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Are you new to Microsoft Excel and need to work on a spreadsheet? Excel is so overrun with useful and complicated features that it might seem impossible for a beginner to learn. But don’t worry—once you learn a few basic tricks, you’ll be entering, manipulating, calculating, and graphing data in no time! This wikiHow tutorial will introduce you to the most important features and functions you’ll need to know when starting out with Excel, from entering and sorting basic data to writing your first formulas.
Things You Should Know
- Use Quick Analysis in Excel to perform quick calculations and create helpful graphs without any prior Excel knowledge.
- Adding your data to a table makes it easy to sort and filter data by your preferred criteria.
- Even if you’re not a math person, you can use basic Excel math functions to add, subtract, find averages and more in seconds.
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Create or open a workbook. When people refer to «Excel files,» they are referring to workbooks, which are files that contain one or more sheets of data on individual tabs. Each tab is called a worksheet or spreadsheet, both of which are used interchangeably. When you open Excel, you’ll be prompted to open or create a workbook.
- To start from scratch, click Blank workbook. Otherwise, you can open an existing workbook or create a new one from one of Excel’s helpful templates, such as those designed for budgeting.
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Explore the worksheet. When you create a new blank workbook, you’ll have a single worksheet called Sheet1 (you’ll see that on the tab at the bottom) that contains a grid for your data. Worksheets are made of individual cells that are organized into columns and rows.
- Columns are vertical and labeled with letters, which appear above each column.
- Rows are horizontal and are labeled by numbers, which you’ll see running along the left side of the worksheet.
- Every cell has an address which contains its column letter and row number. For example, the top-left cell in your worksheet’s address is A1 because it’s in column A, row 1.
- A workbook can have multiple worksheets, all containing different sets of data. Each worksheet in your workbook has a name—you can rename a worksheet by right-clicking its tab and selecting Rename.
- To add another worksheet, just click the + next to the worksheet tab(s).
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Save your workbook. Once you save your workbook once, Excel will automatically save any changes you make by default.[1]
This prevents you from accidentally losing data.- Click the File menu and select Save As.
- Choose a location to save the file, such as on your computer or in OneDrive.
- Type a name for your workbook. All workbooks will automatically inherit the the .XLSX file extension.
- Click Save.
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Click a cell to select it. When you click a cell, it will highlight to indicate that it’s selected.
- When you type something into a cell, the input text is called a value. Entering data into Excel is as simple as typing values into each cell.
- When entering data, the first row of your worksheet (e.g., A1, B1, C1) is typically used as headers for each column. This is helpful when creating graphs or tables which require labels.
- For example, if you’re adding a list of dates in column A, you might click cell A1 and type Date into the cell as the column header.
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Type a word or number into the cell. As you’re typing, you’ll see the letters and/or numbers appear in the cell, as well as in the formula bar at the top of the worksheet.
- When you start practicing more advanced Excel features like creating formulas, this bar will come in handy.
- You can also copy and paste text from other applications into your worksheet, tables from PDFs and the web.
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Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. This enters the data into the cell and moves to the next cell in the column.
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Automatically fill columns based on existing data. Let’s say you want to make a list of consecutive dates or numbers. Or what if you want to fill a column with many of the same values that follow a pattern? As long as Excel can recognize some sort of pattern in your data, such as a particular order, you can use Autofill to automatically populate data into the rest of your column. Here’s a trick to see it in action.
- In a blank column, type 1 into the first cell, 2 into the second cell, and then 3 into the third cell.
- Hover your mouse cursor over the bottom-right corner of the last cell in your series—it will turn to a crosshair.
- Click and drag the crosshair down the column, then release the mouse button once you’ve gone down as far as you like. By default, this will fill the remaining cells with the value of the selected cell—at this point, you’ll probably have something like 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3.
- Click the small icon at the bottom-right corner of the filled data to open AutoFill options, and select Fill Series to automatically detect the series or pattern. Now you’ll have a list of consecutive numbers. Try this cool feature out with different patterns!
- Once you get the hang of AutoFill, you’ll have to try flash fill, which you can use to join two columns of data into a single merged column.
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Adjust the column sizes so you can see all of the values. Sometimes typing long values into a cell hides the value and displays hash symbols ### instead of what you’ve typed. If you want to be able to see everything, you can snap the cell contents to the width of the widest cell. For example, let’s say we have some long values in column B:
- To expand the contents of column B, hover the cursor over the dividing line between the B and C at the top of the worksheet—once your cursor is right on the line, it will turn to two arrows pointing in either direction.[2]
- Click and drag the separator until the column is wide enough to accommodate your data, or just double-click the separator to instantly snap the column to the size of the widest value.
- To expand the contents of column B, hover the cursor over the dividing line between the B and C at the top of the worksheet—once your cursor is right on the line, it will turn to two arrows pointing in either direction.[2]
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Wrap text in a cell. If your longer values are now awkwardly long, you can enable text wrapping in one or more cells. Just click a cell (or drag the mouse to select multiple cells), click the Home tab, and then click Wrap Text on the toolbar.
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Edit a cell value. If you need to make a change to a cell, you can double-click the cell to activate the cursor, and then make any changes you need. When you’re finished, just press Enter or Return again.
- To delete the contents of a cell, click the cell once and press delete on your keyboard.
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Apply styles to your data. Whether you want to highlight certain values with color so they stand out or just want to make your data look pretty, changing the colors of cells and their containing values is easy—especially if you’re used to Microsoft Word:
- Select a cell, column, row, or multiple cells at once.
- On the Home tab, click Cell Styles if you’d like to quickly apply quick color styles.
- If you’d rather use more custom options, right-click the selected cell(s) and select Format Cells. Then, use the colors on the Fill tab to customize the cell’s background, or the colors on the Font tab for value colors.
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Apply number formatting to cells containing numbers. If you have data that contains numbers such as prices, measurements, dates, or times, you can apply number formatting to the data so it will display consistently.[3]
By default, the number format is General, which means numbers display exactly as you type them.- Select the cell you want to format. If you’re working with an entire column or row, you can just click the column letter or row number to select the whole thing.
- On the Home tab, click the drop-down menu at the top-center—it’ll say General by default, unless you selected cells that Excel recognizes as a different type of number like Currency or Time.
- Choose one of the formatting options in the list, such as Short Date or Percentage, or click More Number Formats at the bottom to expand all options (we recommend this!).
- If you selected More Number Formats, the Format Cells dialog will expand to the Number tab, where you’ll see several categories for number types.
- Select a category, such as Currency if working with money, or Date if working with dates. Then, choose your preferences, such as a currency symbol and/or decimal places.
- Click OK to apply your formatting.
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Select all of the data you’ve entered so far. Adding your data to a table is the easiest way to work with and analyze data.[4]
Start by highlighting the values you’ve entered so far, including your column headers. Tables also make it easy to sort and filter your data based on values.- Tables traditionally apply different or alternating colors to every other row for easy viewing. Many table options also add borders between cells and/or columns and rows.
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Click Format as Table. You’ll see this at the top-center part of the Home tab.[5]
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Select a table style. Choose any of Excel’s default table styles to get started. You’ll see a small window titled «Create Table» once selected.
- Once you get the hang of tables, you can return here to customize your table further by selecting New Table Style.
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Make sure «My table has headers» is selected and click OK. This tells Excel to turn your column headers into drop-down menus that you can easily sort and filter. Once you click OK, you’ll see that your data now has a color scheme and drop-down menus.
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Click the drop-down menu at the top of a column. Now you’ll see options for sorting that column, as well as several options for filtering all of your data based on its values.
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Choose which data to display based on values in this column. The simplest way to do this is to uncheck the values you don’t want to display—if you uncheck a particular date, for example, you’ll prevent rows that contain the selected date in from appearing in your data. You can also use Text Filters or Number Filters, depending on the type of data in the column:
- If you chose a numerical column, select Number Filters, then choose an option like Greater Than… or Does Not Equal to be extra specific about which values to hide.
- For text columns, you can choose Text Filters, where you can specify things like Begins with or Contains.
- You can also filter by cell color.
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Click OK. Your data is now filtered based on your selections. You’ll also see a small funnel icon in the drop-down menu, which indicates that the data is filtering out certain values.
- To unfilter your data, click the funnel icon, click Clear filter from (column name), and then click OK.
- You can also filter columns that aren’t in tables. Just select a column and click Filter on the Data tab to add a drop-down to that column.
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Sort your data in ascending or descending order. Click the drop-down arrow at the top of a column to view sorting options—these allow you to sort all of your data in order based on the current column.
- If you’re working with numbers, click Smallest to Largest to sort in ascending order, or Largest to Smallest for descending order.[6]
- If you’re working with text values, Sort A to Z will sort in ascending order, while Sort Z to A will sort in reverse.
- When it comes to sorting dates and times, Sort Oldest to Newest will sort with the earliest date at the top and the oldest date at the bottom, and Newest to Oldest displays the dates in descending order.
- When you sort a column, all other columns in the table adjust based on the sort.
- If you’re working with numbers, click Smallest to Largest to sort in ascending order, or Largest to Smallest for descending order.[6]
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Select the data in your worksheet. Excel’s Quick Analysis feature is the easiest way to perform basic calculations (including totals, averages, and counts) and create meaningful tables or graphs without the need for advanced Excel knowledge.[7]
Use your mouse to select your data (including your column headers) to get started. -
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Click the Quick Analysis icon. This is the small icon that pops up at the bottom-right corner of your selection. It looks like a window with some colored lines.
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Select an analysis type. You’ll see several tabs running along the top of the window, each of which gives you different option for visualizing your data:
- For math calculations, click the Totals tab, where you can select Sum, Average, Count, %Total, or Running Total. You’ll be able to choose whether to display the results at the bottom of each column or to the right.
- To create a chart, click the Charts tab, then select a chart to visualize your data. Before you settle on a chart, just hover the cursor over each option to see a preview.
- To add quick chart data to individual cells, click the Sparklines tab and choose a format. Again, you can hover the cursor over each option to see a preview.
- To instantly apply conditional formatting (which is usually a little more complex in Excel) based on your data, use the Formatting tab. Here you can choose an option like Color or Data Bars, which apply colors to your data based on trends.
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Quickly add data with AutoSum. AutoSum is a built-in Excel function that makes it easy to find the total of one or more columns in a few clicks. Functions or formulas that perform calculations and other tasks based on the values of cells. When you use a function to get something done, you’re creating a formula, which is like a math equation. If you have a column or row of numbers you want to add:
- Click the cell below the numbers you want to add (if a column) or to the right (if a row).[8]
- On the Home tab, click AutoSum toward the upper-right corner of the app. A formula beginning with =SUM(cell+cell) will appear in the field, and a dotted line will surround the numbers you’re adding.
- Press Enter or Return. You should now see the total of the numbers in the selected field. This is here because you created your first formula—which you didn’t have to write by hand!
- If you change any numbers in your data after using AutoSum, the AutoSum value will update automatically.
- Click the cell below the numbers you want to add (if a column) or to the right (if a row).[8]
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Write a simple math formula. AutoSum is just the beginning—Excel is famous for its ability to do all sorts of simple and complex math calculations on data. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a math whiz to create simple formulas to create everyday math formulas, like adding, subtracting, and multiplying. Here’s some basic formulas to get you started:
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Add: — Type =SUM(cell+cell) (e.g.,
=SUM(A3+B3)) to add two cells’ values together, or type =SUM(cell,cell,cell) (e.g.,=SUM(A2,B2,C2)) to add a series of cell values together.- If you want to add all of the numbers in a whole column (or in a section of a column), type =SUM(cell:cell) (e.g.,
=SUM(A1:A12)) into the cell you want to use to display the result.
- If you want to add all of the numbers in a whole column (or in a section of a column), type =SUM(cell:cell) (e.g.,
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Subtract: Type =SUM(cell-cell) (e.g.,
=SUM(A3-B3)) to subtract one cell value from another cell’s value. -
Divide: Type =SUM(cell/cell) (e.g.,
=SUM(A6/C5)) to divide one cell’s value by another cell’s value. -
Multiply: Type =SUM(cell*cell) (e.g.,
=SUM(A2*A7)) to multiply two cell values together.
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Add: — Type =SUM(cell+cell) (e.g.,
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Select a cell for an advanced formula. What if you need to do something more complicated than just adding numbers? Even if you don’t know how to write formulas by hand, you can still create useful formulas that work with your data in various ways. Start by clicking the cell in which you want to display your formula.
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Click the Formulas tab. It’s a tab at the top of the Excel window.
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Explore the Function Library. Several function categories appear in the toolbar, such as Financial, Text, and Math & Trig. Click the options to check out the types of functions available, though they might not make a whole lot of sense just yet.
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Click Insert Function. This option is in the far-left side of the Formulas toolbar. This opens the Insert Function window, which gives you a more detailed breakdown of each function.
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Click a function to learn about it. You can type what you want to do (such as round), or choose a category to filter the list of functions. Then, click any function to read a description of how it works and view its syntax.
- For example, to select the formula for finding the tangent of an angle, you would scroll down and click the TAN option.
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Select a function and click OK. This creates a formula based on the selected function.
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Fill out the function’s formula. When prompted, type in the number or select a cell for which you want to use the formula.
- For example, if you select the TAN function, you’ll type in the number for which you want to find the tangent, or select the cell that contains that number.
- Depending on your selected function, you may need to click through a couple of on-screen prompts.
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Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return to run the formula. Doing so applies your function and displays it in your selected cell.
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Set up the chart’s data. If you’re creating a line graph or a bar graph, for example, you’ll want to use one column of cells for the horizontal axis and one column of cells for the vertical axis. The best way to do this is to place your data in a table.
- Typically speaking, the left column is used for the horizontal axis and the column immediately to the right of it represents the vertical axis.
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Select the data in your table. Click and drag your mouse from the top-left cell of the data down to the bottom-right cell of the data.
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Click the Insert tab. It’s a tab at the top of the Excel window.
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Click Recommended Charts. You’ll find this option in the «Charts» section of the Insert toolbar. A window with different chart templates will appear.
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Select a chart template. Click the chart template you want to use based on the type of data you’re working with. If you don’t see a chart type you like, click the All Charts tab to explore by category, such as Pie, Bar, and X Y Scatter.
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Click OK. It’s at the bottom of the window. This creates your chart.
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Use the Chart Design tab to customize your chart. Any time you click your chart, the Chart Design tab will appear at the top of Excel. You can adjust the chart style here, change colors, and add additional elements.
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Double-click a chart element to manage it in the Format panel. When you double-click something on your chart, such as a value, line, or bar, you’ll see options you can edit in the panel on the right side of excel. Here you can change the axis labels, alignment, and legend data.
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Add New Question
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Question
How do you add a check mark or an X mark to a cell?
You can go into Insert, then Symbol, and choose the symbol you want. After that, you can just copy and paste the symbol from one cell to another.
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Question
Can I add work sheets on Excel?
Yes. At the bottom left of the Excel you will see the list of sheets. To the left of those sheets you will find a «+» sign. Click on it.
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Question
How do I move cell contents to another cell?
Highlight the cell, right-click, and click Copy. Click destination cell, right-click and Paste.
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About This Article
Article SummaryX
1. Purchase and install Microsoft Office.
2. Enter data into individual cells.
3. Format cells based on certain criteria.
4. Organize data into rows and columns.
5. Perform math operations using formulas.
6. Use the Formulas tab to find additional formulas.
7. Use data to create charts.
8. Import data from other sources.
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Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 646,263 times.
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Examples in Each Chapter
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Why Study Excel?
Excel is the world’s most used spreadsheet program.
Example use areas:
- Data analytics
- Project management
- Finance and accounting
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If you’re a complete beginner when it comes to Microsoft Excel, then you’ve come to the right place to get started and learn how to use it. This free beginner’s guide will help you to understand the basics of Excel and provide you with practical examples and tips. If you don’t know what a VLOOKUP is or what a SUMIF does, don’t worry, by the end of this guide, you’ll have a clearer idea of what they are and what they can do for you.
Keep in mind that this guide can also be applied to Google Sheets, which is a very similar spreadsheet program that is available to anyone with a Google account.
You may be thinking that Excel looks complicated, boring and perhaps unnecessary. But it can be less complicated if you focus on certain tasks and understand how Excel can help you. As for being boring and unnecessary, well we won’t lie. Unless you’re working on something you love or find interesting, it is likely that spreadsheets relating to that work aren’t going to be the highlight of your day, so yes it can be boring to use Excel.
Being unnecessary is something that depends on your judgement, however. Excel can be used for many things, but that doesn’t mean it has to be. If there is a more efficient way of doing things without using Excel, then it’s probably best you don’t use it. But in most cases, especially when lots of information is involved, it’s best to use Excel to calculate and present data and results.
This guide will start by explaining some of the benefits and value you can gain from using Excel, particularly as a job hunter or business owner. It will then cover some of the fundamentals of Excel that will get you started with using it.
This guide covers the following contents:
- How Can Excel Benefit My Career or Business?
- Excel for job hunters – communication, decision making, and multi-tasking and organisation.
- Excel for new business owners – talks and negotiations with suppliers, budgets and finances, and customer ledger.
- How Can I Use Excel?
- Cells
- Columns
- Rows
- Worksheets/tabs
- Formulas
- VLOOKUP
- SUMIF
- COUNTIF
- Charts and graphs
- Using Excel to create a budget sheet
Use the links above if you’d like to navigate to a certain section of the guide.
How Can Excel Benefit My Career or Business?
Excel has a lot of potential to develop your skills in more ways than it may appear. It can lend itself to your credentials by showing that you’re capable of handling, interpreting, and communicating data and ideas effectively. It can also be an immensely helpful tool when you’re a budding business owner, saving you the time and effort on trying to track data on paper.
Let’s look at how Excel can help you as a prospective employee or entrepreneur:
Excel For Job Hunters
Excel skills are a valued attribute on your CV or resume. Many employers will expect you to already have a decent understanding of how to use it and often during the interview process for a new job, employers will ask you to complete practical tests to assess your relevant knowledge and skills. Excel tests are commonly used as part of this process.
If you’re currently looking to update your CV or resume and are trying to identify what skills are in demand, it’s a good idea to check leading job sites like Indeed, Reed and LinkedIn to see what skills and qualifications they say employers are looking for. For example, Indeed produced an article which talks about the top 10 job skills for any industry.
“Having competitive job skills is an important part of developing your career. There are many qualities that are universally desired by employers regardless of their field. Especially if you are unsure about the career path you would like to pursue, it is important to develop skills that can transfer from one industry to another. This allows you to explore your job options freely while still creating a strong resume and performing well at work.”
“10 Top Job Skills for Any Industry: Transferable Skills You Need” – Indeed, 2020
More often than not, you will see certain skills repeatedly mentioned by most job sites and in many job adverts. Those skills are usually: Communication, Decision-Making, Multitasking and Organisation. Excel can help with all of these skills.
Communication
Whether you’re talking to customers or holding a meeting with colleagues, you need to be confident in what you’re saying. Excel can help by giving you the ability to record and monitor information, which can assist you when you’re advising customers. For example, Excel could tell you how many items are in stock and when the next delivery of a certain item is due. It can also help you when in meetings with colleagues, such as by providing you with accurate graphs and tables to clearly demonstrate how sales are performing that month.
Having information and data to back up what you are communicating is not to be underestimated and is certainly a good thing.
Decision-Making
Making a decision could be easy or it could be hard. It may be easy because you’ve been in the situation before and you made the right decision last time, or hard because the situation is new and complex. You can’t make a good decision without first understanding what is going on. In some cases, there isn’t the time or the data to sit down and work things out in Excel.
However, where there is time and where there is data available, Excel can play a big role in your decision making. Everyone has to base their decisions on something, be that past experience or information and data. Excel can be used to help you identify patterns and trends which can then form part of your decision-making process. Referencing accurate data and relevant evidence provides you with a solid argument when explaining the logic behind your decisions.
Multitasking and Organisation
We’ve grouped multitasking and organisation together here as they are similar in many ways. If you’re multitasking, you’re probably going to need to prioritise in what order your many tasks should be done and which of those tasks can be completed at the same time.
Organisation is not so different. Excel can help by giving you the ability to plan out and coordinate tasks, whilst also allowing you to assign each task attributes like value and time. Once all the tasks are detailed in your spreadsheet, you can easily order them by the tasks that are most or least valuable or by the tasks that will take the longest or shortest time to complete.
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Excel For New Business Owners
The entrepreneurs amongst us who are starting their own business will definitely have a use for Excel in some way, shape or form. Working out your startup budget? Excel can help with that. Forecasting your sales figures for the coming months? Excel can help with that. Making a cup of coffee? Excel cannot help with that, sorry.
When running your own business, there are a lot of things to consider and keep track of. There are suppliers to negotiate with, schedules to maintain, customers to meet, rent and taxes and assorted bills to pay – all this and more is whirling around in the head of a business owner. Excel can assist with many of these.
Talks and negotiations with suppliers
If you’re talking with a lot of suppliers, Excel can be used to list what products a supplier offers and at what prices. Once you’ve met with all the suppliers, you can simply review the details you’ve kept in Excel to determine who offers what you need at the best price.
Budgets and finances
You can also use Excel to calculate budgets and keep track of income and expenses, to ensure your finances are in good shape. This will come in very handy when you have to submit quarterly and annual details to HMRC and Companies House, such as VAT returns, corporation tax, income tax self-assessment and confirmation statement.
Even if you plan to use an accountant, having a clear, up to date and accurate record of your company finances will certainly help you and them.
Customer ledger
As long as you’re operating legally and in accordance with data protection regulations – note that you’re highly likely to be storing personally identifiable information (PII) for this – you could use Excel to keep a customer ledger, so you can monitor which clients have paid you in full, which have paid a deposit and which are yet to make a payment.
Whatever your needs may be, Excel is sure to have a feature or two that enhance your business skills and make your life a little, or a lot, easier if used well.
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How Can I Use Excel?
Think of Excel as a clever record keeper and calculator rolled into one.
First, let’s get you introduced to the basics of Excel: Cells, Columns, Rows, Worksheets/Tabs, Formulas and Charts/Graphs.
Cells
A Cell in Excel is an individual box within a Worksheet/Tab and is usually used to input and hold numeric or text data. Each Cell has a name, that name comes from the Column and Row the Cell sits on. If you’ve ever played the game Battleship, used grid references on a map or had allocated seat tickets for a train/aeroplane/venue, you’ll easily understand Cell names.
Here is an example: Columns run left to right along the top of the Worksheet/Tab and are labelled according to the alphabet. Rows run down along the left side of the Worksheet/Tab and are labelled numerically. So if you’re looking at a Cell which sits on Column A, Row 1, the Cell’s name will be A1.
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Columns
Columns run left to right along the top of the Worksheet/Tab and are labelled according to the alphabet. Each Column is a vertical series of Cells.
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Rows
Rows are labelled along the left side of the Worksheet/Tab numerically and run down from top to bottom. Each Row is a horizontal series of Cells.
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Worksheets/Tabs
Worksheets/Tabs are made up of Columns, Rows and Cells and are essentially pages of your Excel workbook. You can have multiple Worksheets/Tabs within your Excel workbook and they are a useful way to separate different types of data and information.
Unlike Columns, Rows and Cells, you can rename Worksheets/Tabs. By default, Worksheets/Tabs are named ‘Sheet1’, ‘Sheet2’ etc, but you can rename them and even colour code them if you wish by right-clicking on the Worksheet/Tab and selecting either ‘Rename’ or ‘Tab Color’.
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Formulas
Excel Formulas can be used to either calculate the value of a single Cell or multiple Cells, as well as use Functions to calculate values or retrieve data.
Simple Formulas can calculate by adding, dividing, multiplying or subtracting values from other Cells. To add, you use the + symbol, to divide you use the / symbol, to multiply you use the * symbol and for subtracting you use the – symbol. For example, if you wanted to add together the values of three Cells to work out the total value, you could do this:
=B2+C2+D2
Here, you would select the first Cell and type the + symbol, then select the second Cell and type the + symbol again, and finally select the third Cell to create a Formula that adds together all three Cells and calculates their total value. This is not a problem if you are working with a handful of Cells, but if you’re dealing with a lot of them, it is much easier to use the SUM Function and highlight the Cells to achieve the same calculation of adding them all together, like this:
=SUM(B2:D2)
Using the SUM function to create a Formula can be a real timesaver when you’re working with a lot of data. In the example above, it shows how you can highlight multiple Cells in a Row; this also works if you need to highlight multiple Cells in a Column.
If you need to bring together data from multiple sources or from different parts of your spreadsheet, you can use Functions like a VLOOKUP, a SUMIF or a COUNTIF to retrieve certain information and/or give you an overall picture of the data you have.
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VLOOKUP
For example, imagine you own a restaurant and you’ve got a long list of table reservations. The list contains customer contact details, party size, date the table is booked for and allergy/dietary requirements. However, you’ve forgotten to ask what time they will be arriving! Luckily, you’ve got email addresses for all of the customers, so one of your colleagues sends an email to each of them and makes another list that just has the customers’ email addresses and time of arrival. You can then quickly retrieve the times from your colleague’s list and store them alongside the correct customer in your original list by using a VLOOKUP, like this:
=VLOOKUP(A2,Times!A:B,2,FALSE)
So, what is this VLOOKUP doing? First, you have to ensure that there is a common identifier in both your lists. The common identifier must be identical in each list – in this case the common identifier is customer email addresses. The Column containing the common identifier needs to be located to the left of the data you want to retrieve.
So, we start off by writing =VLOOKUP( then select the ‘lookup_value’, which in this example will be the first email address in Cell A2, then type in a comma.
Your Formula should now look like this: =VLOOKUP(A2,
Next, you’ll need to go to the Worksheet/Tab that contains the other list (in this example, the Worksheet/Tab has been named ‘Times’) and select the ‘table_array’, which means highlighting the range of Columns starting with the Column containing the ‘lookup_value’ and continuing until you reach the Column containing the data you want to retrieve, then type in a comma. So for this example, in the ‘Times’ Worksheet/Tab, we’re selecting Columns A and B, Column A contains the ‘lookup_value’ and Column B contains the table reservation times.
Your Formula should now look like this: =VLOOKUP(A2,Times!A:B,
We’re almost finished…
Next, we need to type in the ‘col_index_num’ which just needs you to count along from the first Column in your ‘table_array’ until you get to the Column which contains the data you want to retrieve. In this example, the data we want is in the second Column in the ‘table_array’ so we just need to type 2, then a comma.
Your Formula should now look like this: =VLOOKUP(A2,Times!A:B,2,
Finally, we need to choose a ‘range_lookup’. There are two choices here: ‘TRUE’ or ‘FALSE’. ‘FALSE’ is usually the best option to choose as it means that the VLOOKUP will find the exact match to the ‘lookup_value’ you selected at the beginning of this Formula. Once you’ve selected or typed in ‘FALSE’, you can just hit Enter on your keyboard and the VLOOKUP will use the details you’ve selected and input, then go and find the data you wanted. Once it finds this, it’ll place it in your original Bookings list.
Your finished Formula should now look like this: =VLOOKUP(A2,Times!A:B,2,FALSE)
As shown in the image above, once you’ve written this VLOOKUP you can locate the Fill Handle in the bottom right corner of the Cell (in this example, the Cell is E2) and drag the handle down to the bottom of your list. The VLOOKUP Formula will change for each Cell and retrieve relevant data based on each customer email address.
This is just one example of how to use a VLOOKUP. There are many other applications and they don’t all need to be focused on email addresses. You might want to use order/invoice reference numbers or customer usernames instead.
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SUMIF
There may come a time when you need to add up values in a particular Column, Row or specific Cells based on certain criteria. For example, imagine you own a restaurant and you have a list of all your bookings, the list contains customer contact details, party size, date and time the table is booked for and allergy/dietary requirements. Now, if you wanted to add up how many people are going to attend your restaurant on a certain day, you can use a SUMIF like this:
=SUMIF(Bookings!D:D,Totals!A2,Bookings!C:C)
Let’s look at what this SUMIF is doing. We’re trying to add up the total number of customers arriving on certain days and the SUMIF allows us to do that. First, we need to write =SUMIF( in Cell B2, just under the appropriate heading ‘Total Number of Customers’, then go to the Worksheet/Tab that contains the list of all your bookings (in this example, the Worksheet/Tab has been named ‘Bookings’) and select the ‘range’, which means highlighting a single Column, a single Row, or a specific range of Cells that contains the information you want to search and match, then type a comma. So, for this example, in the ‘Bookings’ Worksheet/Tab we’re selecting Column D as it contains all the date information for each booking.
Your Formula should now look like this: =SUMIF(Bookings!D:D,
Next you’ll select the ‘criteria’, which in this example will be the first date in Cell A2 of the ‘Totals’ Worksheet/Tab, then type a comma.
Your Formula should now look like this: =SUMIF(Bookings!D:D,Totals!A2,
Finally, we need to go to the Worksheet/Tab that contains the list of all your bookings and select the ‘sum_range’, which means highlighting a single Column, a single Row, or a specific range of Cells containing numeric data that you want to add up and calculate a total value for. So for this example, in the ‘Bookings’ Worksheet/Tab we’re selecting Column C as it contains all the party size information for each booking. Once you’ve selected the ‘sum_range’ you can just hit Enter on your keyboard. The SUMIF will then use the details you’ve selected and input to go and find the data you wanted and calculate the total value.
Your finished Formula should now look like this: =SUMIF(Bookings!D:D,Totals!A2,Bookings!C:C)
As shown in the image above, once you’ve written this SUMIF you can locate the Fill Handle in the bottom right corner of the Cell (in this example, the Cell is B2) and drag the handle down to the bottom of your list. The SUMIF Formula will change for each Cell and calculate the total number of customers due to arrive for each date.
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COUNTIF
You may find that you need to count how many times a certain value appears in a Column, Row or specific Cells. For example, imagine you own a restaurant and you have a list of all your bookings. Each row of the list relates to a booking and contains customer contact details, party size, date and time the table is booked for, and allergy/dietary requirements. Now, if you wanted to count how many bookings have been made for certain days you can use a COUNTIF like this:
=COUNTIF(Bookings!D:D,Totals!A2)
Let’s look at what this COUNTIF is doing. We’re trying to count how many bookings have been made for certain days and the COUNTIF will work that out for us. First, we need to write =COUNTIF( in Cell C2, under the heading ‘Total Number of Bookings’, then go to the Worksheet/Tab that contains the list of all your bookings (in this example, the Worksheet/Tab has been named ‘Bookings’) and select the ‘range’, which means highlighting a single Column, a single Row, or a specific range of Cells that contains information you want to search and match, then type a comma.
So, for this example, in the ‘Bookings’ Worksheet/Tab we’re selecting Column D as it contains all the date information for each booking.
Your Formula should now look like this: =COUNTIF(Bookings!D:D,
Finally, you’ll select the ‘criteria’ which in this example will be the first date in Cell A2 of the ‘Totals’ Worksheet/Tab. Once you’ve selected the ‘criteria’ you can just hit Enter on your keyboard and the COUNTIF will use the details you’ve selected and input to go and find the data you wanted and count how many times the data can be found.
Your finished Formula should now look like this: =COUNTIF(Bookings!D:D,Totals!A2)
As shown in the image above, once you’ve written this COUNTIF you can locate the Fill Handle in the bottom right corner of the Cell (in this example, the Cell is C2) and drag the handle down to the bottom of your list. The COUNTIF Formula will then change for each Cell and count the total number of bookings due to arrive for each date.
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Charts and Graphs
Excel Charts and Graphs can be really useful to visualise data and give a clearer picture of what the data can tell you.
Looking at numerous Columns and Rows full of various information can be a bit hard on your eyes and in some cases it just looks meaningless. This is where Charts and Graphs can help by showing the data in a different way, which may result in you spotting some sort of trend or pattern.
To create a Chart or Graph in Excel you’ll first need some data. Following on from the examples above, we have some data relating to restaurant customer numbers and booking numbers for certain dates.
Excel is smart, so if you highlight cells which contain things like a series of dates, headings and data you can go to the ‘Insert’ section, which is located towards the top-left of your screen, and select ‘Recommended Charts’. This will then present you with some appropriate charts and graphs, like so:
Before we end, let’s give you another practical example of how Excel could be used based on what we’ve already covered.
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Using Excel to Create a Budget Sheet
We’ve mentioned budgets earlier in the guide, but now let’s look at how Excel can be used to create a budget. We’ll start by opening a blank workbook in Excel and then begin writing some appropriate headings (e.g. Outgoings, Name, Category, Months).
A first tip to make a note of is if you’re entering information like dates or months into Excel, it is smart enough to recognise what you’re trying to do. If you locate the Fill Handle in the bottom right corner of the Cell that you entered the first date/month in and drag up/down/sideways as demonstrated below, it will automatically input the next dates/months into the Cells you drag the handle over.
For example, here we’ve entered ‘Jan’ into Cell D2 and then dragged the Fill Handle across to the right all the way to Cell O2. Once we’ve finished dragging the handle across, the month names appear in the Cells.
Continue to enter appropriate headings both across Columns and Rows, then enter the names and categories for each item of your budget into the relevant Cells. For example, imagine you own a restaurant and you’re trying to create a budget which details outgoing spend and incoming revenue. The names and categories for each budget item might look something like this:
This details outgoings such as staff salaries, repair costs, utility bills and food/drink stock, as well as listing income such as food/drink sales.
Next, we can start entering financial values for each budget item and month. These figures may be based on previous accounts you’ve kept or they may be based on your best guess and available information. Now that you’ve entered those figures, it is best to format them so they are presented as currency.
To do this, simply highlight all the Cells you’ll be using to store or calculate financial values and then right-click. A menu of options will appear and here you need to select ‘Format Cells’. Another set of options will then appear and in here you just need to select ‘Currency’. If the ‘Symbol’ is not set to the currency you need, you can click on it and choose from a list of different currencies. Finally if you want to display negative numbers differently, there are a few options available.
Once you’re happy with your selections, click OK and the numeric values in the Cells you highlighted will change to present as currency, like so:
Now that you’ve entered and formatted the financial details for all your budget items, you can use the SUM Function to create a Formula that will calculate the monthly total for all your outgoings, like so:
Here you can see that instead of selecting a whole Column, the SUM is being calculated for certain Cells, and then by using the Fill Handle the Formula is repeated and used to work out the total outgoing for each month. You can then create a similar calculation to work out the total income for each month.
Finally, we can work out the Net amount for each month by writing a simple Formula to subtract the monthly outgoings total from the monthly income total, like this:
And there you have it – a simple budget using a combination of SUM and basic Formulas. You could take this further and apply what you’ve learned about SUMIF to work out which category of your budget costs the most in December and which category of your budget generates the most income in December. You could even make a Chart or Graph of your findings. Give it a try and good luck.
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What’s next?
Once you fully understand these Excel basics, the next step would be to grow your Excel knowledge further by researching Pivot Tables, Data Validation and Functions like IF, SUMIFS and COUNTIFS. You can find all sorts of guides online by searching on Google or YouTube. Watch this space too, as we’re always releasing new guides on all sorts of topics to help you with your personal and professional growth.
Further Resources:
- Writing A Professional Development Plan – Example & Template
- Writing a Job Description: Free Template
- How to Upskill Yourself
- Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets Training for Beginners
An Excel spreadsheet is a very powerful software which was developed by Microsoft in 1985 and is used by over 800 million users for number crunching, data analysis & reporting, charting and note taking – wherein its true power is often underutilized 🙂
It is widely used by organizations for calculating, accounting, preparing charts, budgeting, project management, and various other tasks. The different uses of an Excel spreadsheet is in fact limitless! In this tutorial we will hold your hand and teach you how to use Excel for the first time.
Want to know How To Master Excel from Beginner to Expert?
*** Watch our video and step by step guide below with a free downloadable Excel workbook to practice ***
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An Excel Spreadsheet is the go-to software to analyze, sort, or present a large amount of information and data in no time.
In this Excel tutorial, I will cover the Basics of Excel that you need to know to get started with how to use Excel. This Excel for dummies guide will include tutorials on:
- Opening an Excel Spreadsheet
- Understanding the Different Elements of an Excel Spreadsheet
- Entering Data in an Excel Spreadsheet
- Basic Calculations in an Excel Spreadsheet
- Saving an Excel Spreadsheet
Let’s start this step by step Excel tutorial on – “How to use Excel”
Opening an Excel Spreadsheet
To open an Excel Spreadsheet, follow the steps of this Excel tutorial below:
Step 1: Click on the Window icon on the left side of the Taskbar and then scroll below to find “Excel”.
Step 2: You can either click on the “Blank Workbook” button to open a blank Excel spreadsheet or select from the list of pre-existing templates provided by Excel.
To open an existing Excel spreadsheet, click on the “Open Other Workbooks” and select the Excel sheet you want to work on.
Step 3: An Excel spreadsheet is now opened and you are ready to explore the wonderful world of Excel.
Understanding the Different Elements of an Excel Spreadsheet
To explore the different ways on How to use Excel you should be familiar with the different elements of Excel first.
Excel Workbook and Excel Worksheet are often used interchangeably, but they do have different meanings. An Excel Workbook is an Excel file with the extension “.xlsx” or “.xls” whereas an Excel Worksheet is a single sheet inside the Workbook. Worksheets appear as tabs along the bottom of the screen.
Now that you are clear about these two terms, let’s move forward and understand the layout of an Excel Spreadsheet. It is a crucial step if you want to know how to use Excel efficiently.
Excel Ribbon
The Excel Ribbon is located at the top of the Excel Spreadsheet and just below the title bar or name of the worksheet. It comprises various tabs including Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, etc. Each tab contains a specific set of commands.
By default, each Excel spreadsheet contains the following Tabs – File, Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, and View.
- File Tab can be used to open a new or existing file, save, print, or share a file, etc.
- Home Tab can be used to copy, cut, or paste cells and work on the formatting of data.
- Insert Tab can be used to insert the picture, charts, filter, hyperlink, etc.
- Page Layout Tab can be used to prepare the Excel spreadsheet for printing and exporting data.
- Formula Tab in Excel can be used to insert, define the name, create the name range, review the formula, etc.
- Data Tab can be used to get external data, sort filter and group existing data, etc.
- Review Tab can be used to insert comments, protect the document, check spelling, track changes, etc.
- View Tab can be used to change the view of the Excel Sheets and make it easy to view the data.
You should be familiar with these tabs so you can understand how to use Excel efficiently. You can even customize these Tabs using the following steps:
Step 1: Right-click on the ribbon and click on “Customize the Ribbon”
Step 2: An Excel Options dialog box will open, click on the New Tab.
Step 3: Select that newly created tab and click on Rename and give it a name e.g. Custom
Step 4: Now you can add the commands that you want under each group by simply clicking on the command from the Popular Command column and click on Add >>
This will create a New Tab called “Custom” with a popular command “Center“.
Under each Tab, there are various buttons grouped together. For Example – Under the Home Tab, all font-related buttons are clubbed together under the Group name “Font”.
You can access other features related to that group by clicking on the small arrow at the end of each Group. Once you click on that arrow, a dialog box will open and you can make further edits using that.
There is also a search bar available next to the tabs which was introduced in Excel 2019 and Office 365. You can type the feature that you are after and Excel will find it for you.
You can also collapse the ribbon to provide extra space in the worksheet by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F1 or by right-clicking anywhere on the ribbon and then clicking “Collapse the Ribbon”.
This will collapse the Ribbon!
Formula Bar
Excel’s Formula bar is the area just below the Excel Ribbon. It contains two parts – on the left is the name box (it stores the cell address) and on the right is the contents of the currently selected cell. It is used to type values, text or an Excel formula or function.
You can hide or unhide the formula bar by checking/unchecking “Formula Bar” under View Tab.
You can also expand the formula bar if you have a large formula and its contents are not entirely visible. Click on the small arrow at the end of the formula bar and it will be expanded.
Status Bar
At the bottom left side of the workbook, all the Excel worksheets are shown. You can access an Excel sheet by simply clicking on it.
To add more Excel sheets, click on the “+” sign below which will add a new blank Excel sheet.
You can reorder the Excel sheets in your workbook by dragging them to a new location with your left mouse button.
You can also rename each Excel sheet by Right Clicking on a Sheet Name > Click on Rename > Type the Name > Press Enter.
At the bottom right of the Excel spreadsheet, you can quickly zoom the document by using the minus and plus symbols. To zoom to a specific percentage, in the ribbon menu go to the View tab > Click Zoom > Click on the specific percentage or type in your custom % > Click OK.
There are different Excel workbook views available at the left of the zoom control: Normal View, Page Break View, and Page Layout View. You can select the view as per your choice.
Cell & Excel Spreadsheet Basics
Any information including text, number, or an Excel formula can be inserted within a Cell. Alphabets are used to label Columns and numbers are used to label Rows.
An intersection of a Row and Column is called a Cell. In the image below, cell C4 is the intersection of Row 4 and Column C.
You can refer to a series of cells as a range by putting a colon between the first and last cells within the range. For example, the reference to the range starting from A1 to C10 will be A1: C10. This is great when you are using an Excel formula.
Now that you are familiar with the different elements in an Excel Spreadsheet, let’s show you how to use Excel to enter data and do some calculations!
Entering Data in an Excel Spreadsheet
Follow this step -by-step tutorial on how to use excel to enter data below:
Step 1: Click the cell you want to enter data into. For Example, you want to enter your sales data and want to start with the first cell, so click on A1
Step 2: Type what you want to add, say, Date. You will see that the same data will be visible on the Formula Bar as well.
Step 3: Press Enter. This will store the written data on the selected cell and move the selection to the next available cell, which is A2 in this example
To make any changes in the cell, simply click on it and make the changes.
You can copy (Ctrl + C), Cut (Ctrl + X) any data from one Excel worksheet and paste it (Ctrl + V) to the same or another Excel worksheet.
Basic Calculations in an Excel Spreadsheet
Now that you have understood how to use Excel to enter data, let’s do some calculations on the data. Let’s say you want to add two numbers: 4 and 5 in the excel spreadsheet.
Follow the steps below on how to use Excel to add two numbers:
Step 1: Start with the = or the + sign to tell Excel that you are ready to run some sort of calculation.
Step 2: Type number 4.
Step 3: Type + symbol to add
Step 4: Type number 5.
Step 5: Press Enter.
You will see the result 9 is displayed in the cell A1 and the formula is still displayed in the formula bar.
Let’s try to use a cell reference to make calculations.
In the example below, you have Column A that contains the number of products sold and Column B that contains price per product and you need to calculate the total amount in Column C.
To calculate the total amount, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Select cell C2
Step 2: Type = to start the formula
Step 3: Select cell A2 with your mouse cursor or by using the left arrow key.
Step 4: Type the multiplication sign *
Step 5: Select cell B2
Step 6: Press Enter
You can use various calculation operators, such as Arithmetic, Comparison, Text Concatenation and Reference operators that will be useful for you to have a clear and complete idea on how to use Excel.
Here is a walk-through for Excel for Dummies by Microsoft covering the most requested features of Excel.
Saving an Excel Spreadsheet
To save your work in Excel, click on the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar or press Ctrl + S.
If you are trying to save a file for the first time, then follow these steps:
Step 1: Press Ctrl + Shift +S or Click on the “Save As” button under the File tab.
Step 2: Click on “Browse” and choose the location where you want to save the file.
Step 3: In the File name box, enter a name for your new Excel workbook.
Step 4: Click Save
Here is an Excel for Dummies Video from Microsoft explaining how to save an Excel Workbook.
This brings us to the end of this how to Use Excel tutorial.
I have just covered the basics of how to use Excel in this article. As an Excel newbie, Excel is a completely unexplored & exciting world for you right now and you are going to learn so much along your journey.
My advice is to take baby steps, learn how to use one Excel feature, apply it to your data, make mistakes and keep on practicing.
Within 7 days your Excel confidence will skyrocket!
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