Microsoft Excel: Beginner to Advanced Guide
Beginner Level
- Excel Interface: Learn about the Ribbon, Workbook, Worksheet, Cells, and Ranges.
- Basic Navigation: Arrow keys, Ctrl+Arrow, Ctrl+Home/End, mouse shortcuts.
- Data Entry & Formatting: How to input data, format cells (bold, alignment, number format).
- Simple Functions: SUM(A1:A5), AVERAGE(), MIN(), MAX(), COUNT(), COUNTA().
- Sorting & Filtering: Use the Data tab to sort data A-Z or apply filters.
- Basic Charts: Insert bar, line, or pie charts to visualize data.
Intermediate Level
- Conditional Formatting: Highlight cells based on rules (e.g., greater than, duplicate values).
- Logical Functions: IF, IFS, AND, OR - build logic to automate decisions.
- Lookup Functions: VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, and XLOOKUP (if available in your Excel version).
- Data Validation: Create dropdowns, restrict inputs, and ensure clean data entry.
- Freeze Panes: Lock header rows or columns while scrolling.
- Tables & Named Ranges: Turn data into Excel Tables and use named ranges in formulas.
Advanced Level
- INDEX + MATCH: Combine these for more flexible lookups than VLOOKUP.
- PivotTables & PivotCharts: Summarize and analyze large datasets easily.
- Advanced Formulas: Nesting IFs, using TEXT(), LEN(), LEFT(), RIGHT(), etc.
- What-If Analysis: Use Goal Seek and Data Tables to model different scenarios.
- Introduction to Macros & VBA: Record simple tasks and learn how automation works.