How to Use Excel For Beginners

Excel is very powerful and easy to use data processing software. It has an intuitive spreadsheet layout that is easy to understand for both professionals and beginners. Excel is all in one software, it has the most basic functionality as well as the advanced features. This article will outline all the essential information a beginner needs to start their Excel journey with confidence.

Excel and its Features

Excel is part of Microsoft’s Office software. It is a spreadsheet-based application that is used to store and process data. A spreadsheet is a cell-based layout in which each entry of the data is represented by a cell. These cells are composed of rows and columns. Rows are denoted by numbers whereas columns are denoted by letters. Functions defined in the program can be applied to these cells. These cells can be represented by tables and charts to display data graphically. There are various formulas that are used to perform basic arithmetic as well as numerous data specific tasks. In simple terms, Excel has functionalities that are similar to a database.

How to use it

For beginners, Excel is easy to learn the application. The basic functionality can be learned very quickly. Excel is very popular among all sorts of people that is why its tutorials and reference guides can be found everywhere. If you are a beginner, Excel can help you organize your day to day life such as managing your financial information, keeping tabs on the grocery expenses, using as a contact list and save people’s contact information, logging your home’s utility bills, or using as a simple calculator. Working on Excel is easy, a new user can get up and running in no time without previous experience or training. Open a workbook, enter data, perform basic arithmetic, and visualize your information in charts.

Formulas and Functions

Excel has numerous formulas and functions. But for beginners, the most useful and simple function may include sum, product, average, min, max, count, countif, if, and VLOOKUP. Sum adds two cells together, product multiplies two cells, average return the average of a range of cells, min and max return the minimum and maximum value in a range of cells, count function counts the number of cells that contain a numeric value. Similarly, countif counts the number of cells that contain a certain numeric the value, and if is a conditional function, if a condition is satisfied a value is returned if the condition fails another value is returned. Finally, VLOOKUP searches for a value in one specified column of a table and returns a corresponding cell in another specified column.

Excel Learning

The key to getting better at Excel is the regular practice of basic formulas. Excel formulas can get confusing if enough practice is not done. An appropriate way to learn Excel is to choose a day to day task and start applying different basic formulas to see what function they perform. Practice many times so that you could get familiar with formulas. Today, Excel is used throughout the industry, most of the jobs require the use of spreadsheets in their day to day routine. Learning Excel can open up a promotion opportunity for your job. Once you have learned Excel, you may look for a career in marketing, accounting, and finance.

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