Excel: Soup to Nuts

Begin with the idea that everyone starts at square one, and there is no shame in not knowing. Learn universal concepts that apply across Microsoft products, with practical Excel foundations.

Identify the three core elements of the Excel environment—the ribbon, the quick access toolbar, and the backstage (file tab)—for first-time users or older versions like Excel 2003.

Explore how the backstage view in Excel is the old file menu renamed, accessible by clicking file in the upper left, with options like save, save as, open, and print.

Close the Excel file by using the file menu to choose close, and respond to the save changes prompt by saving or not, then the file closes.

Explains how the undo icon in Excel backtracks mistakes, showing how to use the undo button and the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z for efficient error correction.

Master adding clip art to Excel by using the Insert tab, searching with broad keywords, and inserting and formatting simple graphics to enhance your spreadsheets.

Insert a picture into Excel by using the insert tab, choosing insert picture, selecting a picture from the gallery, inserting, resizing with the double-headed arrow, and dragging to reposition.

Explore the Excel environment by understanding workbooks, files, and sheets, and navigate using row and column references and coordinates like D8 and F3.

Discover how the Excel mouse pointer appears and works: hover to select a cell, the active cell hosts actions, and modes—fluffy plus for selecting, border arrow for moving, autofill handle.

Learn how to add content to Excel cells by clicking and typing. Press enter or use arrow keys to continue, remove content with the escape key, and note formula bar.

Master editing Excel cell content by using the formula bar, double-click edit mode, or the F key, and distinguish delete from escape for removing content.

Master selecting content in excel by clicking and dragging to highlight cells, de-selecting by clicking away, and creating noncontiguous selections with the control key while maintaining an active cell.

Master essential spreadsheet navigation with practical techniques for moving around sheets using arrow keys, page up/down, scroll bars, and control+home to return to the top.

Explore how Excel uses named functions to perform math and calculations, beginning with an equal sign and specifying arguments to simplify formulas such as the sum function.

Learn how autofill and the fill handle automate repetitive Excel formulas, saving time and reducing manual work by applying relative adjustments across columns and rows.

Discover excel's home of the calculations via the fx insert function, browse categories like financial, stat, and math and trig, and access future value and net present value functions.

Learn to calculate the average in Excel by typing =average and selecting numbers, using autofill, or using the fx function wizard to pick average.

Explore Excel essentials by learning how formatting dresses up data, applies cosmetic changes, and tweaks the structure of a spreadsheet to make content look polished.

Learn to change cell color and font color in Excel using the paint bucket and font color options. Use live preview to see shading applied to selected cells.

Apply currency formats in Excel by selecting cells and choosing currency in Home tab, or clicking the dollar sign; adjust decimals with the increase/decrease controls or format cells dialog.

Learn to use the format painter in Excel to copy formatting from one area to another, including fonts and colors, with single or double-click activation and escape deactivation.

Learn that in Excel, formats sit on top of content as a formatting layer. Use clear format to peel away formatting, revealing the three parts: raw data, formulas, formatting.

Explore how Excel separates formatting from content, revealing how decreasing decimals changes display without rounding, and how the formula bar shows the true, actual values.

Select the desired cell range and use insert cells to add space without breaking data, choosing between shift right or shift down in the insert dialog.

Learn how to hide and unhide columns in Excel using format options or right-click, and understand the bookends concept to reveal adjacent columns.

Learn how to align cell content in Excel by adjusting left, center, and right positions across the nine positions within a cell, and use wrap text and merge cells.

Learn how to apply borders in Excel to separate data from gridlines, by selecting an area, using the borders menu, and choosing top, bottom, or all borders.

Master page break preview in Excel to fix printing by dragging blue lines and adjusting page breaks. Use the page layout tab and scale to balance data fit and readability.

Learn to add headers and footers in Excel, edit text in the left, center, and right sections, apply preset options, and return to normal view.

Explore margins as the white border around your page. Learn to maximize printable area by using the page layout margins tools, including custom margins.

Learn to repeat column headings on printed pages by using page layout and print titles. Select the header row for rows to repeat at top and verify with print preview.

Take a breather and preview the Excel landscape, contrasting math and list management categories like sources, filters, pivot tables, calculations, formulas, sums, and lookups.

Count and counta enable you to count cells containing numbers, text, or both in a range, while excluding blanks, with practical Excel examples.

Named ranges label cells and substitute those labels for cell references in formulas. Create them in the name box, avoid spaces, ensure uniqueness, and modify via Name Manager.

Master vlookup in Excel to match a value in the leftmost column and return corresponding results, including exact and approximate matches and named ranges.

Learn to use sumif and sumifs in Excel to add values by criteria, including range, sum range, and criteria range, with Coke and Pepsi examples.

Explore linking in Excel by creating source and destination links across cells, sheets, files, and apps, using the equal sign and paste link techniques to keep data synchronized.

Discover how to build 3D formulas that sum across multiple sheets using cross-sheet cell references with commas and the exclamation point notation.

Explore how DSUM performs database calculations in Excel by summing sales for records that meet specific criteria, using criteria ranges and fields to drive the total.

Explore how to use the iferror function in Excel to replace error messages like #DIV/0! or #N/A with a custom message, including nested formulas and VLOOKUP.

Learn how to join text in Excel with the concatenation function, combining first and last names into a full name using formulas, the function wizard, or the ampersand method.

Master the right function in Excel by learning how to extract characters from the end of a text string, with practical notes on standalone use and integration.

Master the Excel left function by extracting a specified number of leftmost characters from a cell and using them in calculations. Compare it with the right function.

Explore de-concatenation in Excel by composing nested formulas with right, left, len, and search to pull the right-hand text from a cell, even with multiple spaces.

Learn how the date diff function in Excel calculates the time between two dates, returning days, months, or years for practical date handling.

Master Excel array formulas to perform bulk calculations, using curly braces and control-shift-enter, and understand one- and two-dimensional arrays and their column or row directions.

Discover how the sumproduct function multiplies ranges and sums the results in Excel. This streamlined approach delivers the same totals faster than manual methods.

Create a dynamic named range in Excel using offset and count functions, starting from a fixed cell, and expand automatically via the Name Manager to a breathable range.

Learn how to group data in Excel to create expandable sections within lists, using the data tab to group and ungroup rows (and optionally columns), with collapsible plus/minus controls.

Sort and alphabetize lists by region, line, and store using the data tab and the A to Z quick sort icon, with bold column headings kept intact.

Learn to use Excel filters to extract a subset of data with go fish drop-arrow criteria, including text and number filters, search by city, and color or font color filters.

Learn how to use subtotals in Excel by sorting first, applying subtotals at each change in a region, and calculating sum and average across fields like quantity sold and price.

Discover how pivot tables display your data as a layout you can rearrange. Drag fields into rows, columns, values, and filters to create varied cross-tab views.

Create and edit calculated fields to multiply quantity sold by price to produce revenue, and explore calculated items like adults created from men and women.

Troubleshoot pivot tables by managing the field list visibility with the field list toggle, and handle data errors by displaying custom error values in options.

Master Excel charting by creating bar and pie charts, exploring long and fast methods, using the Insert tab and F11 for instant charts, and refining with right-click customization.