Excel Basics for Beginner Excel Users (Step by Step)

basic excel topics for entry and beginner level excel users

On this page, we shall accumulate all the basic Excel topics for the beginner level of Excel users. For beginner-level Excel users, Excel can be hard. But if you go step by step with this page, practice everything while following the articles, you will find Excel really an easy tool to use. So, let’s not talk further, let’s start learning.

At first, let’s clear some confusion

Can you learn Excel by yourself with self-study?

Yes, you can!

If you study the topics of this page, practice yourself while following the articles, you can easily learn Excel by yourself. But one thing I want to alert you about: don’t only learn and practice. Make some projects on Excel, implement the functions and formulas that you have already learned. It will make your understanding clear and the learning impact will be for the long term.

Can you learn Excel in a day?

I don’t think so!

With a 2-3 hours step-by-step video course, you can know and understand the basic topics of Excel. From a day of learning or watching a video course, it is possible to understand how the Excel environment works, how the top 5-10 Excel functions work; but using and implementing those understandings and functions in a real-life project, making a complex formula based on those functions, solving an Excel problem; it will be quite difficult.

Excel is used in a wide variety of areas; from managing a small business accounting to billion-dollar portfolio analysis. So, to be really an expert in Excel, you need to give it time.

How many days need to learn Excel?

It depends on your time on study, way of using Excel, and problem-solving ability. Not all people have the same capability and background. If you’re from an engineering background, you may have more problem-solving ability than others who are not from the same background. Again if you start learning Excel and side by side solve real-life problems with Excel, whatever your background is, you will start learning faster. The main learning factor is you and how you use it. Better to make a team at your office, start learning together, share your learnings, and start solving problems on Excel. This is the best route. Only watching some Excel videos and reading some blog posts will not help you to be a master of Excel.

Basic Excel Topics You Should Start With

1. Know the Excel Environment

# Excel Ribbon

Quick Access Toolbar

Customize the Ribbon

Status Bar

Developer Tab

# Excel Workbook

Working with Themes

View Multiple Workbooks

AutoRecover Excel Files

How to Save Excel Files in 97-2003 Format

# Excel Worksheets

Zooming Worksheet

Splitting

Freeze Panes Feature

Grouping Excel Worksheets

Consolidating Worksheets

View Multiple Worksheets at the Same Time

Get Worksheet Name

Spell Checking

# Cell, Range, Row, Column

Reference in Excel

Find and Select

Splitting Columns

Transpose Rows into Columns

# Find and Select

Find Features in Excel

Row Differences

Copy Visible Cells Only

Search Box

Delete Blank Rows in Excel

# Using Build in Excel Templates

Holiday Planning

Meal Planner

Budget Planner

Invoice

Automated Invoice

Time Sheet

BMI Calculator

Default Excel Templates

# Keyboard Shortcuts

Top Keyboard Shortcuts for Excel

Moving Around Excel with Keyboard Shortcuts

2. Entering Data into Excel Worksheets

# Formatting Excel Cells

Decimal Places

Fractions in Excel

Currency vs. Accounting Formats

Text to Numbers

Numbers to Text

Custom Number Formatting

Using Format Painter

Styling Cells in Excel

Wrap Text Feature

Merge Cells

Strikethrough Cells

Superscript and Subscript

Check Mark

Removing Duplicate Data Points or Sets

3. Sorting and Filtering in Excel

4. Auto-Fill Feature

5. Excel Tables

6. Data Insights Using Quick Analysis

7. Data Validation in Excel

Reject Invalid Data/Dates

Limiting Budget

Preventing Duplicate Entries

Creating Drop-Down List

Dependent Drop-Down List

Entering Product Codes

Centimeter to Inches

KGs to Pounds

8. Print Excel Worksheets

Workbook Views

Page Breaks

Creating Headers and Footers

Numbering Pages

Printing Titles

Centering on a Page

Print Area

Print Gridlines & Headings

9. Protecting Excel Workbooks

Protect an Excel Workbook

Protect Excel Worksheet

Locking Cells in Excel

Read-only Workbook

Mark as Final

10. Basic Excel Functions & Formulas You Must Know

Working with Excel formulas, signs, how to insert formulas in Excel, Operator Precedence in Excel, Using of Basic Excel functions like SUM, AVERAGE, Min, Max, VLOOKUP, Index Match, Combining Cells with & sign, Add Checkboxes, Hyperlink a cell to a website, Adding a drop-down menu in Excel.

11. Conditional Formatting

12. Charts

13. Using Pivot Tables for Analyzing Data

14. Share Excel Workbook with Others

Embedding Excel Workbooks

Converting Excel to PDF

OneDrive

Online

Import Access Data to Excel

Microsoft Query

Import/Export Text Files

XML Format

Advanced Excel Exercises with Solutions PDF

 

 

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