This article is part of our complete guide to Views in Dynamics 365 and Power Apps.
Views in Dynamics 365 and Power Apps aren’t just for listing records — they can also help you summarize and analyze data on the fly.
With grouping and totals, you can quickly answer questions like:
- How many opportunities are in each stage?
- How many records fall into each month?
- What’s the total or average value of these records?
All without creating a report or exporting to Excel.
Grouping Records in a View
Grouping allows you to organize records into collapsible sections based on a shared value.
For example, you might want to group opportunities by Stage.
From the column menu, simply choose Group by. The view immediately updates to show:
- A summary row for each group
- The number of records in each group
- Expandable sections you can open to see the individual records
This makes it easy to scan large lists and focus on specific categories.
Grouping by Dates
When grouping by a date column, Dynamics 365 gives you additional flexibility.
You can choose how the dates should be grouped, such as:
- Year
- Quarter
- Month
For example, grouping opportunities by month quickly shows how activity or volume changes over time.
Just like other groupings, each group can be expanded or collapsed as needed.
Grouping Limitations to Be Aware Of
Not all fields can be grouped.
Grouping works best with:
- Choice (option set) fields
- Status or stage fields
- Date fields
You generally can’t group by free-form numerical fields. However, if a number is stored as a choice field (such as probability percentages), grouping works because there are a limited number of defined values.
Adding Totals to a View
In addition to grouping, views can also display totals for numeric columns.
For columns like Amount or Weighted Amount, you can choose to:
- Sum the values
- Show the average
- Display the minimum or maximum
These totals appear at the bottom of the view and update automatically based on the records currently displayed.
This makes it easy to get quick answers without switching tools.
Temporary but Powerful
One important thing to know: grouping and totals cannot be saved as part of a personal view or global view.
Because of this:
- There’s no asterisk to indicate unsaved changes
- Grouping and totals must be reapplied each time
- They work best as on-demand analysis tools
While this limitation can be frustrating, the functionality is still extremely useful for quick insights.
When to Use Grouping and Totals
Grouping and totals are ideal when you want to:
- Understand distribution across stages or categories
- Spot trends by date
- Get quick rollups without building a report
They’re a great complement to well-designed views and filters.
Final Thoughts
Grouping and totals turn views into lightweight analysis tools.
While they aren’t meant to replace reports or dashboards, they’re perfect for answering quick questions and making informed decisions in the moment.
Once you know they’re there, you’ll find yourself using them more often than you might expect.
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