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Excel Essentials for the Real World (Complete Excel Course)

Microsoft Excel Beginner to Professional. Includes Pivot Tables, Power Query, NEW Formulas... (Excel 365, 2019 & 2016)
Instructor:
Leila Gharani
69,129 students enrolled
English More
Master the ESSENTIAL Excel formulas and features to accelerate your career
Learn Excel from scratch or fill in the gaps to become immediately confident
Learn to use Pivot Tables, Pivot Charts, Slicers and Time Lines for Interactive Excel Reports
Hacks and hidden Excel features from a Microsoft MVP with 15+ years of Experience
Explore the potential of Power Query. You'll be surprised at what you achieve with a bit of Power Query knowledge.
Get lifetime access to a proven and state-of-the-art Excel course including challenges, quizzes & exercises
Learn what's new in Excel for Microsoft 365 and how these changes impact the way you use Excel
Updated to include the new FILTER, XLOOKUP, SORT & UNIQUE functions

Learn Excel from Scratch OR become more CONFIDENT.

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COURSE UPDATED to Include the BRAND NEW Excel Functions available in Microsoft 365 such as:

  • Excel’s new XLOOKUP function

  • New FILTER function in Excel

  • SORT, SORTBY & UNIQUE functions

In addition to the above, we also cover:

  1. Excel’s new calculation engine and how older formulas are impacted

  2. What the Hash (#) sign is

  3. Compatibility and the at (@) sign you might see in your older files

  4. The new errors such as #SPILL and #CALC

  5. Data validation drop-down lists and dynamic array references

If you have Excel for Microsoft 365 and you’d like to discover how you can take advantage of these new functions, make sure you check out this new section.

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Looking to learn Microsoft Excel and improve your data analysis skills but don’t know where to start?

OR, you’ve been using Microsoft Excel for a while but don’t feel 100% confident?

There is so much information out there. What do you need to succeed at work?

I’ve picked out the Excel Essential skills a Data Analyst needs and packaged them in a structured course.

In fact, I collected the most common Excel problems faced by my clients. I added in my 15+ years’ experience in finance and project management. I included all the hidden tips and tricks I came to learn as an Excel MVP and put it ALL in THIS course. I also made sure it covers the absolute Excel beginners.

These practical, real-world examples help you understand the full potential of each feature. You’ll learn how to use Excel for quick and painless data analysis.

There are many helpful and time-saving Excel formulas and features. We tend to forget what these are if we don’t use them. This Microsoft Excel Essentials Course will give you the practice you need to be able to apply the best solution for the task at hand. This way you can do more in less time.

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WHY TAKE THIS SPECIFIC EXCEL COURSE?

Yes. There are many Microsoft Excel courses out there teaching you the important Excel functions and features you need to master.

BUT, can you apply what you learnt to your own files?

Do you get enough practice and challenges to remember all the new information?

This course will get you confident and comfortable designing simple to complex spreadsheets.  You’ll go beyond Excel basics. As you go through the course, you’ll be able to apply what you learnt immediately to your job.

You’ll master new formulas and find better ways to setup your existing spreadsheets. Management loves efficiency.

In this course you’ll solve dozens of practical real-world examples. They’ll help you think outside the box so you can work smarter not harder.

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IS THIS ONLINE EXCEL COURSE FOR BEGINNERS ONLY?

This Complete Excel Course is for two types of people:

  1. Excel beginners, i.e. anyone looking to learn Excel from scratch

  2. Excel intermediate and Excel advanced users who want to make sure their skills cover all the essentials. This includes many Excel tricks and hidden features few data analysts know of.

The Excel Essentials for the Real World Course covers ALL the fundamentals an Excel beginner needs to know. BUT it also fills in the gaps for Excel Intermediate and Advanced users. It’s for corporate professionals who feel comfortable with Excel but not 100% confident.

This is more than an Excel Basics Course. It starts off easy and adds in tips and tricks many Excel advanced users don’t know of.

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WHAT YOU’LL BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE

By the end of the course you’ll be confident showcasing your new Excel skills at work, allowing you to:

  • Input data and navigate large spreadsheets

  • Apply Excel hacks to get your work done faster

  • Be able to choose the right Excel formula to automate your data analysis (Excel VLOOKUP, IF Function, ROUND and more)

  • Use hidden Excel features to transform messy data to proper data sets

  • Get answers from your data

  • Organize, clean and manage large data

  • Create compelling Excel reports by following the set of spreadsheet design principles

  • Turn messy data into helpful charts

  • Create interactive reports with Excel Pivot Tables, Pivot Charts, Slicers and Time Lines

  • Import and transform data with tools like Get & Transform (Power Query)

We start from Microsoft Excel basics to make sure we have the right fundamentals. We them move on to more advanced topics like Conditional Formatting, Excel Pivot Tables and Power Query. We cover important formulas like VLOOKUP, SUMIFS and nested IF Functions.

I don’t just cover the purpose of a feature or formula but how you can take advantage of it using practical examples.

There are challenges and quizzes along the way to test your new Excel skills.

Your downloadable Excel Course Notes are available as a PDF file. These cover the most important points. Keep them handy and refer to them when you need to.

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WHAT ARE SOME EXCEL FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS I WILL LEARN IN THIS COURSE

You’ll learn:

  • How to customize the Microsoft Excel interface so you so you can easily find the files and features you use often.

  • To apply formatting correctly for cleaner and more professional reports.

  • To use important features like drop-down lists in Excel and add data validation to the cells. This way you can restrict the type of data which can be input in each cell.

  • How to add comments and notes to cells.

  • Add time stamps to your reports.

  • Automate data entry with Auto-Fill and Flash-fill.

  • How to best navigate large data and large spreadsheets.

  • Useful Excel shortcuts for data entry and navigation.

  • How to Protect your Excel files and worksheets properly.

  • Excel’s essential rule when it comes to writing formulas.

  • How to write basic to advanced Excel formulas – also formulas that reference other workbooks or other worksheets.

  • The most useful Excel functions like, COUNTIFS, COUNT, SUMIFS, AVERAGEIFS, VLOOKUP, IF and many more.

  • How to convert raw Excel data into information you can use to create reports on.

  • Excel features that will help you to organize and structure data so it makes analysis easier (Sort, Filter, Search & Replace Go to Special etc…)

  • Useful Excel printing options which you’ll need specially before you send your file to your boss or save as PDF.

  • Design principles for optimal spreadsheets.

  • Excel charts that go beyond column and bar charts. You’ll learn how to create a Pareto chart, Histogram, Treemap, Sunburst charts and more.

  • Excel Pivot Tables so you can quickly get insights from your data.

  • What Excel Power Query can do for you and how easy it is to combine data from different spreadsheets.

  • Use Power Query to transform messy data to tabular data.

    _________________________________________________

WHY WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO LEARN EXCEL?

Excel in itself can do so much for your career. It’s just one program but it’s the one hiring managers are interested in.

That’s why basic Excel skills is a mandatory requirement for most office-based professionals today.

Superior Microsoft Excel skills can get you a promotion. Some jobs require that to begin with.

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WHICH VERSION OF EXCEL IS USED IN THE COURSE?

The course is applicable for Excel 2019, Excel 2016 & Excel for Microsoft 365. Generally all features and formulas with exception of a few Excel charts (Histogram, Pareto, Treemap and Sunburst charts) will work on Excel 2010 & Excel 2013. For the Power Query section, you’ll have to install the free Excel Power Query add-in if you have Excel 2010 or Excel 2013 to be able to follow along. Other than this, the other features and formulas shown are valid for all Excel versions.

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★★★★★  “Leila has an extraordinary way of breaking down complex formulas to understand how the mechanics actually work so you start to imagine on your own different combinations of formulas to solve complex questions.” Lisa

★★★★★ “The instructor’s explanations and referencing real-world situations are just what is needed to understand how these formulas can help you work smarter.” Keith

★★★★★ “It was just what I needed! Definitely a great hands on way for someone with existing excel skills to pick up great “hacks” for excel.” Teo

★★★★★ “Lots of tips and techniques. Already using them in my own work!” Alison

★★★★★ “I am really enjoying the course, Leila is a great instructor. Every lesson I learn something useful to improve my day to day with excel.” Alisa

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There’s a 100% money back guarantee. You have nothing to lose. Check out the lectures inside and see if you can apply the techniques to your work.

The course comes with lifetime access. Buy now. Watch anytime.

Before You Dive In

1
How to Get the Most Out of This Course

In this course you’re going to start off learning how to input data including some hidden features in Excel that will save you lots of time. You’re going to learn how to navigate large data and how you can protect your Excel spreadsheets. We’ll cover important Excel functions and formula rules. We’ll turn messy data into a proper dataset. We’ll learn about spreadsheet design principles as well as printing and formatting to bring attention to your analysis. We’ll create interactive charts and tables and even find better ways to import and transform data with tools like Power Query.

2
Download Course Files

I’ll cover the 2 options to download the accompanying Excel workbooks.

3
Course Outline for Quick Reference

Quick Tour of Excel

1
Excel Workbook, Worksheet, Cell Structure

In this section I’ll give you a tour of Excel to get you feeling comfortable using the program.

2
Quick Tour of Excel - Ribbon & Quick Access Toolbar

We’ll cover the Excel ribbon and the different tabs that are available to you.

3
Customizing the Excel Interface

I’ll show you how you can customize Excel so you can easily find the files and features you use most often.

4
Summary: Important Points to Remember (Terminology & Shortcuts)
5
Quiz: Excel Fundamentals

Data Input & Hidden Features to Save Time

1
Overview - Data Input & Hidden Excel Features

In this section we’ll be entering data and basic formulas in Excel. We’ll also do basic formatting for cleaner and more professional reports. You’re also going to be able to use important features like drop-down lists in Excel and add data validation to the cells. We’re also going to cover some key features that aren’t usually talked about in an Excel basics course. They’ll help you become more efficient and will make your workbooks look more professional.

2
Data Entry and Editing Excel Data

I’ll show you how to enter data to Excel and some tips and tricks when it comes to entering, removing, or editing data.

3
Basic Excel Formulas

In this lecture I’ll show you how to enter basic Excel formulas. We’ll cover some helpful shortcuts to be more efficient. We’ll also cover some basic cell formatting.

4
Text to Speech (Hidden Excel Feature)

I’ll show you a fun, hidden feature on how to get Excel to read out the content of a cell for you.

5
Correctly Input Dates and Time Stamps in Excel

We’ll cover how Excel remembers dates and how you can format them. We’ll also learn how to quickly add a time stamp to our spreadsheet.

6
Use Excel AutoFill To Do Your Work

We’ll learn how AutoFill and its options can help us when we work with different types of data in Excel.

7
Excel Flash Fill for Major Time Saving (Become Pro)

I’ll show you how Excel's Flash Fill can become your magic tool when it comes to entering and manipulating data.

8
Custom Lists With AutoFill (Hidden Excel Feature)

We’ll learn about another time saver that not many people know about. We’ll use Custom Lists in Excel to be much faster entering data.

9
Inputting & Editing Comments & Notes in Excel

I’ll show you how you can make the best use of Comments and Notes in Excel.

10
Finding Excel Formulas & Input Cells with ONE Click (Become Pro)

In this lecture I’ll show you how you can find all Excel formulas or input cells with One click only.

11
Excel Data Validation to Reduce Time Checking Data

I’ll show you why data validation is important in Excel spreadsheets and how you can easily set it up. We’ll learn how to validate numbers and dates and how you can set up drop down lists for the user to choose from.

12
Adding Tool Tips (Screen Tips in Excel)

We’ll learn how to add Tool Tips or Screen Tips to help the user of the Excel spreadsheet know what they should input in which cell.

13
Learn to Work with Pictures, Shapes & Other Objects in Excel

In this lecture I’ll show you how to work with pictures, shapes and other objects in Excel cells. I’ll show you how to prevent objects from getting stretched out when the size of the Excel cell changes and how you can hide them from view.

14
Quiz: Data Input in Excel
15
Challenge: Data Manipulation & Preparation in Excel
16
Solution: Data Manipulation & Preparation in Excel

In this challenge we’ll tackle data manipulation and preparation. We’ll create a login name from the name in the dataset by applying a certain logic. We’ll extract the start year for our employees from their start date, add notes and screen tips to our Excel spreadsheet, and add a data validation to ensure date is input correctly.

17
Summary: Key Excel Features to Impress & Save Time

Worksheet Navigation, Copying and Protecting

1
Overview - Worksheet Navigation in Excel

In this section you’re going to learn all about worksheet navigation in Excel.

2
Useful Excel Shortcuts for Navigation (Become Pro)

In this lecture we’ll take a look at the most useful Excel shortcuts for navigation. These will save you a ton of time.

3
Copying, Moving & Hiding Worksheets

I’ll show you how you can copy, move and hide worksheets in an Excel workbook.

4
Freeze Panes (Lock Rows, Columns) & Split Screen for Long Excel Reports

We’ll lean how to make it easier for us to navigate Excel worksheets that have a lot of data by using freeze panes and split screen.

5
Hide & Unhide, Insert, Adjust Columns & Rows in Excel

We’ll cover how we can hide and unhide rows and columns and how we can find which rows and columns have been hidden. We’ll also learn how to insert values in between other values without overwriting existing data. I’ll also give you a bonus tip as to how you can group rows and columns instead of hiding them.

6
Copying and Pasting Data (Hidden Excel Paste Features)

I’ll show you the hidden features when it comes to pasting data in Excel. In addition, I’ll give a bonus tip and I’ll show you how you apply a mathematical operation with Paste Special.

7
Protecting Excel Worksheets & Specific Ranges

In this lecture we’ll talk about protecting your work. I’ll show you how you can protect an entire workbook, the workbook structure, individual sheets, or to allow the user to edit ranges. The bonus tip is to protect a sheet but to still allow the user to perform certain tasks.

8
Challenge: Update & Protect Excel Report
9
Solution: Update & Protect Excel Report

In this challenge we practice to update and to protect Excel spreadsheets.

10
Quiz: Worksheet Navigation
11
Summary: Important Worksheet Features & Excel Shortcuts

Excel Formulas & What to be Aware of

1
Overview - Excel Formulas & What to be Aware of

We’ll cover the differences between an Excel function and a formula and how to turn on/off automatic calculations for an Excel spreadsheet.

2
How Excel Calculates - Order of Precedence

It’s important to understand how Excel runs calculations and in which order it does it. I’ll also cover how Excel interprets True and False and how you can work with comparison operators inside Excel functions to become Advanced in Excel. My bonus tip is to show you can display the formula as text in a separate cell.

3
Simple but Useful Excel Formulas

We’ll learn some simple but useful formulas and practice entering formulas in Excel.

4
Essential Excel Rule (Don't Skip!)

I’ll show you the 2 essential rules when it comes to creating error-free reports in Excel.

5
Absolute and Relative Cell Referencing in Excel

We’ll cover one of the most important concepts when working with Excel. We’ll learn what the “$”-sign means and how you can apply this to your formulas.

6
Improve Clarity with Range Names

You’ll learn about range names and how they can help you improve clarity and write easier-to-read formulas.

7
Referencing other Workbooks or Worksheets

We’ll take a look at how you can write formulas that reference cells in other workbooks or other worksheets.

8
Circular References & How to Locate Them

We’ll learn what a circular reference is in Excel and how to easily find the problematic formula(s).

9
Combine Values From Two or More Cells to ONE Cell

You might come across cases where you need to combine the value of 2 or more cells into one cell. I’ll show how this is done in Excel and how you can combine text with cell references.

10
Challenge: Allocate Yearly Value Based on Percentages
11
Solution: Allocate Yearly Value Based on Percentages

In this challenge we’ll use formulas to allocate a yearly value to certain months by using smart cell referencing.

12
Quiz: Excel Formulas
13
Summary: Key Points when Writing Excel Formulas

Important Excel Functions (Everything you need to become Pro)

1
Overview & Finding Excel Functions from Insert Function

We’ll cover important Excel functions in this section and I’ll also share with you how you can use Excel’s function library.

2
Important! Working with Excel Functions
3
COUNT, COUNTA, COUNTBLANK

We’ll learn how we can apply the COUNT, COUNTA, and COUNTBLANK function in Excel and when to use which of these functions.

4
COUNT based on a Condition (COUNTIFS)

You can use the COUNTIFS function in Excel when you want to count the number of values in a range if they meet one or more conditions. I’ll show you how to use it and how you can even use operators like the greater than or smaller than signs.

5
SUM & AVERAGE Functions in Excel

We’ll cover the SUM and the AVERAGE function in Excel and how you can easily apply them to your spreadsheet.

6
SUM by Criteria (SUMIFS, AVERAGEIFS)

We’ll learn how to use the SUMIFS and the AVERAGEIFS function in Excel one values that meet one or more conditions.

7
MAX & MIN (MAXIFS & MINIFS)

We’ll look at how to use the MAX and MIN function in Excel and how we can get the Max and Min value of a dataset by criteria.

8
Rounding Values (ROUND, ROUNDUP & ROUNDOWN)

I’ll show you how you can use functions in Excel to automatically round values.

9
Essential Excel Date Functions

How to work with dates in Excel is not that intuitive. I’ll show you how dates are entered correctly, how Excel remembers dates, and how we can use Essential Excel date functions.

10
Time Calculations in Excel - Total Time Worked

We’ll cover how Excel processes time and how we can work with that.

11
Handling Excel Formula Errors

Whenever you’re working with Excel formulas you may end up with some formula error. I’ll show you the most common ones and how you can handle them with the IFERROR function.

12
IF (Then, Else) Excel Function - Conditional Formulas

We’ll cover the IF function which is one of Excel’s most useful functions. I’ll also show you a quick debugging trick that you can use to see what’s behind your formula.

13
VLOOKUP Function - Lookup Values from Another Place

The VLOOKUP function is one of the most used Lookup-Functions in Excel. I’ll show you how you can lookup values from another place, another sheet, or another data table.

14
Challenge: How Good Are you with Excel Functions?
15
Solution: How Good Are you with Excel Functions?

In this challenge we’ll use some essential Excel functions to solve some exercises.

16
NEW 365 Functions: FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, XLOOKUP & More

If you have Excel for Microsoft 365 then you have the new Excel Dynamic array functions such as FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, XLOOKUP & more. I have added a brand new section to course called NEW 365 Excel Functions: FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, XLOOKUP & More.

We cover these in detail there.

17
Summary: Important Excel Functions

Data Cleaning and Management: Sorting, Filtering & Replacing Data

1
Overview - Data Cleaning, Analysis & Management Tools in Excel

In this section we’ll take a look at more Excel features that will help us organize and structure our data, so it makes analysis easier later on.

2
Sort Data (Organize & Create Order) in Excel

We’ll cover the different options we have to sort our data. I’ll also show you how you can even Sort your data by color.

3
Unsort Data to Revert to Original Order

We’ll learn how we can unsort the data so we can go back to our original order if we need to.

4
Add Subtotals to Sorted Data

I’ll show you how you can quickly add subtotals to your dataset by using the Subtotal feature in Excel.

5
Filter Data to Extract What you Need

We’ll learn about Excel’s Filter feature to quickly extract what you need from a dataset.

6
Delete Blank or Empty Rows in Excel

In this lecture we’ll look at how we can delete rows with blank or empty cells in Excel.

7
Fill Empty Cells in One Go (Become Pro)

In this lecture we’ll take a look at a very neat Excel feature that come in handy when you want to update your data and fill empty cells.

8
Remove Duplicates to Get a Unique List in Excel

We’ll look at a method you can use to remove duplicates from your dataset in Excel.

9
Excel Find Feature, Select & Emphasize

Excel’s Find feature has many benefits that may come in really handy.

10
Find and Replace Values & Formatting (Hidden Excel Feature)

In this lecture we’ll take a look at how we can not just find but also replace values. And not just values but also Find and Replace formatting.

11
Why Excel Tables Can be a Time Saver (Become Pro)

I’ll show you the advantages of Excel Tables and why they can be really helpful in your report. We’ll also learn what Structured Referencing means in Excel.

12
Challenge: Data Management in Excel
13
Solution: Data Management Challenge in Excel

We’ll use some of the features we learned in this section and apply it to our example.

14
Summary: Tools for Organizing, Cleaning & Managing Data in Excel
15
Special Message - You've Got This!

Formatting including Conditional & Number Formatting in Excel

1
Overview - All About Formatting

In this section we’ll take a look at some useful formatting options in Excel which we haven’t covered in the course yet.

2
Excel Formatting Tips - Alignment, Borders & More

We’ll cover the formatting options that are going to come in handy for your when you create Excel reports. We’ll talk about Alignment options and borders.

3
Better Than Merge (Become Pro)

Merge and Center cells can become a problem in Excel when you add them in areas with formulas. I’ll show you a better alternative.

4
Justify Text Length (Hidden Excel Feature)

I’ll show you one of my favorite Excel features when it comes to working with text in Excel.

5
Excel Number Formatting Options (& Special Formatting)

In this lecture we’ll take a look at some number formatting options we haven’t looked at yet.

6
Excel Conditional Formatting (Top Bottom Analysis & More)

We’ll learn how we can influence the cell formatting based on a condition. Excel has a lot of inbuilt, easy-to-use conditions.

7
Icons & Data Bars with Conditional Formatting in Excel

In this lecture we’ll learn how to use icons and data bars with conditional formatting. This is going to help you to bring attention to specific areas of your report.

8
Quiz: Excel Formatting
9
Challenge: Format Excel Report
10
Solution: Format Excel Report Challenge

In this report we’ll format a report so it’s in a nice, readable format.

11
Summary: Useful Excel Formatting Tools
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