Excel Basics
It's good to know these things
These exercises have been chosen to get you off the data handling and spreadsheet-management starting blocks. Maybe you've been working with spreadsheets for a long time, or a short time, but you find it quite frustrating some days. You feel there must be easier ways to do some of the basics.
These exercises have been categorised to be either:
- Data Handling - easier ways to manipulate date
- Spreadsheet management - doesn't deal with data directly, but makes the spreadsheet easier to work with.
Tutorial time: All exercises should take about 1.5 hours to complete.
Audience: Beginners who've worked with Excel previously. You know what a row and cell is, and you've made at least basic equations to add or subtract values.
What you’ll need
- Microsoft Excel 2016;MS Excel 2010 should also work. I'm not sure if everything will work on earlier versions.
Sum
Data Handling
When adding or summing up values, it is much better to use =SUM(A2:A5) than to use =A2+A3+A4+A5.
Average
Data Handling
When getting an average values, use =AVG(A2:A5), rather than using =A2+A3+A4+A5)/4.
Pick from a list
Spreadsheet management
Sometimes it's better to pick data from a dropdown list than to enter it manually.
Hide Columns and Rows
Spreadsheet management
Sometimes you need to hide data to be able to more easily see the rows or columns you want to focus on.
Freeze panes
Spreadsheet management
Sometimes you need to freeze panes so that you don't need to scroll back and forth on large spreadsheets.
Text to columns
Data Handling
Sometimes you get data grouped in one column and you need to split it into multiple columns.
Find / Replace
Data Handling
Need to find or clean up data in a snap? Find Replace is for you!
Filter and Sort
Data Handling
Large datasets can be difficult to work with. By using the filter and sort function, you can quickly analyse data with a few clicks.
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