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How to Sum and Get Totals of a Table Column in Notion

Notion is a versatile workspace app that allows you to create tables and databases to organize information. A handy feature of Notion tables is the ability to easily get totals and sums of numbers in a column.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to sum and get totals of a column in a Notion table, using Notion’s built-in calculate feature.

Creating a Table in Notion

First, you need to create a table in Notion to work with. Here are the steps:

  1. Create a new page
  2. Type /table and press Enter to insert a table
  3. Add columns by clicking the + button at the top
  4. Add rows by pressing Enter at the end of each row
  5. Enter numbers or values in the table

Here is an example table with a “Cost” column that contains numeric values:

| Item | Quantity | Cost |
| – | – | – |
| Apples | 5 | $2 |
| Oranges | 3 | $1 |
| Bananas | 8 | $3 |

Getting the Sum of a Column

To get the sum or total of the “Cost” column:

  1. Hover below the last row of the “Cost” column
  2. Click on “Calculate”
  3. Select “Sum” from the dropdown menu

The total sum will now appear below the column, dynamically updating as you add or change values.

For the example table above, you will see the total cost sum of $20 shown.

Additional Calculate Options

The Calculate dropdown menu contains several other handy options:

  • Count All: Get the total number of rows in a column
  • Count Values: Count the number of cells that contain values
  • Count Unique Values: Count distinct values
  • Average: Get the average value of numbers in a column
  • Percent Not Empty: Calculate percentage of populated cells
  • Median: Get the median value
  • Min: Get minimum value
  • Max: Get maximum value

So for many data analysis needs, you can easily get totals, sums, and other aggregates for a Notion table column without any formulas required.

Using Formulas to Calculate Columns

In addition to the built-in Calculate feature, you can also use Notion formulas to calculate columns.

Formulas allow you to write expressions to manipulate data in powerful ways.

Here is an example formula that sums two other columns:

add(prop("Cost"), prop("Tax"))

This totals the “Cost” and “Tax” columns.

The formula result will be displayed in a new column automatically.

Summing Across Multiple Tables

If you want to sum values across different tables on separate pages, you can use linked databases and a rollup property to calculate a total.

For example:

  1. Create separate tables for each data source
  2. Turn these tables into linked databases using the toggle switch
  3. Add a relation property in the main database
  4. Create a rollup property to sum the values across all linked rows

The rollup will aggregate and sum values across all linked tables.

Additional Tips

Here are some additional tips for working with sums and totals in Notion:

  • Use view types like Gallery or Table to view totals
  • Add filters to only sum visible rows
  • Create a linked database just to hold totals
  • Reference totals in other formulas or views
  • Automate updates with formulas or integrations

Notion provides extremely flexible options for calculating and displaying totals for your tables and databases. With some creativity, the summarize and analyze data is limitless.

Hope this guide gives you ideas on how to get started summing column values in your Notion workspace! Let me know if you have any other questions.

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