Additionally, you could use formulas and functions to calculate how many people lived in other states and perform a specific calculation based on this. For example, if you have an address list and you wanted to quickly find out who on your list lived in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA, you could use built-in filters in Excel to find and display all the people who live in Atlanta only. It is very useful for entering textual data, such as employee lists, stock item lists or any other textual or combinations of textual and numerical data, which you want to be able to analyze quickly or use as a database. Get a good grounding in how to add data to Excel by completing a tutorial such as our FREE Excel Basic Data Entry and Navigation Tutorial with a corresponing online Test.Įxcel is not limited to numerical data. The important thing to remember about Excel is that the way you enter data into the spreadsheet(s) will affect its usability later on.

Once you have mastered the basics of navigating around the Microsoft Excel window, you will be on the road to become a spreadsheet guru in no time.ĭepending on your current life and work roles, you could do your budget, create address and price lists, generate invoice templates, keep track of debits and credits, analyze statistical data and do cost analysis, to name but a few. The best place to start with Excel is right at the very beginning with basic tutorials such as the FREE online Microsoft Excel 2010 Tutorials and Tests. Excel may appear overwhelming or difficult to learn, especially if your past experiences with training, co-workers or friends have made you feel intimidated by the program. The beauty of Excel is that it performs many actions that you traditionally would have completed manually, automatically. Built in functions allow you to create charts, such as pie and bar charts, tables and SmartArt, to graphically display your data: It has built in functions for doing arithmetic, complex mathematical and accounting formulas and functions as well as statistical and data analysis features. Much has changed in the last 20 years and Excel has become an essential piece of software to learn and use for anyone, not only those in the accounting field.Įxcel uses spreadsheets, which consist of rows and columns made up of individual cells. This all changed when it was packaged and sold together with other Microsoft Office applications in 1995. It is a spreadsheet program, which in its early days was mostly only known to people who performed accounting-related tasks.

Microsoft Excel, which started life as a software program codenamed Odyssey, has been around since the 1980s. What is Excel? How to Use Excel What is Excel? How to Use Excel Microsoft Excel Article

How to use microsoft excel well