# Python: Total a Sales Export by Customer in Google Colab > A beginner Python walkthrough in the free Google Colab: put six orders in a pandas table, total the quarter and rank customers by revenue, typing every… Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/python-sales-report · Updated 2026-10-24 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com) ## Practice it step by step [Start the free practice](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/python-sales-report) [Take the free module: why it matters, practice and a quick check →](https://learn.ynteractive.com/courses/python-for-spreadsheet-work/1) You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Google Colab. It checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, about 12 minutes, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Open full screen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/python-sales-report) Free · Live now · [Python](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/python) · [Google Colab](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/google-colab) · ~12 min · 15 steps · Beginner Updated October 24, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. [How we check this lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about#how-we-check) A beginner [Python](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/python) walkthrough in the free Google Colab: put six orders in a [pandas](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/pandas) table, total the quarter and rank customers by revenue, typing every line yourself. ## At a glance | Question | Answer | | --- | --- | | What you build | A beginner Python walkthrough in the free Google Colab: put six orders in a pandas table, total the quarter and rank customers by revenue, typing every line yourself. | | Tools | Google Colab | | Time | About 12 minutes, 15 steps in 3 parts | | Level | Beginner, no coding needed | | Cost | Free | | Ways to learn it | [Practice it step by step](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/python-sales-report) | ### The 3 parts, in short 1. Open a notebook: New notebook, Rename it, Name it, Load pandas, and 1 more step. 2. Put the orders in a table: Add a cell, Type the customers, Type the amounts, Run it, and 2 more steps. 3. Total and rank: Total the quarter, Run it, Total each customer, Run it. ## What you'll build Priya (made up) runs the office at Lakeside Office Supply. Every quarter she adds up the sales export by customer with a calculator, and every quarter one total is off. Python, with its free pandas library, does the adding for any number of rows, and [Google Colab](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/google-colab) runs it in your browser with nothing to install. In this lesson you make a notebook, put six orders in a table, total the quarter and rank the customers. You type every line yourself, one or two lines at a time. Six orders, $8,180 in all: Cobalt Legal $3,170, Maple Dental $2,230, Northside Realty $2,140 and Harbor Accounting $640. The same three lines work on 6 orders or 60,000. Do it in Colab yourself: the lesson page has the checklist. - Tools: Google Colab - Time: about 12 minutes, 15 steps in 3 chapters - Level: beginner, no coding needed - Price: free ## Practice first, then build it for real Practice copy built from real Google Colab screens (captured 24 October 2026). Every line of Python in it was typed and run there. Nothing here touches your Google account. Our account shows a PRO badge; everything in the lesson works the same in free Colab. The shop, its customers and its numbers are made up, and the account picture is blurred. To build it for real you need your own Google Colab account, and some services charge once you use them for real work, so check each tool's current pricing. ## Try it yourself, free Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Google Colab, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts. [Start “Python: Total a Sales Export by Customer in Google Colab”](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/python-sales-report) ## Step by step: Python: Total a Sales Export by Customer in Google Colab All 15 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work. ### 1. Open a notebook 1. **New notebook.** Go to **colab.research.google.com** and sign in with any Google account (Colab is free). Click **New notebook**. This is Google Colab. 2. **Rename it.** The notebook is saved in your Google Drive as **Untitled**. Click the name at the top to rename it. 3. **Name it.** Type a name and press Enter. Ours is. 4. **Load pandas.** Click in the first cell and type the line that loads **pandas**, the free table library every Python data job uses. **pd** is its short name. In the first cell, type import pandas as p d. Pandas is the free table library. 5. **Run the cell.** Click the run button **▶** at the left of the cell (or press Shift+Enter). The first run takes a few seconds while Colab starts; a green tick means it worked. The first run takes a few seconds. ### 2. Put the orders in a table 6. **Add a cell.** Click **+ Code** at the top to add a new cell. 7. **Type the customers.** Type the customer on each of the six orders as a list: square brackets, names in quotes, commas between. Colab adds the closing bracket and quotes for you; just type over them. 8. **Type the amounts.** Press Enter and type the six amounts in the same order. Numbers have no quotes. On the next line, the six amounts in the same order. Numbers have no quotes. 9. **Run it.** Press **Shift+Enter**: Colab runs the cell and opens a new empty cell below. (In the practice, click the run button ▶ at the left of the cell.) 10. **Make a table.** In the new cell, put the two lists side by side in a pandas table (a **DataFrame**), then type its name on the next line to show it. Put the two lists side by side in a pandas table, called a DataFrame, and show it. 11. **Run it.** Press **Shift+Enter**: Colab runs the cell and opens a new empty cell below. (In the practice, click the run button ▶ at the left of the cell.) Run it. ### 3. Total and rank 12. **Total the quarter.** A table of six orders, like a spreadsheet. Now add up the amount column. A table of six orders. Now add up the amount column. 13. **Run it.** Press **Shift+Enter**: Colab runs the cell and opens a new empty cell below. (In the practice, click the run button ▶ at the left of the cell.) Run it. 14. **Total each customer.** **8180**: np.int64 is just how pandas labels a whole number. Now one total per customer, biggest first. **groupby** makes one group per customer, **sum** adds each group, **sort_values** puts the biggest on top. Eight thousand one hundred eighty for the quarter. Now [group by](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/group-by) customer, total each one, and sort the biggest to the top. 15. **Run it.** Press **Shift+Enter**: Colab runs the cell and opens a new empty cell below. (In the practice, click the run button ▶ at the left of the cell.) Run it. ## Screenshots [Start this module free](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/python-sales-report) - Next in Python: [Python: Combine Monthly Sales Exports into One Quarter](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/python-combine-exports) ## More in Python - [Python: Clean a Messy Invoice Export Before You Total It](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/python-clean-invoice-export): A beginner Python walkthrough in the free Google Colab: fix stray spaces and capitals, turn "1,250" text into numbers and remove a duplicate invoice before totalling… [All 3 modules in Python](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/python) ## Same business, other tools Maple Dental shows up in these modules too, built with different tools. - [Excel for the Web: Find Your Top Customers in a Sales Export](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/excel-web-top-customers): A beginner Excel for the web walkthrough on real screens: clean a sales export with Remove Duplicates, total every customer with a PivotTable and sort the biggest to… - [SQL: Build a Monthly Revenue Report from an Orders Table](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/sql-monthly-revenue-report): A beginner SQL walkthrough in the free DB Fiddle: type a small orders table, then filter it, total it and turn it into revenue by month with GROUP BY, typing every line… - [SQL: Find Customers Who Have Gone Quiet with a LEFT JOIN](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/sql-quiet-customers): A beginner SQL walkthrough in the free DB Fiddle: join a customers table to orders, see why a plain JOIN hides customers who never ordered, and list every quiet account… - [JavaScript: Turn Invoice Dates into Due-Date Reminders](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/js-due-date-reminders): A beginner JavaScript walkthrough in the free JSFiddle: work out Net 30 due dates, count the days left and list every invoice as due or overdue, typing every line… ## Free cheat sheet Print it or save the PDF: the key steps and checks from this lesson on one page, free. - [Python for Spreadsheet Work Cheat Sheet](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets/python-spreadsheet-work): A free one-page Python cheat sheet for Google Colab: load pandas, total and rank customers, stack monthly exports and clean messy names and amounts. [All free printable cheat sheets](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets) ## Terms in this lesson Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson. [Python](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/python) · [pandas (Python)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/pandas) · [GROUP BY (SQL)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/group-by) [The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary) ## Browse related tutorials [Python (3)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/python) · [Google Colab tutorials (3)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/google-colab) Want AI working like this in your business? Robert Breen, the instructor behind this lesson, helps small and mid-sized teams put AI assistants, agents and automations to work. [Work with Robert on AI consulting](https://ynteractive.com/)