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Posted: 1/29/2015 11:03:37 AM EDT
I can do some of the very basic functions with Excel but I want to learn it completely. How should I proceed?
Any input from you gentlemen will be greatly appreciated. 
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Posted: 1/29/2015 11:12:45 AM EDT
[#1]
Take a class?
Get a job as a DAC or .mil you will be an Excel and Power Point pro in short order. 
Free Microsoft Office Suite Training |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 11:18:21 AM EDT
[#2]
I learned a lot of what I know about Excel by looking at sheets that I find useful and "reverse engineer" them.
You will learn how the sheet was designed and built, you will learn formulas and all kinds of cool stuff. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 11:21:05 AM EDT
[#3]
Also addons like dupewizard are great for quick data examination of large spreadsheets without having to write custom macros.
My biggest protip would be to start with the concatenate function. So useful. Great excel work is all about thinking outside the box. You can get data to tell you pretty much anything you want if you think about it hard enough. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 11:57:42 AM EDT
[#4]
Thanks for the input.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:00:22 PM EDT
[#5]
Quoted:
I want to learn it completely. lol |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:05:11 PM EDT
[#6]
It helps to know exactly what you want to use Excel to do. As you phrased your original post...
Quoted:
Quoted:
I want to learn it completely. lol |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:08:12 PM EDT
[#7]
learn how to use =if functions. wizardry abound to people who don't use excel much.
concatenate, like was mentioned is very useful, as is hlookup and vlookup. i get an idea of what i want to do in a sheet, then find the functions that work best. Plenty of great forums for learning. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:12:02 PM EDT
[#8]
Take a class. One of the most practical classes I had in college was an Excel class. I thought it was dumb at the time (don't remember why I had to take it) but worked out to be very useful since then!
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:13:16 PM EDT
[#9]
 |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:21:48 PM EDT
[#10]
There are some excellent training courses on lynda.com.
I think they have free one week memberships. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:30:32 PM EDT
[#11]
http://www.mrexcel.com/
I did our entire production scheduling system from costing, outsourced parts ordering, individual machine scheduling, purchasing, cut lists, etc. using Excel and VBA. Not the greatest tool for the job, but it turned about 4 1/2 days worth of work into literally the click of a button. The forums on mrexcel.com were priceless. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:33:03 PM EDT
[#12]
Get ready for Microsoft to move all functions and redesign all menus every few years just to piss you off.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:35:51 PM EDT
[#13]
Alamance Community College.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:36:18 PM EDT
[#14]
http://www.cengagebrain.com/shop/isbn/9781285169330
Go rent it. Make yourself sit down and do the assignments/tutorials in each chapter. 35.00 spent, and a couple of weekends spent doing the assignments...done. I'm using the textbook, this semester, to teach Excel to HS students via an online course. They seem to have no problems understanding the instructions and seem to be able to work through it at a rapid pace. TRG |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:36:19 PM EDT
[#15]
I use excel 100% of my time at work. This helps gain mastery of it. I've been fortunate to work with some really talented and knowledgable folks who, if paid attention to, passed on a lot of knowledge.
My second interview with my current job was an excel skills test. I performed well, by using features and function they had not thoght use to achieve the goal of the report. I also did it in the way they expected so I was able to prove my overall skill level was "high" |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:41:21 PM EDT
[#16]
Besides the hundreds of dollars I invested in books and the countless hours I spent reading them and practicing what I was learning as I went along, I found the free online tutorials offered by datapig technologies to be invaluable.
http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/excelmain.htm |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:44:35 PM EDT
[#17]
tag
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:44:55 PM EDT
[#18]
"pivot tables" were mentioned.
had one project where the lead thought these were a great idea I've told the higher ups I'd sooner quit than do those again. I still believe this. I will never do that again! |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:46:07 PM EDT
[#19]
Learn C++,by far more powerful.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:47:14 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
http://www.mrexcel.com/ I did our entire production scheduling system from costing, outsourced parts ordering, individual machine scheduling, purchasing, cut lists, etc. using Excel and VBA. Not the greatest tool for the job, but it turned about 4 1/2 days worth of work into literally the click of a button. The forums on mrexcel.com were priceless. I would second mrexcel.com. Also, reverse engineering someone else's work. With about 10 formulas and pivot tables you can do 99% of what you need to do. Vlookup Concatenate Subtotal Left, Right, Mid Len Month, Day, Year Index, Match Find Trim Sumif Count, Countif If, and, or |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 12:59:36 PM EDT
[#21]
I've never had any formal training but have become fairly good at it, the internet has a lot of info and that's how I learned but a class would be much faster and probably easier
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Posted: 1/29/2015 1:02:42 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I would second mrexcel.com. Also, reverse engineering someone else's work. With about 10 formulas and pivot tables you can do 99% of what you need to do. Vlookup Concatenate Subtotal Left, Right, Mid Len Month, Day, Year Index, Match Find Trim Sumif Count, Countif If, and, or Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
http://www.mrexcel.com/ I did our entire production scheduling system from costing, outsourced parts ordering, individual machine scheduling, purchasing, cut lists, etc. using Excel and VBA. Not the greatest tool for the job, but it turned about 4 1/2 days worth of work into literally the click of a button. The forums on mrexcel.com were priceless. I would second mrexcel.com. Also, reverse engineering someone else's work. With about 10 formulas and pivot tables you can do 99% of what you need to do. Vlookup Concatenate Subtotal Left, Right, Mid Len Month, Day, Year Index, Match Find Trim Sumif Count, Countif If, and, or I agree with this. mastering vlookup and hlookup separates the hacks from the pros |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 1:05:39 PM EDT
[#23]
EDIT
Oops, posting through JRS with a weak signal in a docs office somehow gave me a late double tap |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 1:06:55 PM EDT
[#24]
Pivot tables and conditional formatting impress the natives.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 1:15:15 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: "pivot tables" were mentioned. had one project where the lead thought these were a great idea I've told the higher ups I'd sooner quit than do those again. I still believe this. I will never do that again! Why? Pivot tables and pivot charts are awesome for certain types of data analysis and filtering.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 1:16:01 PM EDT
[#26]
Quoted: I can do some of the very basic functions with Excel but I want to learn it completely. How should I proceed? Any input from you gentlemen will be greatly appreciated. Be careful of what you seek lol. You can go down some serious rabbit holes if you start doing VBA programming in Excel.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 1:17:42 PM EDT
[#27]
Tag for later.
My entire business is run on Excel. All the macros were written by my old partner who passed away. It is pretty complex. I guess I need to study a lot. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 1:24:01 PM EDT
[#28]
There is a lot of stuff that gets done in Excel that would be more at home in Access.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 3:36:05 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
There is a lot of stuff that gets done in Excel that would be more at home in Access. I never understood this until I started working with an great Access guy. Now, I'm pretty adept at both. Which one gets used depends on 2 factors. First, the amount of data involved. Second, whether I'm ever going to do it again. The time investment in Access is just too high for a one time thing. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 3:37:28 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
"pivot tables" were mentioned. had one project where the lead thought these were a great idea I've told the higher ups I'd sooner quit than do those again. I still believe this. I will never do that again!
Dumming down of america |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 3:38:30 PM EDT
[#31]
Big Job!
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Posted: 1/29/2015 3:38:45 PM EDT
[#32]
Mr Pivot Table and Mr Vlookup are my friends....
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Posted: 1/29/2015 3:40:52 PM EDT
[#33]
So you want to excel at Excel?
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Posted: 1/29/2015 3:42:32 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I never understood this until I started working with an great Access guy. Now, I'm pretty adept at both. Which one gets used depends on 2 factors. First, the amount of data involved. Second, whether I'm ever going to do it again. The time investment in Access is just too high for a one time thing. All valid points. My comment was in reference to folks like the previous poster that have essentially created lightweight business applications in spreadsheet form. Make that little bit of extra effort up front and build the front end in Access and you have something that should ultimately be easier to work with and scalable beyond the computer on which it was created.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 3:50:20 PM EDT
[#35]
Practice.
My movies, music, carbs/calories et al are all on Excel. If you don't use it often you'll forget. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 3:53:26 PM EDT
[#36]
Mrexcel.com
I use that shit everyday. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 3:57:04 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
There are some excellent training courses on lynda.com. I think they have free one week memberships. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 4:28:31 PM EDT
[#38]
Back in the day, before pivot tables, (I know - the Dark Ages), if you needed to subtotal groups (expenses, for example) - I use IF statements and ABS references.
Then...(drumroll) The Light Dawned. A small pivot table is SOOO COOOLLL! For things like, say, accumulating totals of expenses by month, per salesman. The POWER! 
So it doesn't hurt to retake a course every now and then, to discover what wasn't invented back when it was Visicalc and Lotus123 (on floppy!). 
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Posted: 1/29/2015 4:32:03 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Also addons like dupewizard are great for quick data examination of large spreadsheets without having to write custom macros. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 4:35:37 PM EDT
[#40]
Tag, as my boss recently lied to me about the date of a company offered Excel class.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 4:35:50 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I learned a lot of what I know about Excel by looking at sheets that I find useful and "reverse engineer" them. You will learn how the sheet was designed and built, you will learn formulas and all kinds of cool stuff. This is what I do. Still working on Macros but I'm learning from others and their mistakes. I probably should just take a class though; it might just save me time. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 4:52:41 PM EDT
[#42]
to learn it right, you have to be doing stuff with it. you can't just study and remember--you have to be working data-driven problems over and over and over.
i work with it constantly, and i haven't even scratched the surface of what it can do. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 5:05:30 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
There is a lot of stuff that gets done in Excel that would be more at home in Access. Far too many people don't get this. Excel is a data analysis tool. Use it to access a database, do not create the fucking database in excel. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 5:06:30 PM EDT
[#44]
Tag-a-rooski
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Posted: 1/29/2015 5:07:37 PM EDT
[#45]
VisiCalc-PCCalc-SuperCalc-Excel
It's like evolution. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 5:08:38 PM EDT
[#46]
this is the handiest excel-related thing I have ever found.
http://xlloop.sourceforge.net/ |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 5:22:02 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I would second mrexcel.com. Also, reverse engineering someone else's work. With about 10 formulas and pivot tables you can do 99% of what you need to do. Vlookup Concatenate Subtotal Left, Right, Mid Len Month, Day, Year Index, Match Find Trim Sumif Count, Countif If, and, or Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
http://www.mrexcel.com/ I did our entire production scheduling system from costing, outsourced parts ordering, individual machine scheduling, purchasing, cut lists, etc. using Excel and VBA. Not the greatest tool for the job, but it turned about 4 1/2 days worth of work into literally the click of a button. The forums on mrexcel.com were priceless. I would second mrexcel.com. Also, reverse engineering someone else's work. With about 10 formulas and pivot tables you can do 99% of what you need to do. Vlookup Concatenate Subtotal Left, Right, Mid Len Month, Day, Year Index, Match Find Trim Sumif Count, Countif If, and, or I would concur. That's just about all I ever use. I don't fool with pivot tables though. Never had the need. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 5:25:59 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Dumming down of america Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
"pivot tables" were mentioned. had one project where the lead thought these were a great idea I've told the higher ups I'd sooner quit than do those again. I still believe this. I will never do that again!
Dumming down of america whutevar Some people not liking/doing/using pivot tables will not be the end of civilization, so don't go about getting your panties all up in a twist. |
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Posted: 1/29/2015 5:27:10 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I would concur. That's just about all I ever use. I don't fool with pivot tables though. Never had the need. Did the trick for getting some meaningful data out of a 534,784 x 30 spreadsheet.
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Posted: 1/29/2015 5:29:22 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I would concur. That's just about all I ever use. I don't fool with pivot tables though. Never had the need. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
http://www.mrexcel.com/ I did our entire production scheduling system from costing, outsourced parts ordering, individual machine scheduling, purchasing, cut lists, etc. using Excel and VBA. Not the greatest tool for the job, but it turned about 4 1/2 days worth of work into literally the click of a button. The forums on mrexcel.com were priceless. I would second mrexcel.com. Also, reverse engineering someone else's work. With about 10 formulas and pivot tables you can do 99% of what you need to do. Vlookup Concatenate Subtotal Left, Right, Mid Len Month, Day, Year Index, Match Find Trim Sumif Count, Countif If, and, or I would concur. That's just about all I ever use. I don't fool with pivot tables though. Never had the need. Lived on pivot tables for years at my job. Txl |
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