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Excel basics
The skills and tools that make everything else in Excel easier: from how cell references work to pivot tables, drop-down lists and time-saving shortcuts.
Most popular
Excel tutorial for beginnersStart from zero: data, formulas, formatting and a first chart.
Formulas cheat sheetAll the important Excel formulas on one page, with an example of each.
Pivot tablesSummarise thousands of rows into a clear report in a few clicks.
PercentagesPercentage of total, percentage change, and adding or subtracting a percentage.
Drop-down listsLet people pick from a list instead of typing, using Data Validation.
Conditional formattingColor cells automatically based on their value, or highlight whole rows.
Getting started
New to Excel? Start here.
Formula basics
The building blocks every formula relies on.
- Absolute references ($A$1)What the $ signs in $A$1 do and when you need them.
- PercentagesPercentage of total, percentage change, and adding or subtracting a percentage.
- Calculate ageThe age formula: age in years, years and months, or on any date.
- Wildcards (* and ?)Match partial text with *, ? and ~ in formulas and searches.
- Count unique valuesCount how many different values a list contains.
- Convert text to numberFix numbers stored as text so SUM and lookups work again.
- Time difference & hours workedSubtract times, deduct breaks and total the hours worked in a timesheet.
- Formula errorsWhat #N/A, #VALUE!, #REF! and the other errors mean, and how to fix them.
Data tools
Sort, clean, validate and summarise your data.
- Pivot tablesSummarise thousands of rows into a clear report in a few clicks.
- Excel tablesTurn a range into a table with Ctrl+T: filters, totals and formulas that fill themselves.
- Drop-down listsLet people pick from a list instead of typing, using Data Validation.
- Conditional formattingColor cells automatically based on their value, or highlight whole rows.
- Sort & filterSort by one or more columns and show only the rows you need.
- Remove duplicatesFind, highlight or delete duplicate rows, or list unique values.
- Text to Columns & Flash FillSplit names, codes and CSV data into separate columns in seconds.
Charts
Turn numbers into charts and timelines.
Formatting
Control how cells look and who can change them.
Productivity
Work faster with shortcuts and smart copy-paste.
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