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Formula To Calculate Record Value As % of Sum of All Records Field Values - Can Airtable Do This Yet

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Spencer_Mullane
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

Hoping there is maybe native support here now, but probably not.

I have a table where all the records are parts, and they have part ID, unit weight, quantity, and total weight. I would like to add a field that shows what % of the total weight of ALL parts that particular part is. So for example if my total weights of 4 records are 100, 200, 300, 400, then for records 1-4 the % in the calc'd value would be 10% (100/(100+200+300+400)), 20%, 30%, and 40%.

I know this was limited in the past and the "best" workaround was to link every single record to a single record in another field, then lookup the roll-up sum total, then operate on that. It works but is clunky and gives you extra tables. Is there anything native baked in yet? Seems airtable has made a lot of progress but it still has these weird "create a new table and link to that and then roll-up there and then look-up in the original table and then operate on that" work-arounds that should have been long-since handled to simply base design. Does this one exist yet? Can you SUM a whole field (beyond the "SUM" at the bottom of the page or at group roll-ups, obviously if they have this then they have a mechanism or data point that could be called for a formula).

1 Reply 1

Hey @Spencer_Mullane,

Unfortunately the additional table for “Whole Unit”, to which all parts are linked to is still the way to go. And most probably that will not change in the near future given how Airtable works. 

A workaround you could use is having a script within an automation that will calculate this for you whenever unit weight is updated or is not blank. However, this seems more clunky than just having the extra table -which could even be useful for other additional reasons. 

Let me know if you’d like to discuss this in further detail!

Mike, Consultant @ Automatic Nation