Business Guide to Using Excel
Excel is a Microsoft Office spreadsheet program that people use to store, organize, and manipulate data. Excel is useful for many different business applications, including accounting, sales, budgeting, planning, reporting, and tracking. Any business that needs to keep track of numbers or lists can benefit from using Excel, from financial firms to engineering companies to schools. An Excel spreadsheet stores information in worksheets inside of workbooks, and this data can then be manipulated with formulas or turned into useful reports, charts, diagrams and graphs.
Excel is primarily a business tool, but it is also used for fun and for personal finance. Schools use it as a tool for learning. Gamers can even build games using Excel. And people use Excel at home to balance their checkbooks and maintain their budgets.
- How the Electronic Spreadsheet Revolutionized Business: This is an audio interview with an accountant who experienced the evolution of the spreadsheet. A transcript is included.
- The Role of Spreadsheets in Today’s Corporate Climate: Delve deeper into business uses for spreadsheets by reading this piece.
- A Brief History of Spreadsheets: For those interested in the history of the spreadsheet, this is an interesting read.
- 10 Essential Microsoft Excel 2010 Tips for Beginners: Start off learning Excel on the right foot with these tips.
- MS Excel Tips and Tricks: Read this page to learn some of the ins and outs of Excel.
- Microsoft Excel 2013 for Beginners (videos): Six Excel tutorial videos are available for free here. The videos guide users through tasks from opening a spreadsheet to adding charts and making art.
- Getting Started With Excel 2013: These tutorials use videos and graphics to help people get familiar with Excel 2013. More advanced Excel tutorials are also available.
- Excel Tutorial: The University of Rhode Island breaks down the basics of Excel here.
- Spreadsheet Basics: Spreadsheets are useful tools in business, which is why most offices have some form of spreadsheet software. While many businesses use Microsoft Excel, some use alternatives such as OpenOffice Calc and LibreOffice Calc, but all three programs function very similarly.
- Microsoft Excel 2007 and 2010 Tutorials: Users can download tutorial documents and also watch matching video demos here.
- Essential Microsoft Office 2010 for Teachers: An introduction to Excel here includes some good tips for new users and teachers. Select “Section 4: Excel” from the menu.
- Best Free Excel Grade-Tracking Workbooks for Teachers: Excel spreadsheets are not only for big business; teachers use them, too! Excel can be used as a grade book to track student scores and progress.
- Microsoft Excel Boot Camp: Study these seven Excel lessons covering business topics. One video addresses Mac computers and spreadsheets.
- Learn Microsoft Excel 2016 in One Hour: Microsoft 2016 is the focus of these videos. All videos are less than five minutes long.
- Excel Formulas That Helped Me Keep My Job: Using formulas can help you compute things faster and more efficiently.
- Essential Skills for Excel: Interactive learning modules are available for the Excel beginner here. Lessons include Excel versions 2007, 2010, and 2013.
- Microsoft Excel 2013 Training: If you want to learn about Excel, what’s a better source than the company that created it?
- Excel 2010 Tutorial: Create a Pivot Table: Check out this video for those new to pivot tables.
- Using MS Excel 2003 to Analyze Data: An Introductory Tutorial: This is a tutorial on analyzing data using Excel 2003. This is an older version of Excel, but the concepts are similar in more recent versions.
- Excel Tutorial for Mac: This is a self-paced, comprehensive tutorial for using Excel on a Mac computer.
- Basic Excel Skills (PDF): Learn about the tools and capabilities available in Excel with this document.
- Program-Based Budget Template: A nonprofit organization offers a business budget template with a 27-minute video tutorial here for free.
- The Budgeting Process: Accountants explain keeping business budgets in a step-by-step process. A sample Excel budget template accompanies the steps and is free to download.
- Personal Finance Statement Template: This free Excel template can help you keep track of your personal finances, including income and investments.
- Using Excel to Keep a Checkbook Register: Checkbooks are a common tool for tracking expenses. This exercise shows how to set up and use a checkbook in Excel.
- Excel Formula Proficiency Self-Test: This is an interactive knowledge test for Excel formulas. The 22-question test offers immediate feedback and scoring.
- Sample Spreadsheet Exam: This lesson includes a formatted spreadsheet for download with step-by-step instructions.
- Excel: Creating Charts: Learn everything you need to know about Excel charts here. Interactive exercises with a quiz are included.
- Developer’s Guide to Excelets: Scroll to the bottom of the page to discover 39 math and science interactive spreadsheets and simulations using Excel. The links range from beginner to advanced user levels.
- Use Excel for Nearly Everything: Excel may be great for crunching numbers, but people have come up with a whole bunch of other uses for this program, from helpful to silly.
