Excel 2016 Beginners

Trace excel’s user interface evolution from menus and toolbars to the tabbed ribbon, with quick access toolbar changes and the shift to xlsx file formats after 2007.

Explore the Excel 2016 user interface, mastering tabs and ribbons, quick access toolbar shortcuts, and context-specific ribbons for formulas, data, insertions, and collaboration.

Learn to customize Excel ribbons by adding buttons and groups, creating new tabs, and attaching macros, enabling quick access to pivot tables and data tasks.

Explore the Excel file menu and backstage view in Excel 2016, revealing options like new, open, save, save as, print, share, export, publish, account, and options.

Customize the quick access toolbar in Excel 2007 and later by adding built-in buttons or macros, then use the drop-down and move buttons up or down to rearrange them permanently.

Open and pin recent files for faster access, explore recent folders, recover unsaved workbooks, customize auto recovery time, and keep favorites in a pinned list for quick access.

Explore Excel 2016 options to tailor workbook experience, including general settings, theme choices, and auto recovery. Master autocorrect, macro settings in the trust center, and workbook versus worksheet display options.

Explain how Excel 2007 and later use XML-based XLSX formats instead of the old binary XLS, with save options like XLSM, xltx, and xlsb, and compatibility with older versions.

Explore how Excel uses a single document interface, with each workbook opening in its own window. Use view side by side and tabs to compare workbooks across monitors.

Explore major changes in Excel 2007 and subtler updates in 2010 and later, and learn the unlearning and relearning required when moving from 2003 or earlier to 2007+ versions.

Learn efficient ways to move around a large worksheet, select ranges, copy and paste, and manipulate rows, columns, and worksheets. Practice reveals faster methods for these actions, including printing.

Discover tips to move around large Excel worksheets and select ranges efficiently, using the active cell, selecting from the upper left corner, and dragging from any corner.

Learn how to reorient quickly in large Excel 2016 workbooks by jumping to cell A1 with Ctrl+Home and using shortcut keys to move down and across the worksheet.

Split the screen in Excel 2016 to view top-left and bottom-right data with independent scrolling. Click split on the View ribbon, then drag to adjust or click again to remove.

Learn efficient navigation and data range selection in Excel 2016 using end and arrow keys, ctrl+arrow shortcuts, and shift selections, ctrl+end, and ctrl+a.

Learn to select a range by pointing from the upper left to the bottom right cell using the shift key, and use split screen and control arrows for efficiency.

Learn to select multiple rectangular ranges in Excel 2016 using the control key to add ranges and the shift key to define them, starting from the upper left cell.

Use the F5 go to key to access go to special options, select blanks, then press ok to highlight them and enter a formula with the equal sign and ctrl+enter.

Master copying and cutting in Excel to copy formulas, paste results, and reorganize your worksheet, with efficient methods for moving large ranges that don’t fit on a screen.

Master efficient copying and pasting in Excel 2016 using formulas, numbers, dates, or labels, with Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+Enter, and autofill to save time.

Discover how the Office Clipboard in Excel 2016 stores up to 24 items, lets you paste to the current selection, manage items, and paste multiple times.

Master basic Excel tools such as inserting, deleting, and hiding rows or columns, renaming and moving worksheets, applying a custom sort, inserting hyperlinks, and adjusting print settings for precise output.

Learn to undo mistakes in Excel 2016 by using Ctrl+Z and the undo button, plus redo and recent actions lists on the Quick Access Toolbar.

Master right-clicking in Excel 2016 to access context menus that format cells, customize charts, and adjust axes, titles, and grid lines.

Explore Excel shortcut keys to boost efficiency, discover common shortcuts, and uncover a few you may not know from the shortcut keys topic.

Master Excel number formats, including currency with two decimals, comma separators, and date and time formats, using the format cells dialog and shortcuts, plus custom and national formats.

Learn to manipulate rows and columns in Excel 2016 by inserting, deleting, hiding, and unhiding using the home ribbon, right-click menus, or keyboard shortcuts.

Rename, insert, delete, move, copy, hide, and unhide worksheets using sheet tabs and right-click options in Excel 2016, and select multiple sheets with shift or control.

Explore entering fixed values or formulas in Excel and learn how relative and absolute addresses drive effective formulas, from basic tools to more complex logic in worksheets.

Explore relative and absolute addressing in Excel 2016, how copying formulas updates references, cycle through relative, mixed, and absolute references using dollar signs with the F4 key.

Explore Excel calculation options including automatic, automatic except for data tables, and manual, and learn to force recalculation with F9 or the calculate now and calculate sheet buttons.

Create range names to make formulas easier to read by assigning meaningful labels to cells or ranges, then use the name box and name manager to define and apply them.

Learn to create and customize charts in Excel 2016, from inserting chart types to styling with the design and format ribbons, adding titles, and using right-click options.

Learn to create and customize charts in Excel by selecting data or inserting a chart, choose types like column, line, and scatter, and refine series, axes, and row/column orientation.

Explore Excel 2016 chart types, from column, bar, line, and pie to scatter, histogram, and bubble charts, and learn when to use them for time series, relationships, and distributions.

Learn the most common Excel functions and how the status bar shows automatically calculated values like average and count when two cells are selected; distinguish count from numerical count.

Explore Excel's function help features, including the function wizard, fx button, and function library, to enter formulas and see which arguments are optional through practical examples.

Learn essential Excel 2016 functions for data summarizing, including sum, average, and count, plus tasks like counting values over 1000 and summing sales by females.

Learn how to use Excel's sum, average, and product functions to sum multiple ranges, ignore blanks or text, and compute final costs across scenarios.

Explore how Excel's count, counta, and countblank functions tally numeric, nonblank, and blank cells within a range, and how results appear in the status bar, including handling of errors.

Learn how the sumproduct function multiplies corresponding values across multiple ranges with the same size and shape to sum the products, optimizing cost calculations like shipping from plants to cities.

Master spreadsheet readability in Excel 2016 by applying best practices that reduce clutter, organize data, and use tips and tools to make worksheets attractive and easy to understand.

Document your work by laying out a logical spreadsheet with clear headings, labels, and explanations, and use comments, range names, color coding, text boxes, and red ovals to highlight.

Use tasteful colors, fonts, and effects to enhance Excel documents without overdoing it. Learn about themes, color palettes, fonts, and how theme changes automatically update your worksheet.

Explore how to use cell styles in Excel to create consistent formatting across ranges. Learn to apply, modify, duplicate, rename, and merge custom styles across workbooks.

Discover how Excel 2016 conditional formatting applies dynamic rules—from greater than and date rules to color scales and top-bottom formats—updating automatically with data changes.