Home Tips Effective Excel for Beginners: 7 Tips from Best Writers

Effective Excel for Beginners: 7 Tips from Best Writers

by Tracy Finke

Data analysts, marketers, accountants, and other specialists use Microsoft Excel in their daily work. They need this software to store data, arrange it in a proper way, and track the needed data sets. Using excel for beginners may be complicated, but practice leads to perfection.

The core functions of Excel are organizing data, filtering information, and ensuring effective visualization. Excel is used by accountants, but any specialist who works with datasets needs it to manage a lot of data. There are many examples of applications on the basis of Excel, including budgets, balance sheets, data calculators, editorial calendars, and many others.

Thus, it is essential for students to complete excel homework and demonstrate their skills and knowledge with each application. Visit Cheap-papers.com if you need excel homework help.

What should you know if you need to use Excel as a solution to your problem with the data? Just learn how to input the needed data into columns and rows! After that you can use the functions and formulas.

Is It Necessary to Be Good at Using Excel?

Most people know that it is needed for those who have to create tables. Complex math functions, organization of the data, and even making new images are also very important. They save lots of time for the users.

Is Excel helpful only for the people who need to use numbers in their daily work? Not really! One of the valuable things Excel can do is compiling information and giving it in a comprehensible manner. You have an important project upcoming, and you can make use of Excel. There are excellent capabilities in the Excel software that can help specialists track the most complicated tasks.

Take a step aside and hold on. Do not try to master everything at once. The best way to learn how to use Excel is to master it step by step. So, with the help of the following software, you can:

1. Do Simple Math

Source: youtube.com

To start with, you can do the simplest problems with the Excel feed. You have to keep in mind that when you need to solve a problem, Excel requires an ‘equals’ sign.

So, typing =5+5 into a cell and pressing Enter, you will see the result 10 in the cell of your spreadsheet.

It is also easy to do subtraction and adding. What you need to consider is that you use (/) a forward slash instead of a division sign and (*) an asterisk instead of a multiplication sign.

2. Transform the Types of Cells

Source: youtube.com

You can enter the data using different methods. It usually depends on your aims and target results. There are various taps on the top of an Excel spreadsheet, and you can see such labels as “Home,” “Tables,” “Layout,” and others. Opening the Home tab, there is a menu “Number” of a drop-down type.

There the user can see a number of options, “Number,” “General,” “Currency,” and “Accounting.” This software sets the type of cells “general” by default.

Right click on the cell and change its type by choosing the menu option “Format Cell.” The box “Format Cells” has a number of tabs, “Alignment,” “Number,” “Font,” “Fill,” “Border,” and “Protection.”

There is a column in the Number tab with a number of cell types you can choose from. Highlight the cells and change the type of all of them at once. You can just follow the procedure in the menu “Format Cells” or choose the type you need from the drop-down menu.

3. Insert Several Columns or Rows

Source: lifewire.com

You are aware that it is easy to add a new column or row in the spreadsheet. Sometimes, you need to add several columns or rows at once. In that case, it is very time-consuming to repeat that operation multiple times.

What you need to do is to drag the mouse in the needed direction and choose the required columns or rows. Then you should use the needed click on the area you have selected and choose the option Insert. The number of the selected rows determines how many rows will be added.

4.  Filter data

Click on the tab “Data” at the page top. Click on “Filter” and get a separate menu of drop-down type in the first row to each column. Your click means that you are able now to do sorting of the data in various manners.

You get a new list with a choice of names or values. Unclick the options ‘Select All’ and choose the names you need. By clicking OK, you make the selected names go first and help dropdown menu disappear.

Thus, you include the needed values into the list. You will see that the other details have not disappeared and it is apparent in the circled row numbers. The status is “hidden.”

Learning the excel tips, you are aware that by clicking on the top button Filter, you can undo the sorting and choose again the option ‘Select All.’

5. Get Web-Based External Data

Source: support.microsoft.com

Storage of the Excel data is not always possible in several Excel workbooks. The data are external; they can exist in a certain database, access file, or on the Internet.

You can import the data into a spreadsheet with the help of the utility ‘Get External Data.’ One of the key benefits of connection to the external data is the ability to do analysis of the data regularly with no copying done every time. Thus, the process gets less time-consuming and more effective.

6. Protect workbooks and sheets

Source: lifewire.com

Sending your spreadsheet in Excel, you should ensure effective protection of the shared data. Even if you share your data, you might be not interested in changes made by someone else. Learning excel for beginners, you get to know about the built-in features for spreadsheet protection.

So, to ensure sheet protection, you need to go from the tab Review to the ribbon and then to the option Protect Sheet. Thus, you get a pop-up box and then create a unique unlock password. You can also choose which functions can be available for other users with the protection of the sheet.

7. Optimize printing

Source: georgejmount.com

Printing documents from Excel may be complicated for anyone. It is possible to avoid the obstacles and print what is needed. You may need some options as print preview, margin adjustment, fitting to a single page, selecting print, printing headers, choosing landscape vs. portrait, and spreadsheet design. Get comfortable with using Excel by investing your time into learning the options of this software. It makes sense to exert good effort as you may need this knowledge in your work.

Conclusion

It is not easy to master all the secrets of using all the functions of Excel spreadsheets; they are really valuable. Learning the secrets of Excel and developing specific skills make your first step to your brilliant career!