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
Starting with row 2 select all the cells in the Category column to the bottom of the Excel table (look for the alternating shading to stop to see where the table ends).
Choose the Data ribbon
Choose Data validation
Make sure the Allow: option has List selected
In the source input =INDIRECT("Categories[Category]")
Leave "Ignore blank and "In-cell dropdown" checked
Click the "Apply these changes to all other cells with the same settings" option
Click "OK"
How to Avoid this Issue
Do not insert new rows at the top or bottom of the Categories list. Instead, 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.
Use the next available/empty existing row in the Categories sheet to make sure that the Excel Table expands properly (do not skip or leave blank rows at the bottom of the Categories sheet