-in. You can subscribe to Microsoft 365, uninstall the old version, and install the new version.

  • If you're using Excel downloaded via a work/school Microsoft 365 subscription your administrator may have blocked the ability to install add-ins. If you don't see the "Store" option in the Excel My Add-ins window this is likely the case.

  • You're signed in to a different account in Excel than is licensed for the Microsoft 365 subscription. Make sure that the two accounts depicted in this screenshot below are the same. They should be the Microsoft account associated with your Microsoft 365 subscription.

  • You haven't installed the most recent Windows and Office updates. Be sure to run Windows and Office update and then try again.

To access your account information and confirm you're logged in to the correct accounts.

On Windows

  1. Open the File menu

  2. Choose Account at the bottom of the File menu

On a Mac:

  1. Open the File menu and choose "New from template"

  2. Review the email address signed in at the top after clicking the profile icon in the upper left.

I see a "We can't find that account" error when trying to sign in to Tiller via the Add-in

If you're seeing an error indicating that your account can't be found when you try to sign in to Tiller from the Excel add-in sidebar:

  • Confirm that you're using the correct provider (Google vs Microsoft)

  • Confirm that you're trying to sign in with the correct email address

  • Try re-signing in by choosing "Sign in to another account" and sign in again even if this account appears to already be signed in

I'm prompted to link a workbook that is already linked

If you're being prompted to link a workbook you've already linked mostly likely you created a copy (or did a "Save as") of the workbook so it doesn't recognized that it's linked.

To fix this issue:

  1. Locate and open your original workbook

If that is the not the cause and you're seeing a "it looks like this workbook might already be linked" message try clicking the "logging out" link in the message and log in to the appropriate Tiller account.

I get an error when I click "Fill" in the sidebar

If you're seeing an error in the sidebar when you click the "Fill" button here are some tips:

  • Try quitting the Excel application and restarting it

  • Try installing the latest Windows and Office updates then try again

Too few transactions rows were added

When you see this error make sure you don't have any filters enabled that are filtering data out of view in the Transactions sheet. If a filter is enabled this can cause the fill to not work properly.

This operation is not permitted for the current object

If you're using Excel Online browser based version of Excel with Tiller (not the Desktop application), make sure that the Filter is enabled in your Transactions sheet otherwise you may get the below error:

If none of those help, reach out to our support team using the chat tool in the lower right corner of this page or via email at support@tillerhq.com with a screenshot of the error.

Too few transactions rows were added

Make sure your Transactions sheet is formatted as an Excel Table and the table name is Transactions. More in this guide.

PayloadSizeLimitExceeded error

This error happens in Excel Online when you're trying to fill more data than the add-on can handle.

  • Use the Excel Desktop version to fill your sheet

  • Try filling your accounts in batches by toggling some off

The add-in fills balances but not transactions

Double check that there is not a frozen column in your Transactions sheet. E.g. if the Date column is frozen the add-in can't fill in the Transactions. The add-in will indicate fill is complete but only balances will be filled, and no new transactions will be filled.

Getting a "cannot access the file" error when trying to install the Excel add-in

Often times this error is presented, but the add-in was successfully installed. After seeing this error you can confirm that the add-in was installed by going to the Insert ribbon, then choose "My Add-ins" and then add the Automated Bank Feeds add-in to your Excel application.

One workaround is to follow the steps for using Excel Online. You can use Excel Online to install the add-in and load it with your data. You'll need to use the Excel Online add-in to update it each time, but then you can open it with the Excel application to make changes.

Javascript error when trying to sign in

You receive an error message when trying to sign in to Tiller Money Feeds add-in from Excel "The browser you're using doesn't support JavaScript, or has JavaScript turned off."

To fix (known steps only for Microsoft Excel for Mac OS)

  1. Click the "info" icon in the Excel add-in

  2. Click "Clear web cache"

  3. Click "reload"

“Something went wrong” error after logging in via Excel Online

After signing in to Tiller via the Tiller Money Feeds add-in from Excel Online you see a “something went wrong” error in the task pane.

  1. Close the task pane and relaunch the Tiller Money Feeds add-in for Excel

  2. You should be signed in and able to use the add-in

Browser or app may not be secure error when I try to sign in

We believe this issue is fixed. If you run into this error, please reach out to support@tillerhq.com to let us know you're seeing this error.

"Failed to read the 'localStorage' property from 'Window' error

This error happens when you try to sign in to Tiller Money Feeds add-in via Excel Online (browser/cloud based Excel) and you are blocking 3rd party cookies.

To fix:

  1. Enable 3rd party cookies in your browser for https://onedrive.live:443 as depicted in the screenshot below.

Unexpected token < in JSON at position 0 error during a fill

This error happens when too much data is trying to be filled at one time. Generally this only happens if you have several years of data in Tiller's databases, many accounts (more than 20) and you're trying to fill all that data into a workbook for the first time.

To address this error and get your data successfully filled into the sheet, try filling the sheet in batches. Configure the linked accounts and toggle most of them off then fill the sheet for a few accounts at a time until you get all the accounts' data filled into the sheet. Subsequent fills should work fine.

Add-in unresponsive when I click "Sign in to Tiller"

You're clicking the Sign in to Tiller button in the add-in task pane and nothing is happening. This likely means that you need to install Windows or Office updates. Run Windows Update and Office Update to install all available updates until it indicates that there are no more updates to install.

Sidebar is blank after clicking Tiller Money Feeds icon

You're clicking the Sign in to Tiller button in the add-in task pane and nothing is happening. This likely means that you need to install Windows or Office updates. Run Windows Update and Office Update to install all available updates until it indicates that there are no more updates to install.

The add-in disappears from the Data ribbon

Usually we find that the add-in will not persist on the Data ribbon when you're signed in to more than one Microsoft account in the Excel application.

Try clicking the profile icon in the upper right of the Excel client on Windows or choose the Sign out option from the File menu on a Mac and sign out of extra accounts. Be sure to stay signed in to the account associated with your Microsoft 365 subscription.

If that doesn't help, please write to support@tillerhq.com to let us know that the add-in does not persist on the Data ribbon.

I'm getting Cannot read properties of null (reading 'map') error

You may see this error when you try to click the "Fill" button when there are many (possibly several hundred or thousand) extra blank columns in the Transactions table range out to the right of the last Tiller filled column.

This can happen when you paste in the entire worksheet from another workbook rather than just the range with data in it.

You can just delete all the extra rows out to the right of the last column that has a header keyword (it's usually the Date Added column). You can easily select all these columns by clicking the first empty one, holding CMD (or CTRL) + shift key and use the right arrow to select the very last one. Then while still holding down shift + CMD (CTRL) right click and choose to delete the columns.

After that you should be able to resume filling your workbook per normal.

Excel fill bug overwriting rows & creating duplicates

In March 2023 we were alerted to a bug with our Microsoft Excel add-in resulting in missing and duplicate transaction data on the Transactions sheet. This happened when there was an active filter turned on in the Transactions sheet during a fill. Most of the time this issue was also accompanied by an error in the sidebar indicating that the fill failed to complete. The crash happened before the watermarks that keep track of what data had already been added got set, resulting in duplicates on the next attempted fill.

We have pushed a fix for this issue as of March 24th, that clears any active filters on the Transactions and Balance History sheets, so the overwriting issue should not occur again. We also released two utility features under Settings in the Excel add-in to help clean things up. These utilities have some limitations, which you should read about below.

These are the basic steps for cleanup. You should perform these steps if you use Microsoft Excel, even if you are not aware that any data is missing or duplicated, just to be sure.

  1. Open your workbook and make a backup by going to the File menu and choose Save As - give the workbook a unique name with the word BACKUP

  2. Close the backup copy of your workbook - this is in case something goes wrong or you want to compare

  3. Open your original Tiller-powered workbook and launch the Tiller Money Feeds Excel add-in from the Data ribbon

  4. Sign in to Tiller in the add-in sidebar

  5. Click the “Fill” button to ensure that you get the latest available data into your workbook first (to prevent more duplicates - the re-fill option does not set a watermark).

  6. Click on the “Settings” item at the top of the add-in sidebar

  7. Click “Re-fill transactions” under the Utilities area near the bottom of the Settings section - wait for the spinning circle to stop spinning before making any edits

  8. Click “Remove duplicate transactions” button - wait for the spinning circle to stop spinning before making any edits

Tips for comparing against a backup

If you'd like to compare your workbook where you have re-filled transactions and removed duplicates due to this bug to understand what's changed here are some tips.

  1. Make a backup of the backup - this is so you have one untouched copy and one backup to compare to your original Tiller workbook.

  2. Open one of the backups and use the conditional formatting tools in Excel to highlight duplicates values by Transaction ID

    1. This would show you duplicates that were already in your workbook that should have been removed in the original/live sheet where you ran the Remove Duplicates tool.

    2. Select the entire Transaction ID column - you may need to unhide it

    3. Click on the Conditional Formatting button (on the Home ribbon) and choose Highlight Cells Rules

    4. Choose the Duplicate Values... option

    5. Keep the Duplicates option in the "values in the selected range" dropdown of the New Formatting Rule dialog

    6. Click OK to Create a rule and see duplicates that were in your workbook. These should be removed in your original Tiller workbook so long as the amount is also the same in the duplicate.

  3. Close the backup without saving.

  4. Re-open the backup to compare what was added to the Tiller workbook.

  5. Copy/paste all the transactions in your original Tiller workbook into the backup

    1. This will introduce more duplicates into the backup, but that's okay, we're trying to figure out what was added

  6. Use the conditional formatting tools in Excel to highlight unique values.

    1. This will show you what was added to your spreadsheet.

    2. Select the entire Transaction ID column - you may need to unhide it

    3. Click on the Conditional Formatting button (on the Home ribbon) and choose Highlight Cells Rules

    4. Choose the Duplicate Values... option

    5. Choose the Unique Values option in the "values in the selected range" dropdown of the New Formatting Rule dialog

    6. Click OK to Create a rule and see transaction IDs that did not exist in the original data set lightly shaded in red.

Using the Re-fill transactions option for troubleshooting missing Transactions

If you notice that some transactions are missing from your Excel workbook that were previously added, or you believe should have been previously added you can use the re-fill transactions option to fill in those missing transactions.

Please note this will only re-fill transactions that we have available in our database but that are not in your Transactions sheet. If that doesn't help, it's likely that we don't have the transactions in our database and we'd need to work with our data provider on those.

Limitations:

  • If you do not have the Transaction ID column (usually hidden) in your Transactions sheet you cannot use this utility feature.

  • This feature does not run AutoCat even if you have Auto Run on Fill toggled on. When transactions are re-filled you will need to manually run AutoCat from the main Workbook sidebar in the add-in.

  • You must Fill your sheet with new data before running this utility to fill in missing data, otherwise you will end up with more duplicates.

  • Transactions that you intentionally removed from the spreadsheet will also be filled again, there is no way to choose a date range for the refill.

  • The re-fill does not sort the spreadsheet after it runs. Sort your spreadsheet by the Date column Z>A, newest to oldest.

To use this utility:

  1. Open your Excel workbook

  2. Open the Tiller Money Feeds add-in from the Data ribbon (or from the Insert ribbon > MY add-ins)

  3. Sign in to the Tiller Money Feeds add-in

  4. Click the "Fill" button to be sure to fill in the latest transaction data available (to prevent more duplicates)

  5. Navigate to the Settings section in the add-in sidebar

  6. Click the "Re-fill transactions" button near the bottom of the Settings section

Transactions that have been re-filled will appear at the top of your Transactions sheet. Sort the Transactions sheet by the Date column from Z>A

Using the Remove duplicate transactions options to clean up duplicates

If you were impacted by the Excel fill bug that was fixed in March 2023 or you have transaction duplicates with identical transaction IDs in your Excel workbook you can use the Remove duplicate transactions option to clean those out.

The utility searches the Transactions sheet for identical Transaction IDs and removes entries that are uncategorized when there is match on the Transaction ID and amount data. Transactions that have identical transaction IDs, but different amounts will be preserved and highlighted in red. These are likely manually split transactions and we did not want to clear those out.

Limitations:

  • If you do not have the Transaction ID or Account ID column (usually hidden) in your Transactions sheet you cannot use this utility feature.

  • This utility will not remove duplicates where the Transaction ID is different and caused by our data provider. Read more about how to troubleshoot other types of duplicates.

  • This utility will not remove duplicates for transactions that were manually split that use a different Transaction ID schema (e.g. the Transaction IDs have to be identical in the splits)

To use this utility:

  1. Open your Excel workbook

  2. Open the Tiller Money Feeds add-in from the Data ribbon (or from the Insert ribbon > MY add-ins)

  3. Sign in to the Tiller Money Feeds add-in

  4. Navigate to the Settings section in the add-in sidebar

  5. Click the "Remove duplicate transactions" button near the bottom of the Settings section

I'm seeing an error when using the re-fill transactions option

If you're clicking "re-fill transactions" in the Settings section of the add-in and getting the following error "Error. We could not find the Transaction ID / Account ID in Transactions sheet." it means that your Transactions sheet does not have a Transaction ID / Account ID column and you cannot use the re-fill workflow.

Foundation Template Troubleshooting

Why aren't my budget amounts cascading across to the right?

Sometimes if you insert a row into the Categories sheet or accidentally edit the default rows this can break the "cascading budgets" feature. You can read more about this feature and how to reset it here.

Why are my actuals doubled for my income on the Yearly Budget?

You might see the actuals amount for your income doubled on your Yearly Budget sheet if you're using a group called "Income" for your income type categories. Try changing your group name from "Income" to "Primary Income" or something else to correct the issue. The actuals formula doesn't work properly because the group name is the same as the income type.

Why aren't my category spending totals showing up on the Categories sheet?

The monthly budget columns on the Categories sheet are where you set budget amounts. Review the Yearly Budget tab for actuals per month.

Why don't I see my budget or actual amounts on my dashboard?

If you’re not seeing budget or actual amounts on your Monthly Budget or Yearly dashboards

  • Double check the appropriate month/year is selected in the upper right of the Monthly Budget. On the Yearly Budget confirm the correct year is selected.

  • Double check that you’ve entered budgets on the Categories sheet starting in Column E.

  • If you’ve entered budgets into Column E on your Categories sheet, double check that the word “Category” is present in row 1 on the Categories sheet at the top of the Category column and that the words “Category” “Date” and “Amount” are present in row 1 on the Transactions sheet for those columns in that order. If these header keywords are missing the dashboards’ formulas can’t find the correct columns in the referenced sheets to pull the data in.

  • Make sure you didn't change the name of the tab from Transactions and/or Categories. Those tabs need to be named appropriately in order for the dashboards to work.

  • Make sure that you have a Group and Type assigned to all categories on the Categories sheet and that you're only using one Type per group. E.g. you can't have both income and expense categories in the same group.

  • If you inserted columns into your Categories sheet this can also break other dashboards "downstream" of the Categories sheet. Try deleting those columns to see it if helps.

  • If those don't help, make sure that none of your categories in the Transactions sheet Category column are #N/A (use the built in filters to check for this).

  • If you're seeing a #NAME? error on the Monthly and Yearly Budget sheets review this information.

My Category is missing from the dropdown on the Transactions sheet

Sometimes if you insert rows above row 2 in the Categories sheet or skip rows at the bottom of the Categories sheet the dropdown doesn't include your new categories.

#NAME error on my monthly/yearly budget sheet

  1. Click in the cell where you see the #NAME error and review the formula.

  2. If the formula has _xlfn. in it that means that the version of Microsoft Excel you're using does not support the features and formulas of the Tiller Foundation Template for Microsoft Excel.

To fix

  • The template expects that you're using Microsoft Excel installed from a Microsoft 365 subscription. If you purchased a standalone license to Excel these versions are not supported so you will need to upgrade your version of Microsoft Excel by subscribing to Microsoft 365.

  • If you are using a version of Excel installed using a Microsoft 365 subscription try running Office update until you've installed all updates for Excel.

Confirm the version of office running by opening the File ribbon and choosing "Account" near the bottom left. You should see something like "Microsoft 365" under the "Subscription Product for [email address] heading.

If you subscribe to Microsoft 365 but your version of Excel doesn't reflect that it's from a M365 subscription you may need to uninstall Excel and re-install it from your Microsoft account portal.

#SPILL error on my monthly/yearly budget sheet

You will need to clear out whatever was manually typed into the columns where you are seeing #SPILL. Make sure you scroll all the way down and clear out all the manual entries you've added.

The Yearly and Monthly budget sheets are view only sheets except changing month and year in top left, so any edits to the sheet directly will break it.

Why are my Transaction dates not formatted as dates?

If you link a blank workbook to the Tiller Money Feeds add-in for Excel the date formatted columns will not be automatically formatted as dates.

First try formatting the column as a Date using the formatting tools on the Home ribbon in Excel.

If that doesn't help, move to the next section below for more tips.

If you're seeing your transaction dates showing up as numeric values (.e.g 44563 instead of 1/2/2022) in the Date column on the Transactions sheet, but they do show up as dates in the formula bar you need to turn off the "Show formulas" option under the Formulas ribbon.

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