Part 1: Fundamental Skills

Microsoft® Excel® is a tool that can be used in virtually all careers and is valuable in both professional and personal settings. Whether you need to keep track of music selections in an online shop or create a financial plan for your budget, Excel enables you to do these activities efficiently and accurately. This section of chapters introduces the fundamental skills necessary to get you started in using Excel and to a solid intermediate level of competence, confidence, and comfort using the application. You will find that just a few skills can make you very productive in a short period of time.

While this content refers to Excel, the skills you learn and practice here are consistent with other open-source and other variations of spreadsheet programs, like Libre Office, Google Sheets, etc. However, Excel – as covered in this content – is a robust, supported, and frequently tweaked/updated application that is part of the integrated Microsoft® Office® suite. Also, this content will focus on a full installation of the complete program, not the light/free version that is offered online. This is because the full version has many tools and activities that the lighter online version, and mobile app versions, may not support. However, you can scale your skillsbuilding work on Excel to use the lighter versions with what you do learn and practice here.