01 Beginner Excel Course

Getting started with Excel

The perfect training course for people who need to learn how to use Microsoft Excel from the ground up.

  • Designed for beginner users who have little or no experience with Excel
  • Course content can be customised so you learn exactly what you need
  • Learn skills that will give you a solid foundation throughout your career
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About course

Course Details

Fully Customisable
This training course can be customised at no additional cost to include topics from our other courses.
Course delivery method
This course can be delivered on-site at your premises to individuals or groups, or online through live facilitator-led remote-access learning to individuals or groups.
Course duration
Full course duration is 1 day, but training can be delivered in shorter blocks.
What You Will Learn

Topics covered

The Basics

Understanding these areas lie at the heart of correct Excel use. There’s a focus on shortcuts so you can tackle these areas quickly.

  • Editing and clearing cells quickly
  • Setting column and row widths, and inserting and deleting columns
  • Adding, deleting, copying, moving and renaming sheets
  • Viewing multiple worksheets concurrently

Working With Ranges

The methods and shortcuts covered in this topic will help dramatically reduce time spent working with large Excel worksheets.

  • Selecting ranges with the mouse and keyboard
  • Navigation and selection shortcuts
  • Copying and moving data

Auto Fill, Flash Fill and
Custom Lists

Unnecessary entry of data will slow down spreadsheet creation. The Auto Fill tools lets Excel do the work for you. A great time saver.

  • Using Auto Fill and Auto Fill options, as well as Flash Fill
  • Using Custom Fill lists to define your own lists

Formatting Basics

We’ll cover the fastest and most effective methods of changing the appearance of the contents of cells.

  • Number, date and time formatting shortcuts
  • Changing cell orientation, centering cell contents and merging cells
  • Using the Format Painter to create and clear formats
  • Shortcuts to repeat formats

Basic Calculations

This chapter covers all you’ll need to know about creating manual and function-based calculations.

  • Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division calculations
  • Percentage calculations
  • The basic 6 function-based calculations (SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, MIN, COUNT and COUNTA)

Absolute and Mixed
References

Understanding how and why we need to “lock” cells is a must before moving on to intermediate Excel use.

  • Absolute reference overview
  • Creating absolute references (for example $A$1)
  • Creating mixed references (example A$1 and $A1)

Calculating Across Sheets
and Files

As well as performing calculation within a single spreadsheet, we can calculate across multiple sheets, and even other Excel files.

  • Adding across sheets by linking
  • Summing across sheets by linking
  • Linking formulas to sheets in different Excel files
  • Updating broken links

Conditional Formatting
Basics

We can program Excel to “trigger” automatic changes in formats. It’s a powerful visual tool.

  • Conditional Formatting using numeric values
  • Using Top/Bottom rules
  • Using Data Bars, Icon Sets and Using Sparklines

Sorting and Filtering Data

Working with lists is a prime Excel function. You’ll learn how to manipulate databases quickly and correctly.

  • Sorting by single and multiple columns
  • Filtering data
  • Using Custom AutoFilters for numeric, date and wildcard searches

Charting Basics

Easy to create, charts are a great tool to show data in an understandable graphical form.

  • Creating line, bar and pie charts
  • Resizing and repositioning charts
  • Changing the chart type and appearance

Page Setup and Printing

Excel spreadsheets can be very large in size, and this topic goes into details about how to view and print exactly what you need to

  • Views – Normal, Page Layout and Page Break Preview
  • Using and changing margins and page orientation
  • Changing margins by dragging
  • Printing selected ranges
  • Inserting page breaks and repeating print titles
  • Printing headers and footers

Benefits

Learn the tips and tricks necessary to navigate your spreadsheet with lightning speed, and to perform repetitive formatting tasks instantly
Understand how to build a range of formulas correctly from scratch and learn the concepts that will allow you to move to the next level of Excel quickly
You’ll save time spent on basic formulas even more by learning how to link formulas with other spreadsheets and files
You’ll learn to use Auto Fill tools that will slash the time you’ll need to spend on repetitive data entry, whether it’s text or numeric values
Dramatically reduce the time you’ll need to spend manipulating Excel databases not just using filtering and sorting tools, but also with the power of wildcard searches.

Full course outline

The bulleted items listed above comprise a condensed overview of course topics.

Download full course outline (PDF)

Prerequisites

This course is designed for beginner users who have little or no experience in using Microsoft Excel. However, it would be beneficial to have a general understanding of personal computers and the Windows operating system.

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