Overview

"Everyday Excel, Part 1" is aimed at learners who are seeking to learn Excel from the ground up. No experience with Excel is necessary. While this course is meant for beginners of Excel, advanced users will undoubtedly pick up new skills and tools. This course is the first part of a three-part series and Specialization that focuses on teaching introductory through very advanced techniques and tools in Excel. In this course (Part 1), you will: 1) learn how to effectively navigate around the Excel environment; 2) edit and format Excel worksheets; 3) implement basic to advanced Excel functions (including financial, logical, and text functions); 4) learn how to manage data sets (filter, remove duplicates, consolidate data, sort data, and validate data); and 5) learn how to effectively visualize data through scatterplots, column charts, and pie charts. New to Excel? That is entirely fine! This course is meant to be fun, thought-provoking, and appeal to a wide audience. No prior knowledge in programming nor advanced math skills are necessary. The course is organized into 5 Weeks (modules). To pass each module, you'll need to pass a mastery quiz and complete a problem solving assignment. This course is unique in that the weekly assignments are completed in-application (i.e., on your own computer in Excel), providing you with valuable hands-on training.

Syllabus

Getting Started with Excel

In Week 1 you will learn the fundamentals of working in Excel. You’ll begin by navigating Excel, opening and saving files, and understanding how workbooks and worksheets are structured. You’ll then explore how cells, rows, and columns work together, how to move efficiently around a worksheet, and how to enter and edit data. You’ll also learn how to format cells, apply conditional formatting, and use common number formats such as text, dates, and currency. Finally, concepts like relative and absolute cell references will be emphasized, as well as naming cells and ranges to make your work more efficient and accurate.

Formulas and Functions

In Week 2, you will focus on implementing Excel formulas. You’ll learn about the order of operations, how to build mathematical formulas, and how to troubleshoot issues when results aren’t what you expect. You will be introduced to a popular selection of Excel’s built-in functions, including those used for summing, counting, averaging, rounding numbers, calculating remainders, and performing logical tests.

Excel Tables, Data Validation, and Conditional Formatting

In Week 3 you will learn how to work with more structured and dynamic data in Excel. You will learn how to create Excel Tables and dynamic named ranges, apply data validation rules, and use advanced conditional formatting techniques.

Diving Deeper Into Excel Functions

In Week 4 you will continue building your Excel function skills. You’ll learn how to use more advanced logical functions, including techniques for testing conditions and determining whether values appear in lists. You’ll also explore tools for working with text, including the advantages and limitations of Flash Fill and how to use text functions to clean and reshape data. In addition, you will be introduced to date and time functions and basic financial functions, enabling more complex calculations and data transformations.

Data Management

In Week 5 you will focus on managing and preparing data for analysis and reporting. You will learn techniques for cleaning data, applying filters, sorting data using multiple criteria, and identifying and removing duplicates. You will also practice consolidating data from multiple worksheets or sources and organize it in a way that supports analysis and reporting.

Data Visualization and Output

In Week 6 you will learn how to visualize and share data using Excel. You’ll learn how to create different types of charts, including dynamic charts and Pivot Charts, and enhance visualizations with tools like Slicers and Sparklines. You will also learn how to share Excel content in Word and PowerPoint, print worksheets and charts, and export Excel files as PDF documents.