If the Category dropdown in your Transactions sheet is missing, broken, or not showing all your categories, the data validation on that column needs to be corrected. This is one of the most common issues Tiller users encounter after customizing their Categories sheet.

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What causes the category drop down to break?

The Category dropdown in the Transactions sheet is powered by data validation, a rule that tells the column to pull its list from the Categories sheet. The dropdown breaks when that rule gets disrupted. The most common causes are:

Inserting rows into the Categories sheet instead of adding categories at the bottom
Pasting transactions into the Transactions sheet without using Paste Special > Values Only, which can overwrite the data validation on pasted rows
Deleting or reformatting the Category column header or the Categories sheet column it references
Moving columns in either sheet so the data validation references the wrong range

Troubleshooting steps

Review the location of your Category column in the Transactions sheet AND Categories sheet. Take note of the column letter that corresponds to the Category column in both sheets.
1. The default locations in the Foundation Template in the Transactions it's column D and in Categories it's column A.
2. You'll need to adjust the range references below to reflect the location of your Category column if they are different than the defaults.
In your Transactions sheet, select the entire Category column by clicking the column header letter (click Column D)
Open the Data Menu
Choose Data Validation and select the Data validation rule
In the field below Apply to range confirm it's set to Transactions!D2:D.
1. Using D2:D, instead of D2:D355 (or some other row number) will ensure that all new rows added get the validation too.
2. Make sure it starts with D2 so the header row is not included.
3. If your Category column in the Transactions sheet is not in column D adjust the range to use the appropriate column letter.
Set the criteria.
1. Make sure "Dropdown (from a range)" is selected
2. Then enter =Categories!$A$2:$A$201 into the field below the selection.
3. If your Category column in the Categories sheet is not in column A change the formula to use the appropriate column letter.
4. If your Categories sheet does not have 201 rows, modify the formula to match your last row number in the Categories sheet.
Review Advanced options
1. We recommend that you have it set to "Reject Input"
2. We recommend the "arrow" style dropdown.

How to Avoid this Issue

Do not insert new rows at the top or bottom of the Categories list - use the existing rows and add new categories to the bottom of the list in blank cells or overwrite example categories you're not using.
If you are pasting manually added transactions into your Transactions sheet, right click and choose Paste Special > Paste Values Only to ensure the data validation gets added to new rows.