Use this guide to diagnose and fix the most common AutoCat issues in Microsoft Excel. If your issue isn't listed here, or these steps don't resolve it, contact the Tiller support team via the chat icon in the lower-right corner of the Console at https://my.tiller.com.
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AutoCat failed to run message
If you're seeing this error message, please reach out to our support team using the chat tool in the lower right corner of this page or the Console at https://my.tillerhq.com
AutoCat completed without updates
AutoCat runs on uncategorized transactions only by default. If all your transactions already have a category assigned, AutoCat finds nothing to update and reports that it completed without changes, even if your rules are set up correctly.
Check these things in order:
1. Check whether transactions are already categorized
If you're expecting AutoCat to update a non-Category column (such as Description) and the transaction already has a category, AutoCat will skip it by default.
To fix this, either:
Clear the existing categories from the transactions you want to re-process, then run AutoCat again, or
Change the AutoCat Run Setting to "All transactions" from the Settings menu in the add-in — this tells AutoCat to run against every transaction, not just uncategorized ones
Important: If you change the Run Setting to "All transactions," this setting persists — it will remain set to All the next time you open the workbook, and will also apply to any new workbooks you create. Remember to change it back to uncategorized-only after your run if you don't want this as a permanent setting. A fix to make this setting local to each workbook is planned.
Note: If you have Auto Run on Fill turned on, it always runs against new incoming transactions only. The "All transactions" setting does not apply to Auto Run on Fill.
2. Check for formulas in evaluated columns
AutoCat will not make updates if:
Your AutoCat rules contain formulas in any rule cell
A column AutoCat writes to (such as Category or Description) contains formulas
A column AutoCat evaluates (such as Description Contains or Account Contains) contains formulas
Remove any formulas from these columns and replace them with static values, then run AutoCat again.
3. Check for the Amount Equals bug
There is a known bug with the Amount Equals column where it does not match as expected.
Workaround: Use the Amount Min and Amount Max fields with the same value to capture an exact amount (e.g. Amount Min = 9.99, Amount Max = 9.99).
AutoCat did not apply rules the same way when running on Fill
AutoCat for Microsoft Excel behaves differently depending on how it runs.
| Manual run | Auto Run on Fill |
Rule processing | Stops at the first matching rule per transaction | Runs through all rules per transaction |
Transactions processed | Uncategorized only (or All, if setting changed) | New incoming transactions only |
Because Auto Run on Fill processes all rules rather than stopping at the first match, the same transaction may end up categorized differently depending on which method was used.
Workaround: If rule-order behavior is important to your setup, run AutoCat manually rather than relying on Auto Run on Fill until this bug is resolved. Tiller has this logged and plans to address it.
AutoCat is categorizing everything with the same category
This happens when a rule in your AutoCat sheet has a blank Description Contains field but a Category set. AutoCat interprets this as a catch-all rule and applies that category to every transaction that isn't matched by a more specific rule higher in the list.
To fix:
Open your AutoCat sheet
Scan every row for any rule where Description Contains is empty but Category is filled in
Either add a specific Description Contains value to narrow that rule, or delete the row entirely if it was added by mistake