How to Add Categories in Personal Budget Management Template

jakeloy1

Hello. I am new-ish to SmartSheet. I am wondering if anyone can help me understand how to add more budget categories to the existing Personal Budget Management project template (specifically trying to add categories to the "Budget Setup" sheet in a way that keeps the formulas in tact... currently only a certain number of categories are setup for plug and play, and I need more). Thank you!

Genevieve P.

Hi @jakeloy1

Template Sets tend to have instructions embedded in the set, usually in the form of Column Descriptions. In your case, if you hover over the "i" on the Category column of the Intake sheet, it should tell you what to do! 🙂

To update the dropdown values, double click on the column title "Category" and change the values in the square box:

To update the metric sheet, go to the Budget Set Up sheet and change out the highlighted yellow values to match your current values:

If you have more than 10, no problem!

Create a new row below the "Budget Category 10" row and make sure it was automatically indented it so it's under the parent "Categories". You can test to see if it's correctly indented by clicking the - next to the word "Categories" and ensure it collapses with the other rows.

Then create a new row to match under the "Percent Allocation (%)" parent section, linking in the value by using a simple = sign and clicking on your new Category name:

You'll notice that the other formulas above this cell have a $ sign in front of the reference, which is best practice when you want to ensure it stays "stuck" on that column. (See: Create a cell or column reference in a formula)

Use Drag-Fill to drag down the formula that shows the % in the Value column:

You'll need to do the same thing for every section that has Categories listed: add a new row, bring in the Category Value from the top section of the sheet, drag-fill formulas where they appear. You'll need to use a bit of detective work to figure out which of the formulas you can simply drag, and which ones you may need to replicate by finding the cells that the other formulas are referencing and building yours out to be similar.

EXAMPLES:

For the Budget section, you can drag-fill the entire formula section down:

And it will update to reference the correct cells.

But the Expenses section references rows below it that won't exist until you add in your new category. Double clicking on a formula will highlight the cells it is referencing so you can re-create what it's doing by referencing your newly created rows.

Does that make sense? If you get stuck with a particular formula let us know!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @jakeloy1

Template Sets tend to have instructions embedded in the set, usually in the form of Column Descriptions. In your case, if you hover over the "i" on the Category column of the Intake sheet, it should tell you what to do! 🙂

To update the dropdown values, double click on the column title "Category" and change the values in the square box:

To update the metric sheet, go to the Budget Set Up sheet and change out the highlighted yellow values to match your current values:

If you have more than 10, no problem!

Create a new row below the "Budget Category 10" row and make sure it was automatically indented it so it's under the parent "Categories". You can test to see if it's correctly indented by clicking the - next to the word "Categories" and ensure it collapses with the other rows.

Then create a new row to match under the "Percent Allocation (%)" parent section, linking in the value by using a simple = sign and clicking on your new Category name:

You'll notice that the other formulas above this cell have a $ sign in front of the reference, which is best practice when you want to ensure it stays "stuck" on that column. (See: Create a cell or column reference in a formula)

Use Drag-Fill to drag down the formula that shows the % in the Value column:

You'll need to do the same thing for every section that has Categories listed: add a new row, bring in the Category Value from the top section of the sheet, drag-fill formulas where they appear. You'll need to use a bit of detective work to figure out which of the formulas you can simply drag, and which ones you may need to replicate by finding the cells that the other formulas are referencing and building yours out to be similar.

EXAMPLES:

For the Budget section, you can drag-fill the entire formula section down:

And it will update to reference the correct cells.

But the Expenses section references rows below it that won't exist until you add in your new category. Double clicking on a formula will highlight the cells it is referencing so you can re-create what it's doing by referencing your newly created rows.

Does that make sense? If you get stuck with a particular formula let us know!

Cheers,

Genevieve

jakeloy1

Holy cow! I don't think I've ever received such comprehensive service in my life. Thank you so much for your help. I've updated the sheet accordingly and everything is working! THANK YOU!

Genevieve P.

Haha! Glad I could help!

Please do follow-up if any of the formulas look off and we can work on them together - that's what the Community is here for. 🙂