How to View Category Totals in Airtable Without Manually Filtering

If you track business expenses in Airtable, you probably have a long list of records with many different categories.

Right now, the way you check totals is by filtering one category at a time and looking at the sum. This works, but since you have so many categories, it becomes a very manual and time consuming process.

You want a better approach to view all your categories in one place. So is that possible in Airtable?

Yes. Airtable gives you a couple of ways to visualize all your category totals together, and we can go through them one by one.

Use Grouping Inside Your Grid View

If you want the totals to appear inside your main data table, grouping is the quickest option.

Just group the grid view by the Category field. Then choose which statistic the group should display.

You can set the group to show the sum of all expense values inside that category. Each group header will show its total instantly, so you can scan all categories in one view.

Use a Chart in Interfaces

If you want something more visual, move to Interfaces.

Choose the dashboard layout, add a chart, and select the table with your expenses.

A simple bar chart works well here. Put the categories on one axis and the total amount on the other. This gives you a clear visual comparison of spending across categories.

If you want to do more than view category totals, such as using these totals in formulas, automations, or reporting, you will need to structure your base a little differently.

Use Your Totals in Calculations

Create a table called Categories.

Change your main expense table so that Category becomes a linked record pointing to this new table.

Now each category has its own record. Inside the Categories table, create a rollup field that sums all linked expense amounts. This gives you a reusable total for every category.

Once the totals live inside fields, you can use them in formulas, automations, or any other workflow without needing to open a grouped view or dashboard.