The importance of learning Microsoft® Excel® cannot be overstated. Outside of Microsoft Word, Excel is the most commonly used software program in the workplace. It dominates the spreadsheet industry with a market share of about 90 percent.
Excel is widely used for everything from budgeting and accounting to staff management and comparative data analysis. If you need to import and work with massive amounts of data with lightning-fast calculation performance, you can rely on Excel 2007 to have the capacity for spreadsheets of up to one million rows by 16,000 columns. (Not that you’d ever need that much capacity!) There are several Excel online lessons you can find that will teach you everything from the basics to very in-depth knowledge.
Never had occasion to use Excel? Don’t worry. You will.
If you are already in the workforce and use a computer on the job, chances are your time for Excel will come soon. If you are looking for work, be prepared for your prospective employer to require Excel proficiency before hiring. Either way, you may want to look into Excel online lessons or take a computer class at a local community college to brush up on or expand your skills.
One of the fastest ways to master Excel, or any other software program, is through tutorials that can be taken on the Internet or by ordering lessons in disc form that are delivered by mail. Simply do a search online for Excel online lessons and you will find several resources.
Excel online lessons can be had for less than $100. It’s also possible to find free Excel online tutorials. This type of distance learning has become exceedingly popular due to the fact that it allows you to complete the lessons at your own pace and in the privacy of your own home.
Don’t worry about what anyone will think of the way you learned how to use Excel. Employers don’t care if you enrolled in formal classes at the nearby community college or if you simply took a few Excel online lessons to polish your skills. The proof of your expertise is in the doing. As long as you can pass any pre-employment test on Excel that may be given by your potential employer, that’s all that matters.
Recruiters, hiring specialists and rehabilitation counselors are quick to tell job seekers about the importance of Excel and often can be great sources for information on how to find local classes.
Some businesses offer Excel training to employees, including new hires, in order to keep the staff abreast of the latest developments. Most will even reimburse you for Excel online lessons. For some this is a better choice than paying for unrelated computer training.
Excel can be customized to perform a wide variety of functions:
- A receiver of workplace or business data
- A calculator
- A data converter
- A decision support tool
- A data analysis and visualization tool
- A way to create a concept map
- A way of sorting and filtering information
- A method of ranking information by importance or other standard
- A means to display spreadsheet information for interpretation
- A time-saving way of precisely locating the information desired
Once you become fairly proficient at Excel, start using keyboard shortcuts to speed up the process. Any Excel training program should include a comprehensive list of shortcut keys. Most of the free Excel online lessons are a great place to get this basic information and test your skills. Print them out and keep them near your computer for frequent referral. Eventually, you won’t need the list anymore.
With Excel’s many features, it is possible to use conditional or customized formatting with a wide range of data-display techniques to illustrate and evaluate important trends that can be highlighted with colored gradients, data bars and icons.
Excel is widely respected as a powerful, efficient and easy-to-use program. With Excel, spreadsheet cells are arranged in a collection of rows and columns. Each cell can hold a number, a text string, or a formula that performs a function such as calculation. You can copy and move cells with ease and modify formulas at will.
You’ll see Excel’s spreadsheet exhibited on the computer screen in a scrollable window that allows the document to be as deep or as wide as desired.
The business sector isn’t the only group that uses Excel. Non-profits also use Excel. So, if you are thinking of volunteering to do something for your favorite cause, the fact that you already know how to operate Excel can be a great boost for your chosen charity.
Even if you are no longer in the workforce and don’t do any volunteering, Excel can be can be a lot of fun to use in your home office. You can create fanciful charts and graphs for any purpose whatsoever.
The Excel software will assist you in tracking your debt and comparing it to your income and assets in order to determine your debt-to-income ratio as well as your net worth. Knowing this information will help you prepare for credit applications such as applying for a refinance of your mortgage or buying a new house.
Whether you will be using Excel at work, at home or in the course of your volunteering, mastering this software program through Excel online lessons is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
