Microsoft Excel: Beginner to Advanced in 2026!

We'll go over formatting spreadsheets, filtering & sorting columns, data types, hiding & unhiding columns, pasting as values, conditional formatting, and drop-down menus

We'll go over how to apply different types of borders to cells, rows, and columns

How to highlight cells, rows, and columns

How to apply filters to your columns and basic methods of filtering

We'll go over different methods of sorting the data in your columns

How to use the Merge & Center tool

How to use the Center Across Selection tool, and why it's different than Merge & Center

What are data types, and how to change them to the appropriate type to match your data

How to use the wrap text tool and why it's helpful

How to auto-fit your column width or manually adjust the height/width of your columns or rows

How to hide and unhide columns or rows

How to copy and paste your formulas as values and when that's useful

We'll go over what transpose means, when to use it, and how to use it to reverse the layout of columns and rows

We'll look at why using tables are so important vs. normal data ranges, and how to create/customize your table

We'll look at the format painter tool, why it's very useful, and how to use it in different ways

We'll cover the different methods of freezing panes, what it is, and when to use it

How to apply a focus cell to help visualize your cursor location more easily

We'll go over basic methods of handling blank rows so your datasets are cleaner and ready to use in more analysis

In this first conditional formatting lecture, I'll show you what conditional formatting is, and how to use it to highlight cells that match a criteria that we specify

In this second conditional formatting lecture, I'll show you how to apply a color scale to your data for better visualization

How to use the "Trace Dependents" and "Trace Precedents" tool, why they're useful, and how to use them

We'll go over how to create a drop-down menu using a normal range and a table, and why using a drop-down menu with a table is more dynamic

We'll look at what a Named Range is, how to create it, why they're useful, and when you should use it

I'll walk you through an introduction to what a Wildcard is in Excel so when we use it later in the course, you will have an understanding of what a Wildcard does

What we will cover in the Basic Math Functions section!

Students will learn how to use math operators to perform calculations, such as: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and using order of operations

We'll look at how to use and apply the SUM, AVERAGE, COUNTA, MIN, MAX, and STDEV.P functions

This lecture shows you how to use SUM on a dataset with rows and columns, and how to use the awesome Auto-SUM tool

How to use the AVERAGE function on a 2-dimensional dataset with rows and columns

Students will learn what an Absolute Reference means, why they're so important, and how to use it with a concrete example

This lecture will show a 2nd example of how to use an Absolute Reference with the SUM function, why it's so important, and a concrete example

Students will learn what a Mixed Reference is, how it's different than an Absolute Reference, how to use it, and a concrete example of a scenario where it would be helpful

What we will cover in the Data Cleaning section

Students will learn how to quickly and easily fill in blank cells in a messy dataset

Students will learn what the SUBSTITUTE function does, how to use it with concrete examples, and why it's important

Students will learn how to use the PROPER, UPPER, and LOWER Functions to clean messy data

Students will learn how to use the CLEAN function to easily remove messy characters from a dataset

Students will learn how to use the TRIM function to remove unnecessary leading and trailing spaces in their dataset

Students will learn how to use the powerful Find & Replace tool to clean data, why it's important, and concrete practice examples

Students will learn how to quickly highlight and delete blank rows, using the Go-To method and a keyboard shortcut to delete the blanks

Students will learn another method of quickly identifying blank rows by creating a formula, then filtering for those blank rows, then deleting the rows

This lecture will teach students how to use the Go-To method to quickly highlight all blank cells in a dataset, then fill in those blank cells with anything you want in 1 click

What we will cover in the Pivot Tables section

Students will learn how to create pivot tables, and why using a Table as your pivot table source is better than using a normal range of data

Students will learn how to use the % of Grand Total and % of Parent Row Total calculations in pivot tables, what they are, and why they're so great

Students will learn how to create visualizations directly from pivot tables, called Pivot Charts

Students will learn how to create buckets of data for deeper analysis in their pivot table

Students will learn how to change the layout of their pivot table to Tabular Form and why this is so helpful

Students will learn how to sort and multi-sort their pivot tables for better organization and analysis

Students will learn the different methods of filtering their pivot table using many examples

Students will learn how to create timeline slicers and normal filter slicers in their pivot tables for easier filtering

Students will learn how to use the drill-down feature in pivot tables for deeper analysis on specific data fields

What we will cover in the Working with Dates Section

Students will learn how to customize the way their dates look to fit their needs

Students will learn how to create a custom-length list of dates quickly using the SEQUENCE function

Students will learn how to use the TODAY() function, why it's useful, and concrete examples of when to use it

Students will learn different methods of calculating the difference between 2 dates

Students will learn how to use the MONTH, YEAR, and DAY functions to extract specific pieces out of a date

Students will learn how to use NETWORKDAYS and NETWORKDAYS.INTL to calculate the # of working days between 2 dates, and how each function is different. Great for Project Management or Project Planning!

What we will learn in this section

Students will learn what TEXTJOIN does and how to use it for joining multiple texts together

Students will learn what TEXTBEFORE does and how to use it for pattern-based text extraction

Students will learn what TEXTAFTER does and how to use it for pattern-based text extraction

Students will learn what CONCAT means and 2 different ways to use it to combine values or text together

Students will practice what they've learned in this section to solve a problem using TEXTAFTER, TEXTBEFORE, and CONCAT for text extraction and creating new sentences

Students will learn what TEXTSPLIT does and how to use it for text extraction

Students will learn how to use Flash Fill to fill in a range of cells based on a pattern that we specify with just 1 click

Students will learn how to use the LEFT and RIGHT functions with simple examples for text extraction

Students will learn how to use MID in addition to LEFT and RIGHT, with deeper examples for text extraction

Students will learn how to use the SEARCH and LEN functions for more dynamic text extractions

Students will try to complete a more complex practice problem using everything we've learned. There are multiple different methods to reach the same result that we learned, so students can choose any method they want!

We will cover each LOOKUP function from beginner to advanced, common uses of combining other functions with the LOOKUP functions, how each LOOKUP function is different than the others, and which ones I recommend

We will cover how to use XLOOKUP with a simple example

We will cover how to use VLOOKUP with a simple example

We will cover how to use INDEX MATCH with a simple example

We will cover one of the most common errors you will get when using LOOKUP functions and how to solve that error easily

We will cover the other most common error you get with XLOOKUP and how to easily solve it

Students will learn how to return multiple columns at the same time with XLOOKUP, and how to only return the columns we want

Students will learn how to handle the error values when there is no match returned with INDEX MATCH

Students will learn how to perform a double lookup (also known as a 2-way lookup) to return a value at the intersection of a row and column, using either XLOOKUP or INDEX MATCH

Students will learn how to perform an XLOOKUP using a wildcard, so we can return a value even if there is no exact match

Students will learn how to use the match_mode argument in XLOOKUP and why it's so powerful

Students will practice a 2nd example of how to use the match_mode argument in XLOOKUP

What we will cover in Section 8

Students will learn what the IF function does, and how to use it

Students will practice another example of using the IF function with a slightly more difficult example

Students will learn how to use the IFS function and how it's different than the IF function

Students will learn what a Nested IF means, when it's helpful, and how to use it

Students will learn how to use the IF function with cell references, and why it makes your function more dynamic

Students will learn how to use the NOT function with IF to reverse the logic

Students will practice a more difficult example of using Cell References with the IF function to make it dynamic

Students will learn how to use the OR function with the IF function for more complex logical conditions

Students will learn how to use the AND function with the IF function for more complex logical conditions

Students will learn how to use the OR and AND functions all together with the IF function for complicated logical situations

Students will learn how to use the common combination of IFERROR and IF(ISERROR) to handle error values in the same function

Students will learn how to use the common combination of IFNA and IF(ISNA) functions to handle #N/A errors

Students will learn the powerful combination of IF(ISBLANK) to handle blank cells easily

Students will learn the powerful combination of IF, ISNUMBER, and SEARCH to find partial text matches and return a value based on the match. This will be important for combining with functions later in this course too

What we will cover in section 9

Students will learn how to create SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, and AVERAGEIFS functions on a real dataset

Students will practice a slightly more difficult example of using SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, and AVERAGEIFS by adding additional criteria

Students will practice a more difficult intermediate-level problem using SUMIFS and COUNTIFS. This example will now include 2 criteria where we incorporate the AND function

Students will learn and practice an advanced example of using SUMIFS and COUNTIFS where we incorporate wildcards and the AND function

Students will learn and practice a more advanced example using SUMIFS and COUNTIFS where we incorporate wildcards, the AND function, and date ranges as criteria

Students will learn how to use the OR function in the SUMIFS and COUNTIFS functions for advanced criteria matching

Students will practice everything we've learned in this section with an advanced practice problem!