Learning Excel

[04SVT_COBRA]

I will be starting a new job in May, and the more I know my way around Excel the more time I will save.

I took a semester in college for Excel, but have forgotten most of it since I haven't had a need for it since. I want to take the next few weeks and teach myself as much as I can so I am more prepared when I start.

I know how to use Google, so I am looking for recommendations from people who have used programs, websites, YouTube, etc and had success learning Excel quickly.

Can anyone recommend something they have used themselves?

 

[13COBRA]

What types of functions are you wanting to learn in Excel?

 

[CV355]

MRExcel is a good forum to check out- I use it a lot for VBA script references.

Also, peruse the templates already in Excel to get a feel for formatting.

The best hint I can give for gaining speed is learning hotkeys. The "/" key acts like Alt in other programs. As an example, '/hby' brings up cell line formatting. I use a ton of these to speed things up while I'm in Excel. I memorize the keystrokes required to get to commands I use all the time. People think I'm moving at warp speed when really I'm just typing letters and clicking cells.

 

[DHG1078]

excel for dummies.

 

[KingBlack]

ill give you my best advice. 99.99999% of the people dont know how powerful or massive Excel can be. Its a lot of functions. What kind of job? Are you using it with a database? for reports? I would take the approach of mastering 3 or 4 things and learning the others as you go. If i had to suggest things to learn, it would be concatenation, find/replace macros with wildcard characters, row color alteration and date/time value conversions. Again, those suggestions tend to lean towards people that are using it to simplify database usage

 

[04SVT_COBRA]

Thanks for the replies so far. This is for a sales position at a company that sells home electronics. We have allot of different inventory coming in/out. I will get more clarity on that this Friday.

What types of functions are you wanting to learn in Excel?

Not sure at the moment, I have a meeting with the sales manager on Friday and I will ask him. Thanks

 

[Mojo88]

I'm not a pro at Excel, by any means, but I've been using it for years for charts, graphs, spreadsheets and financial analysis. I would agree with KingBlack above, when he says that 99.9999% of folks don't know how powerful Excel can be.

For practice and quick learning, I recommend picking some simple projects and have at it. Then use Google and/or YouTube when you get stuck. At least this way, you can demonstrate some Excel capability/knowledge when you have that job meeting.

Good luck!

 

[IronSnake]

I work in data, product management, and cataloging. I use excel all day, everyday. Some of my largest files are in the 10-20k record range.

It's honestly using it that will give you the best experience. When I started this job, I had very little experience with Vlookup. Now I can close my eyes and do it asleep. I used many of the tutorials on Youtube. They were extremely helpful.

 

[SirShaun]

Learn Access, make a database with the data. Create a nice UI with a search feature and which displays record information with a form.

Create some queries that translate into some nice looking reports, and prosper.

I miss using access to create simple relational databases.

 

[VerySneaky]

For practice and quick learning, I recommend picking some simple projects and have at it. Then use Google and/or YouTube when you get stuck. At least this way, you can demonstrate some Excel capability/knowledge when you have that job meeting.

Good luck!

This. The best way to learn is to do. Even with the plethora of built in functions, it barely scratches the surface of Excel's capability when you delve into the world of visual basic and the developer tab.

The best thing you can do right now is practice with making some small things like an inventory of your kitchen or garage tools, or guns, or whatever else you can represent in a chart. Then once you have some stuff listed, think of how you would best want to represent that data. How many of X do you have? How often do you use it? How many do you need to buy the next time you're out? Gas mileage? Log your mile at fill-up and how much you filled up, this can show you graphically your fuel efficiency for each fill-up and give you a heads up if it isn't trending normal.

 

[Coiled03]

I work in data, product management, and cataloging. I use excel all day, everyday. Some of my largest files are in the 10-20k record range.

It's honestly using it that will give you the best experience. When I started this job, I had very little experience with Vlookup. Now I can close my eyes and do it asleep. I used many of the tutorials on Youtube. They were extremely helpful.

This. And Google anything you don't know. If you want to do it, odds are there's a function for it already in Excel.

I work with files over 1M lines through power pivot and have learned that Excel can do some amazing stuff.

 

[lastcall190]

CV355 touched on it, once you get your footing, memorize common keystrokes you use. If you can get away from using the mouse for most things, you will trim your time to do tasks substantially.

All else mentioned is good advice.

My job isn't super exciting but I like using Excel and Access a lot. I enjoy reading tutorials for VBA as well.

Coiled03, you have PM.

 

[CV355]

Mapkeys/hotkeys are huge. Excel is only about 5% of my job, but I use it quite heavily. Macros/VBA are awesome tools.

The other programs that I use are heavily reliant on mapkeys.

There are freeware programs that allow you to map extra mouse buttons to macros/mapkeys/hotkeys/whatever that are also really useful. This trick is just to speed things up by removing repetitive clicks.

 

[Blown 89]

I'm not great at Excel but I can say to first spend the time learning shortcuts and hotkeys. I'm more proficient at Photoshop and CorelDraw but learning keyboard shortcuts can literally shave hours off of a project. The graphics firm I used to work at did a demonstration on shortcuts once and they took a 1/2 hour project and shaved nearly 20 minutes off using shortcuts.

That's my only advice, the rest of my participation is to subscribe to the thread since Excel is something I'd like to get better at.

 

[Adower]

I will be starting a new job in May, and the more I know my way around Excel the more time I will save.

I took a semester in college for Excel, but have forgotten most of it since I haven't had a need for it since. I want to take the next few weeks and teach myself as much as I can so I am more prepared when I start.

I know how to use Google, so I am looking for recommendations from people who have used programs, websites, YouTube, etc and had success learning Excel quickly.

Can anyone recommend something they have used themselves?

Weren't you at some point doing a cannabis business? What happened?

 

[RX1Cobra]

I learned Excel on the job and I'm pretty decent at it. 9 time out of 10 you can Google whatever is you don't know how to do and you'll find either the formula or the VBA already written for you. May just need to change a few reference cells.

The other easy thing to do is use the Record Macro function in Excel (developer tab). This is a great way to start to understand the basics of VBA. You can record a series of tasks and then go into Visual Basic (again in developer tab) and look at the macro you just recorded.

You'll be able to see the code that Excel wrote for you to complete whatever it is you had the macro do.

http://www.excel-easy.com/vba/examples/macro-recorder.html

 

[04SVT_COBRA]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Ill start with the basics then once I become more immersed in the job I will better know what functions will help me save time.

 

[Machdup1]

Youtube is your friend.

Google knows everything.

 

[gimmie11s]

sub for info.

 

[Drive XR7]

My boss is an Excel wizard and can crank out pivot tables like nobody's business. I have found it easier and faster to write a Powershell script to produce the same output.