Part 3 of 8: Customizing Your Categories And AutoCat

Tiller gives you complete control over your financial data, including how transactions are categorized. Join Heather from Tiller as she demonstrates how to customize your categories and use AutoCat to keep your finances organized. In this video, learn how to:

• Customize transaction categories in the Tiller Foundation Template
• Edit existing categories and add new ones to fit your financial life
• Understand the structure of groups and categories (up to 200 categories in 20 groups)
• Manually categorize transactions in the Transactions sheet
• Set up AutoCat, Tiller’s unique auto-categorization engine for spreadsheets
• Create simple and advanced rules for automatic transaction categorization
• Run AutoCat to apply your custom rules to your transactions
• Decide how much historical data to categorize for maximum insight
• Preview the next video on exploring the Tiller Foundation Template

Transcript: Customizing Categories and Using AutoCat

Hi, I’m Heather from Tiller. In part three of our “Getting Started with Tiller” video series, I’ll show you how to:

• Customize your Tiller transaction categories
• Use AutoCat to keep your spreadsheet organized and ready to review

Introduction to AutoCat

AutoCat is Tiller’s Auto Categorization Engine, the only one available for Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. It’s one of Tiller’s most popular features.

Unlike most personal finance apps that automatically categorize transactions (often inaccurately), AutoCat allows you to create the rules that keep your finances organized.

Customizing Categories

1. Go to the Categories sheet in your Foundation Template.
2. Review the example categories provided.
3. Customize existing categories or add new ones:
   • To edit, simply overwrite the existing category name.
   • To add, use a blank cell at the bottom of the list.
4. Assign a group and type to each category:
   • Group: The broader category (e.g., “Wellness” for “Yoga”)
   • Type: Choose from Income, Expense, or Transfer
5. Keep in mind:
   • Categories should be unique (no duplicates)
   • You can have up to 200 categories within about 20 unique groups
   • Simpler lists are easier to remember and use

Manually Categorizing Transactions

1. Go to the Transactions sheet.
2. Use the dropdown menu to select a category.
3. You can type the first few letters of a category to filter the list.

Using AutoCat for Automatic Categorization

1. In the Tiller Money Feeds sidebar, click “Create AutoCat sheet”.
2. Create simple rules:
   • If the description contains a specific keyword, assign a certain category.
3. Run AutoCat from the sidebar to apply your rules.
4. Rules are processed top-down, so put more specific rules at the top.
5. You can create more complex rules using the Advanced Rule Builder.

Tips for Categorization

• The more you categorize, the more insights you’ll gain about your spending.
• You don’t have to categorize all historical data, but doing so can provide valuable awareness.
• You can start categorizing from the current week or month forward if preferred.

In our next video, we will explore the Tiller Foundation Template and everything it has to offer.