Excel intermediate что это

These days no matter on which profile you are working, from accountant to data analyst, HR to product manager, having Excel skills have huge benefits.

When we talk about Excel skills, we can further categorize them in 3 levels:

• Basic Excel Skills
• Intermediate Excel Skills
• Advanced Excel Skills

And in this tutorial, we will be covering all these three levels in detail, one by one, so let’s get started.

Below you have the top ten basic Excel skills to learn by anyone who is just starting out with Excel needs to learn.

1. Saving and Opening a Workbook

Saving and opening an Excel workbook is just like as you do in any other application.

When you click on the file tab it shows you the option to save the file.

And when you click on the save button it opens the save as dialog box from where you can specify the location and you can also select the file format to use.

Basically, Excel has different file extensions that you can use for saving a workbook. You can use the above steps if you are saving a file for the first time and if you have a file that is already saved in the system, you just need to press Control + S to save the changes.

In the same way, if you want to open a file that is saved on your system you can go to the FILE tab and click on the open.

It shows you the open dialog box from where you can locate the file and open it.

2. Managing Worksheets

Every workbook consists of worksheets where you can add your data and analyze it and once you open an Excel workbook you can see there are tabs at the bottom of the window.

To insert a new worksheet simply click on the plus button or you can also use the shortcut key Shift + F11.

And if you want to delete a worksheet just right-click on the worksheet tab and then select the delete option or you can also use the shortcut key Alt ➜ H ➜ D ➜ S.

But there’s one thing that you need to take care that once you delete a worksheet you can’t get it back.

3. Formatting Cells

In Excel, you have a bunch of options on the home tab for formatting.

1. The font group gives you the option to format the font by making it bold, italic, and underline. You can change the font size, and color of the font and cell color.
2. From the alignment group, you can define the alignment of the text, add indent, merge-unmerge cells, and wrap the text.
3. And from the number group, you can apply accounting format, text format, number format with or without comma style, etc.

Apart from the above options, you can also open the format cell options by right-clicking on a cell and selecting the format option or you can also use the shortcut key Control + 1.

4. Printing

When you go to the File tab, you can find there is a print button that further includes all the printing options that you can use for printing data from a worksheet.

You can also use the shortcut key Control + P to open the print option and once you open it you can see the following options there:

1. Print Area
2. Range of Pages to Print
3. Collision
4. Page Orientation
5. Page Type
6. Margins
7. Scaling

5. Excel Functions (Basic)

The biggest power of Excel is its functions that you can use to perform a lot of calculations below you have a list of the top ten Basic Excel Functions:

1. SUM: With this function, you can sum values from multiple cells, or you can also input values directly into the function.
2. COUNT: This function returns the count of numeric values in a cell. You can refer to the cells where you have values or simply insert the values into them.
3. AVERAGE: It returns the average of numeric values. You can refer to the cells where you have the values or simply insert them into the function.
4. TIME: It returns a valid time serial number as per Excel’s time format. You need to specify hours, minutes, and seconds.
5. DATE: It returns a valid date (date serial number) as per Excel’s time format by using the day, month, and year specified.
6. LEFT: It extracts specific characters from a cell/string starting from the left (start). You need to specify the text and number of characters to extract.
7. RIGHT: It extracts specific characters from a string starting from the right (last). You need to specify the text and number of characters to extract.
8. VLOOKUP: It looks up a value in a column and can return that value or a value from the corresponding columns using the same row number.
9. IF: IF function (tests a condition) returns a value when the specific condition is TRUE and returns another value if that condition is FALSE.
10. NOW: It returns the current date and time (using your system’s settings) in the cell where you insert it.

And here are the Top 100 Excel Functions for you to learn more.

1. String (Text) Functions
2. Date Functions
3. Time Functions
4. Logical Functions
5. Math Functions
6. Statistical Functions
7. Lookup Functions
8. Information Functions
9. Financial Functions

6. Charts

Once you start working on data probably you need to present it to someone, and a chart is one of the best ways to this.

In Excel, you have a whole list of charts that you can create. Once you go to the Insert tab, and in the charts group you can find all the charts which are available to use.

But to create a chart in Excel you need to have data in the right format, and then you need to select the right type of chart (make sure to check out this guide on chart types). For example, below you have 12 months of data for the sales quantity.

You can create a column chart to present this monthly data.

But you can also use a line chart if you want to show the trend for the 12 months.

But below you have product-wise data.

And in this case, the perfect chart would be a pie chart where you can present the quantity share of these products.

You can also use the recommended charts button to let Excel recommend a chart type according to the data you have.

You just need to select the data and click on the recommended chart button.

You can customize a chart in different ways. Once you select the chart you will have Chart Design and Format tabs where you have all the options for customization.

7. Sorting Data

Excel gives you a powerful option to sort data. To open the sort option, you need to go to the Data Tab and then click on the Sort button.

Now here you have 3 things to define:

1. Sort by: The column to use as the base of sorting.
2. Sort on: In the sort drop-down, you have 4 different options to sort values on. You can use cell value, cell color, font color, and conditional formatting.
3. Order: The order of sorting or a custom order.

You can also use more than one level of sorting. If you want to add a new level simply click on the Add Level and then define all the three things that we have discussed above.

Related: Sort By Date, Date and Time & Reverse Date Sort

8. Find and Replace Option

Just like any other application, Excel has its own find and replace option. The shortcut key to open the find is Control +F and to find and replace it is Control + R.

In the “Find what” input bar, enter the value that you want to find, and in the “Replace with” enter the value with which you want to replace.

Now if you want to replace or find all the values, use the replace all or find all buttons, otherwise, you can use the “Find Next” and “Replace” buttons for a single value.

And once you click on the options button, you’ll see that there are some advanced options that you can use.

1. Perform case-sensitive find and replace.
2. Find and replace in the entire workbook.
3. Find and replace using the cell format.
4. And you can also find values from comments and notes.

9. Paste Special Option

The paste special option gives you complete control over how you want to paste values in a cell.

To open the page special option, you need to go to the Home tab and then click on the dropdown “Paste” and click on the paste special (You can also open the page special from the right-click menu).

In the paste special dialog box, you have multiple options that you can use.

Let’s say, you have a cell where you have a formula, but you only want to copy and paste the value from that cell. In this case, simply copy that cell and use the “Values” option from the paste special options on the destination cell.

Or if you want to copy and paste the format from one cell to another you can use the “Formats” option.

Related: Format Painter | Transpose

10. Keyboard Shortcuts

From Excel 2007 to Excel 2019, you can locate a keyboard shortcut by pressing the ALT key. On pressing it, it shows the shortcut keys for the options which are there on the ribbon, just like below.

And from here you can download (Excel Shortcuts Cheat Sheet) which covers the top eighty two keyboard shortcuts for Excel.

Now once you master the basic stuff the next thing you need to understand is the Intermediate Excel Skills. Basically, these skills include options and methods to manage and work data in an efficient way.

11. Go To Special

The GO TO SPECIAL option helps you navigate to a specific cell or a range of cells within the worksheet. To open it you need to go to the Home Tab ➜ Editing ➜ Find and Select ➜ Go To special.

As you can see it has different options that you can use and select the different kinds of cells.

For example, if you want to select all the cells which are blank, you need to select the blank and click OK, and it will instantly select all the blank cells.

In the same way, if you want to select cells that have formulas and return numbers, you need to select formulas and then tick-mark numbers, and then click OK.

12. Pivot Table

Pivot Tables are one of the best ways to analyze data. You can create a summary table out of a large data set. To create a pivot table, follow the below steps:

• First, go to the Insert Tab and click on the pivot table button.

• You’ll have a dialog box to specify the source data, but as you have already selected the data it takes the range automatically.

• Once you click OK, you will have a sidebar just like below where you can define the rows, columns, and values for the pivot table that you can simply drag and drop. And now, add “Age” to the rows, “Education” to the column, and “First Name” to the values.

Once you define all, you’ll have a pivot chart like the one below.

More on Pivot Tables

• Rank in a Pivot Table
• Update Pivot Table Range Automatically
• Pivot Table Calculated Field
• Grouping Dates in Pivot Table
• Link multiple Pivot Tables to One Slicer
• Add a Date Timeline to the Current Pivot Table
• Refresh All Pivot Tables
• Running total in Pivot Table

13. Named Range

Named Range is about giving a name to a cell or range of cells. In Excel, every cell has its address which is a combination of row and column.

Related: Excel R1C1 Style

But with the named range you can give that cell or the range of cells a specific name (Generic) and then you can use that name to refer to it.

Let’s say you have a tax percentage in cell A1 and now instead of using the reference, you can give a name to it and then use that name in every calculation.

• To create a named range, you need to go to the Formula Tab ➜ Define Names ➜ Define name.

• Now in the define name dialogue box, you need to define the following things:

1. Name of the range.
2. Scope to use that range in the entire workbook or just in the worksheet.
3. Comment if you want to add any.
4. And then the address of the cell or the range.

Now once you click OK, Excel will assign that name to cell A1 and you can use that in formulas to refer to cell A1.

In the same way, you can also create a named range for the range of cells and then you can refer to it in the formulas.

14. Drop Down Lists

A drop-down list is basically a predefined list of values that can help you quickly enter the data in a cell. To create a dropdown list, you need to go to the Data Tab ➜ Data Tools ➜ Data Validation ➜ Data Validation.

Now in the data validation dialog box, you need to select the list from the allow, and then in the source you need to refer to the range from where you want to take values (You can also insert values directly into the source input box).

In the end, click OK

Now when you go back to the cell, you’ll have a dropdown list from which you can select the value to insert into the cell.

More on Drop Down Lists

• Dependent Drop-Down List
• Dynamic Drop-Down List

15. Conditional Formatting

The basic idea of conditional formatting is to use conditions and formulas for formatting and the best part is there are more than 20 options that you can apply with a single click.

Let’s say you want to highlight all the duplicate values from a range of cells, you just need to go to the Home Tab ➜ Conditional Formatting ➜ Highlight Rules ➜ Duplicate Values.

And you also have data bars, color skills, and icons to apply.

Make sure to explore all the options and check out this guide if you want to learn to use formulas in conditional formatting.  

16. Excel Table

Excel table converts normal data into a structured table where you can sort, filter, and analyze data easily.

To convert your normal data into an Excel table all you need to do is use the keyboard shortcut key Control + T or you can also go to the Insert tab ➜ Table.

Excel tables by Microsoft | Rename an Excel Table | Excel Slicer

17. Idea Button

If you’re using Office 365 you can have access to the new Idea Button introduced by Microsoft that can help you to analyze your data in an easy way by recommending the possible ways to create:

• Pivot Tables
• Trendline Charts
• Frequency Distribution Chart

You simply need to select the data and then click on the idea button which is on the home tab.

It takes a few seconds to analyze the data and then show you a list of possible outcomes.

18. Using Sparklines

Sparklines are tiny charts you can insert into a cell, based on a range of data.

To insert a sparkline you need to go to the Insert Tab ➜ Sparklines.

There are 3 types of sparklines that you can insert into a cell.

• Line
• Column
• Win-Loss

When you click on the sparkling button it shows you a dialog box where you need to select the data range and the destination range of the sparkling.

Apart from this, you have options to customize a sparkline by changing its color, adding markers, and much more from the sparkline tab.

19. Text to Column

With the text-to-column option, you can split a single column into multiple columns using a separator. It’s one of the best ways to clean and transform your data.

Look at the below table where you have a column with names and between first name and last name there is a space.

You can split this column into two different columns (first name and last name) using text to column by using space as a separator.

• First, go to the Data Tab and click on the Text to Column.

• Now, from the dialog box select delimiter and click next.

• After that, tick-mark the space. As you can see it has separated values from the column using the space.

•  In the end, click next and then finish.

The moment you click the finish, it converts that one column of full names into two different columns (first and last name).

20. Quick Analysis Tool

As the name suggests the Quick Analysis Tool allows you to analyze the data with one or two clicks. What I’m trying to say is, it has some of the selected options that can help you to analyze and present the data.

Below you have student data with their score the moment you select it you get a small icon at the bottom of the screen which is the button for the quick analysis tool.

Now when you click on it, it shows you a few tabs from which you can select options. Now let’s explore each tab one by one.

• Formatting: This tab allows you to add conditional formatting to the selected table, like, as data bars, color scale, icon sets, and other conditional formatting rules.

• Charts: This tab shows you some of the recommended charts which you can insert with the selected data or you can also click on more charts to select a specific chart.

• Total: From this tab, you can quickly add some of the basic formulas, like average count, running total, and many more.

• Table: From this tab, you can insert a pivot table with the selected data, and you can also apply an Excel table to it.

• Sparklines: This tab allows you to add sparklines which are basically tiny charts that you can create within a cell.

Advanced Excel Skills

Advanced Excel skills are more about solving complex problems and making you efficient to do all the work done in Excel, and below you have top advanced Excel skills that you need to master.

21. Advanced Excel Formulas

An ADVANCED EXCEL FORMULA (Excel Formulas List) means combining different functions to calculate a specific value that is not possible to calculate otherwise. Below is a list of some of the most important ones:

22. Advanced Excel Charts

As you have already seen that you can create most of the charts in Excel with a few clicks, but apart from all those charts you can also create some advanced charts.

Advanced Excel Charts are for a specific purpose and need you to spend a few minutes learning how to create and how they presented data. Below you have a list (tutorials) for some of the Advanced charts that you can learn to create in Excel.

23. Visual Basic for Applications

VBA is an object-oriented programming language for Microsoft office applications, and you can use it in Excel to write VBA codes to automate the activities that you normally perform manually.

24. Power Query

If you work with data, I’m sure you face this situation where you need to clean and transform data before you use it.

Now the thing is cleaning data and transforming data is a tedious process and you need to spend a big chunk of your time on it every day. But with the power query, you can do this entire process of cleaning and transform with a few clicks.

Power query basically works as an ETL where you can extract data from different sources, transform it, and then load it back to the worksheet. Check out this complete tutorial on Power Query and do not forget to learn to combine multiple Excel files.

25. Power Pivot

Power Pivot is basically a data modeling technique that you can use to import data of millions of rows, from multiple sources, and then perform calculations (DAX).

To get started with Power Pivot:

• Introduction to Power Pivot
• Power Pivot – Overview and Learning

Learn More

• Excel Tips and Tricks
• Excel Watch Window
• Excel Formula Bar

We often get questions on the difference between Microsoft Excel intermediate skills and Microsoft Excel beginner skills. Many of our students who think they have beginner Microsoft Excel skills have intermediate level Microsoft Excel skills and vice versa. There is this ongoing debate on what constitutes intermediate level Excel skills and what constitutes beginner level Excel skills.

So we, at GraduateTutor.com, have decided to end this debate and clearly define what constitutes intermediate level Microsoft Excel skills and what constitutes beginner level Microsoft Excel skills.

TEST YOURSELVES

We have outlined this set of 10 Excel exercises that will test your Excel skills. If you can tackle 8 of these Microsoft Excel exercises, then you are firmly in the intermediate Excel skills camp. If you can tackle 3 or more, we think you are beyond beginner level. If you can tackle less than 3 of these exercises, you can rate yourself as a beginner in Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 1

This Microsoft  Excel Intermediate challenge is about importing data into Excel and working with text data. The challenge is to find and pull out data within a cell and to segregate and join text data. You should be able to do this in under 10 minutes  if you have intermediate level Microsoft Excel skills.

Import the list of Governors from Wikipedia and answer the following questions:

• List the governors alphabetically according to their first names. 
• List the governors alphabetically according to their last names.
• List all names in UPPER case letters.
• Which of these governors has the longest & shortest names?
• List all names with the first alphabets of each word in upper case letters.
• How many days, months, years have the governors been in office?
• List which of these governors has had the longest & shortest tenure.
• What is the average tenure of Republican governors? Democratic governors?
• How many Democratic & Republican governors do we have?
• How many governors started their tenure in 2012 & 2013?

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 2

The IF function in Microsoft Excel is one of the most powerful functions in Microsoft Excel. There are however a variety of ways to use the IF function (and a number of substitutes too). This  Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge is about modeling a specific scenario in Excel.

I have opted for a phone plan with the following features. Please model the computation of my monthly invoice in Microsoft Excel. Show the amount payable for each month in the yellow cells. You should be able to simply drag and drop the contents of the first cell and have the monthly invoice estimated in the other cells colored in yellow. Feel free to add more columns to the right and make assumptions should you need to.

• I pay $5/month to retain my phone number (my basic number fee).
• If I use the phone during a month (incoming or outgoing), I pay $10 in addition to my basic number fee (above).
• If my total minutes used does not exceed 500 minutes a month, my per minute fee for minutes below 500 minutes is $0.1 per minute.
• My lower rate minutes can be rolled over for 3 months.
• If my total minutes exceeds 500 minutes a month, my per minute fee for minutes above 500 minutes is $0.2 per minute.
• If I use the phone only for incoming calls in the month, I get a $20 credit.
• If I use the phone only for outgoing calls in the month, I get a $25 credit.
• My bill cannot be negative.
• Credits cannot be rolled over.

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 3

Here is a dice game you can play.  Roll two dice at each throw.

• If the sum of the outcomes is 5 or 6, the game is lost.
• If the sum of the outcomes is 2 or 9, the game is won.
• If it is not either of the above, roll the dice again.
• If we continue for 3 moves without losing, the game is won.

Please model this game in Microsoft Excel. Empty cells should be blank. Now you can play this game with or without dice.

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 4

Mark Twain said that you cannot escape death and taxes. So it would be useful to model taxes. Try modeling your taxes. Here is a simple corporate scenario if you don’t want to deal with the gloomy subject of your taxes today (note that I am using random numbers to compute revenues and Cost of Goods Sold (‘COGS’).  You should have the taxes computed correctly in the yellow cells each time a new random number is generated.

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 5

The next Microsoft Excel Intermediate  challenge is to compute the net proceeds from sale of an asset by a company. The computation of the net proceeds from sale of an asset by a company is something you will usually learn in your first accounting class. We have tried to explain it simply here.

For this challenge, only the inputs in yellow can be changed. Economic life can be any value that has a MACRS depreciation schedule (3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years). You could also consider having an error message if the useful life is anything other than 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years. The key Microsoft Excel challenge here will be to automatically pick the MACRS depreciation schedule based on the useful life of the asset.

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 6

This Microsoft Excel Intermediate  challenge is about modeling a mortgage cash flow.  This is an exercise you will typically encounter in your first finance class.  You are provided the price of the home, the down payment, the duration of the loan in years and the interest rate for the loan.

Please model the mortgage payments over the life of the loan, specifically showing the interest and principal amount of each payment over the life of the loan.  Please round up the monthly interest payment to the nearest dollar.  The inputs to the model are only in the yellow cells. Everything else should automatically get filled in based on the formula you place in the cells.

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 7

Pivot tables and Pivot charts are definitely one of the most handy tools you will encounter in the Microsoft Excel world for data analysis. Mastering Pivot tables and Pivot charts will save you hours over your 2 year MBA program and probably hundreds of hours over the rest of your career.

The data below is of tourist traffic to a holiday town in Napa Valley. Use the data below to tease out patterns with pivot tables. Patterns may include factors such as nationality, gender or age groups. Can your pivot tables and charts at least answer the following questions:

• Which country provides the highest and lowest revenue?
• Which country provides the highest and lowest AVERAGE revenue?
• Do men or women spend more?
• Which age group spends the most and the least?
• Which age group in different countries spends the most and the least?
• Is this holiday town more attractive to older men or older women?

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 8

Scenario analysis and what-if analysis are helpful in understanding various possible outcomes in a given situation. The chart below has sales data on 10 employees of a small firm. If the firm pays a bonus of 1% on sales above $500,000, 2% on sales above $750,000 and 3% on sales above $1,000,000, what would the bonus be this year? If the firm introduces no new products and you assume that the sales will stay the same next year, how high can the commission on sales above $1,000,000 be if you want to give out a total bonus of $100,000 to all employees combined? If you expect the sales to increase by 10% on average for each employee, how high can the commission on sales above $1,000,000 be if you want to give out a total bonus of $100,000 to all employees combined?

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 9

You are given the following data on unit sales of a handcrafted pen.

• What number of units must be sold to break even for the year (have no profits or losses)?
• The selling price per unit and material cost per unit are highly variable.  What combinations of selling price per unit and material cost per unit are profitable for the firm? Please fill in the profit for the year in the yellow cells for various combinations of selling price per unit and material cost per unit.
• Please have Microsoft Excel fill in a green color for the various combinations of selling price per unit and material cost per unit that are profitable.

Microsoft Excel Intermediate Challenge 10

Supper Mix produces three varieties of energy products for athletes called ProMix, EnergyMix and VitaMix. The primary base products are almonds, peanuts and grapes.  Each energy product must contain the minimum required calorie count. The maximum available quantities of almonds, peanuts and grapes are listed below and the minimum commitments for each product made to wholesalers are also provided.  The  calorie count for each pound of ingredient and its cost per lb is also provided.

Please provide the optimal mix of ProMix, EnergyMix and VitaMix that is to be made.

Congratulations on getting this far!

Please count how many of this set of 10 Excel challenge exercises you have been able to do successfully. Be generous to yourself. If you can tackle 8 of these Excel exercises completely, then you are firmly in the Microsoft Excel intermediate skills camp. If you can tackle 3 or more, we think you are beyond beginner level. If you can tackle less than 3 of these exercises, you can rate yourself as a beginner in Microsoft Excel.

Prepared for your dream job? Is it consulting, private equity or investment banking?

Different jobs or roles within each company may require different levels of Microsoft Excel skills. Job requirements list either intermediate Microsoft Excel skills or beginner Microsoft Excel skills as a requirement for the job. Candidates often do not know what constitutes intermediate level Microsoft Excel skills and what constitutes beginner level Microsoft Excel skills. Sometimes recruiters themselves do not know what constitutes intermediate level Excel skills and what constitutes beginner level Excel skills! We hope that this set of Microsoft Excel exercises will clarify what intermediate Microsoft Excel skills are and beginner Microsoft Excel skills are.

We believe that you need at least intermediate level  Excel skills to start as an analyst or in a consulting, private equity or investment banking role (of course this is in addition to the industry/domain specific skills you will need). So if you are gunning for any of these high profile jobs, get cracking on building your Microsoft Excel skills.  Browse through this list of Microsoft Excel resources to kick-start your Excel skills training.  Of course, we will be happy to provide you private tutoring in Microsoft Excel. We believe this is the fastest way to learn Excel.

PS: What constitutes advanced Microsoft Excel skills?

What about advanced Microsoft Excel skills? What constitutes advanced Microsoft Excel skills? We believe that you will be in the camp of those with advanced Excel skills if you are comfortable working with Excel Macros and VBA, combining Excel with other tools, understanding how to speed up Microsoft Excel models, protecting Excel worksheets, etc.

Relevant other skills: Programming

In addition to learning Microsoft Excel, also consider learning some programming languages. A large part of the use of Microsoft Excel was data analysis of different types and levels. A the volume of data increases, more of the data analysis is being done on programming languages such as R and Python. So do consider adding some programming skills if you believe your career could involve data analysis in the future.

Most Excel users know the basic functions like SUM, COUNT, AVERAGE etc. Therefore, in this tutorial I’m going to cover the 10 most important intermediate level Excel functions every Excel user should know. Watch the video for an introduction to each function, and then dive deeper by following the links below.

Note: there’s technically 17 functions covered in this tutorial, but a few of them do the same thing as other functions, or are very similar, so I’ve only counted 10 😉

Watch the Video

Download Workbook

Function 1: IF, Nested IFs and IFS

The IF functions belong to the logic group of functions and are a must for every Excel user to know.

Get started with the IF function and nested IFs. And if you have Excel 2019 or later, or Microsoft 365, check out the newer IFS function.

Function 2: IF(AND and IF(OR

The AND and OR functions extend the number and type of logical tests you can specify when nested in the IF function. A lot of people struggle with them, but once you master these functions you won’t look back.

Still stuck? Download our IF formula builder and have your IF formulas written for you.

Function 3: SUMIFS

The SUMIFS function is one of the ‘IFS’ family of functions which enables you to aggregate data that matches criteria you specify. Once you know one of these functions, the others are easy because they all have the same syntax, as you can see below:

These functions treat all criteria as AND criteria, meaning each condition must be TRUE for the value to be included in the SUM/AVERAGE etc. If you need more flexibility, the SUMPRODUCT function can handle AND and OR criteria.

Function 4.1: SUBTOTAL

The SUBTOTAL function is great for working with data that contains…wait for it, subtotals, because it automatically ignores any SUBTOTAL formulas in the range being summed. Not only that, you can also use it to SUM, AVERAGE and more, as shown in the table below. And you can specify whether you want to include or ignore hidden rows.

Function 4.2: AGGREGATE

The AGGREGATE function is what I like to call the Swiss Army Knife of functions because it can do so much. Similar to SUBTOTAL, AGGREGATE has a range of different aggregation options:

And like SUBTOTAL you can tell it to ignore hidden or filtered rows, but you can also choose from the following behaviours:

Function 5: XLOOKUP (or VLOOKUP)

The XLOOKUP function, available in Excel 2021 onward and Microsoft 365, is the new improved version of the much loved and sometimes hated VLOOKUP function. XLOOKUP gets around the limitations of VLOOKUP and removes the risk of inexperienced users inadvertently building formula errors into their work.

Function 6: INDEX & MATCH

INDEX and MATCH formulas can be scary for many users, but they get around the limitations of VLOOKUP. If you don’t have the XLOOKUP function in your version of Excel, then I encourage you to master INDEX & MATCH.

I’ll also go as far to say that the INDEX function is probably the MOST IMPORTANT EXCEL FUNCTION! If you’re already familiar with INDEX, then check out this tutorial that covers 5 things most people don’t know about the INDEX function:

Function 7: FILTER

The FILTER function is new in Excel 2021 and Microsoft 365. It’s one of the most important new functions we have in Excel. FILTER enables you to extract rows from a table of data based on criteria you specify. Not only that, you can extract some of the columns or all, or even extract the columns in a different order.

Function 8: IFERROR

The IFERROR function is a must for all report builders as it automatically hides errors returned by formulas ensuring a polished finish.

Function 9: EOMONTH and EDATE

The majority of Excel users work with date and time at some stage, especially accountants. The EOMONTH function, short for End of Month, and the EDATE Function, which I’m guessing is short for Extend Date, are super handy.

EOMONTH returns the last day of the month, n months before or after the specified date. It can even return the start of the month with a simple trick.

EDATE returns the same date of the month, n months before or after the specified date.

If you’d like to learn more about working with dates and times in Excel, check out my Excel Date & Time 101 and grab a copy of my eBook and examples file.

Function 10: GETPIVOTDATA

The GETPIVOTDATA function is often misunderstood and harshly judged, but it’s the secret weapon of PivotTable users who want to create a custom styled report without the bulk of a PivotTable and is super robust.

More Excel Functions

Now that you’ve mastered the above functions, you can find more resources here:

Advanced Excel Formulas course – get up to speed with advanced formulas in 5 hours.

Excel Function Library – Looking for help on a specific Function? Check out our Excel Function Library.

Absolute References Explained – Absolute references are a cornerstone of writing formulas and are therefore a must have skill for every Excel user.

Absolute References for Tables – Tables have their own absolute reference language which is not as obvious as it should be.

Writing Formulas Efficiently – In this post I share how to write formulas in such as way that it’s quick to write, and quick to maintain.

Named Ranges – Unlock some more advanced techniques with named ranges and make your formulas easier to read, write and maintain.

Time Calculations – Working with dates and time in Excel is tricky if you don’t know the fundamentals of how Excel handles date-time values.

Excel Forum – Have a specific question you need help with? Our forum volunteers are eager to help you.