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🛠 Build🛠 Action StepsSummarize

Summarize

Summarize turns a list into grouped results. Pick what to group by, then say what to work out for each group: a count, a total, an average, the smallest or the largest.

DockData · ChangeTakesa listReturnsa list of groups

It answers the questions that otherwise need code. Revenue per account manager, tickets per priority, orders per region.

Simple total or average without grouping? You can calculate a single total, average, count, or min/max directly inside field tokens using Data Transformation:

  • Sum of record property: {{ 3.deals | pluck:amount | total }}
  • Average deal size: {{ 3.deals | pluck:amount | average }}
  • Largest sale: {{ 3.deals | pluck:amount | largest }}
  • Count of items: {{ 3.deals | count }}

Use the Summarize canvas step when you need to group data by dimensions (e.g. revenue grouped by account manager or ticket counts per status).

Setting it up

Add the step

Open Tools in the dock and choose Summarize.

Point it at a list

List to summarize takes a reference to a list an earlier step produced, for example {{ 3.result }}. Insert it from the data icon rather than typing it.

Choose how to group

Group by takes the field whose values become the groups: region, owner, priority. Add more than one row to group by a combination.

Leave it empty to treat the whole list as one group. That is how you total a list without splitting it.

Say what to work out

Work out takes one row per number you want. Each row picks an operation and what to work on: a field of each record, or each whole item. Count needs neither.

OperationWhat it gives you
CountHow many records are in the group
Count uniqueHow many different values a field has
SumThe total of a numeric field
AverageThe mean of a numeric field
SmallestThe lowest value
LargestThe highest value
List the valuesEvery value of that field in the group, as a list
Join the valuesThe same values as one piece of text, with a separator you choose

The last two answer a different question from the rest. Instead of a number about the group, they hand you back what is in it: every email address in a region, say, or those addresses joined by a comma, ready for a To field.

Summarizing a list of plain values

When the list holds plain values rather than records, a list of amounts, say, set Work on to Each whole item. The panel pre-selects it when the sample list holds plain values. Sum, Average, Smallest and Largest use numbers only; a blank or non-number item follows If a field is missing.

The output column is named after the operation alone, so a whole-item Sum arrives as {{ N.groups.0.sum }}.

Group by always takes a field. To total a list of plain values, leave Group by empty and work on each whole item.

What it passes on

The result is always a list under groups, even when everything landed in one group. That way a reference written against one grouping still works when you change the grouping later.

ReferenceWhat it holds
{{ N.groups }}One entry per group
{{ N.groupCount }}How many groups there are

Each entry carries the fields you grouped by, plus one column per row of Work out. The column is named after the operation and the field, so a Sum of amount arrives as sum_amount:

{{ 5.groups.0.region }}       first group's region
{{ 5.groups.0.sum_amount }}   that group's total
{{ 5.groups.0.count }}        how many records it holds

Because groups is a list, a Repeater can run over it: one Slack message per region, for example.

Groups come out in the order they first appear in the input list, not sorted.

How values are counted

This is the part worth reading before you trust a total.

A missing value is missing, not zero. Ten rows where one has no amount would average 10% low if the blank counted as zero, and nothing in the result would say so. The same applies to a value that is not a number after conversion: "n/a", true, or an empty object.

If a field is missing decides what happens:

  • Report flags it, so you find out.
  • Skip leaves those records out of that calculation.

Both are defensible; the point is that you choose rather than the step choosing for you.

Numbers written as text still add up. A list arriving through {{ 3.rows }} often has amounts like "1200" rather than 1200, because references are resolved as text. Summarize converts them, so a total is not silently zero.

Money does not drift. Totals accumulate exactly, so 0.1 + 0.2 is 0.3.

Decimal places rounds the results. Set it to 2 for currency.

Limits

  • Two rows cannot write the same column. Two Sums of amount would both be sum_amount, so the step reports the clash instead of one silently overwriting the other.
  • A record missing its group-by field never lands in a group called “undefined”. It follows the same If a field is missing setting.

Examples to copy

Revenue per account manager

List: {{ 3.deals }} · Group by: owner · Work out: Sum of amount, and Count.

Gives one entry per owner with sum_amount and count. Follow it with a Repeater over {{ N.groups }} to send each manager their own figure.

Tickets per priority, as one message

List: {{ 2.tickets }} · Group by: priority · Work out: Count.

Then reference the groups directly in a Slack message rather than looping.

A single total, no grouping

List: {{ 4.invoices }} · Group by: empty · Work out: Sum of total.

One group, reached as {{ N.groups.0.sum_total }}.

What’s Next?

Do NothingChange Fields