Microsoft Excel for Beginners: Quickly Create Your First Excel Spreadsheet

1. Excel for Beginners Complete Guide: If you're new to Excel or have a little experience with it, don't worry. This is the complete course for beginners. I promise you, by the end, you'll have all the skills you need to get started using Excel effectively. As you watch and follow along, you'll build confidence step by step. Don't be intimidated by Excel. You can absolutely do this. My name is Paul, and I'm here to guide you through each part of this course. I've taught Excel to many beginners, and I know how to make it easy to understand. This course works with any version of Excel, whether you're using the desktop version or the web version, so it doesn't matter what version you have. You'll be able to follow along. I designed this course to be as clear and straightforward as possible. So you'll find Noflov or unnecessary repetition here. Every lesson is crafted to respect your time, focusing on essentials without dragging on. With each lesson, you'll quickly build the skills you need to work confidently in Excel. You also have access to downloadable resources like PDF guides, cheat sheets, and templates to help you as you go along. These resources are designed to support your learning and make it easy for you to apply the skills you gain. In this course, you'll learn how to set up and organize your workbook so you can start your first spreadsheet with confidence. Enter and manage data the right way to make working and Excel faster and easier. Use formulas in essential functions like sum, average, and more to handle calculations. Format numbers, texts, and sales, so your data looks clear and neat. Make simple charts to turn your data into helpful visuals. Use print and publishing tools to share your work with others. I've also made sure that this course includes tips for both the web version of Excel and the desktop version. So no matter which you use, you'll be covered. Plus, we'll go over useful keyboard shortcuts for both Windows and Mac users to help you navigate Excel faster and more efficiently. This course is designed specifically for beginners, whether you're a student, a professional or anyone wanting to get more organized with Excel and save time. Each lesson is simple and you'll build skill as you go. With this approach, you can learn Excel efficiently and effectively. At the end of the course, there's a hands on final project where you create your first Excel spreadsheet to practice everything you've learned. If you're ready to start, join me and let's make Excel easy. Let's get started and you'll be surprised how much you can do. 2. Introduction to Excel for the Web & Desktop: Whether you're using the web version or the desktop version, Excel is an incredibly powerful tool for organizing data, performing calculations, and creating reports. Today we'll walk through the basics of both versions so you can feel comfortable using Excel no matter which one you choose. When you first open Excel, whether you're on the web or desktop, you'll be greeted with a home screen. If you use Excel before, you're likely to see a list of your recent documents. However, for now, let's focus on starting fresh. To do that, simply click on the option to create new blank workbook. Now that you have a blank workbook open, let's take a moment to understand the layout and key components of the screen. In Excel, everything works within what we call a workbook. A workbook is essentially a collection of sheets, and each sheet is like a spreadsheet, and each sheet is like a separate page within that workbook. You'll notice that at the bottom of your screen, you'll see sheet one. This is your first sheet. And if you want to add more, simply click on the plus sign at the bottom. Now, let's look at the heart of Excel. The grid. The grid is made up of columns and rows. Columns are vertical, labeled A, B, C, and so on. While rows run horizontally or labeled one, two, three, et cetera. Where a column and row intersected, a cell is formed. These cells are where you will enter your data. For example, if you click on the cell in the first column, which is A, and the first row, which is number one, you'll be in the cell A one. Whenever you select a cell, you'll see its address appear in the name box in the top left corner. This helps you keep track of where you are. Now, let's talk about how to select multiple cells at once. This is useful when you're working with larger chunks of data, for example, if you click and drag from cell A one to cell B five, you're selecting a range of cells. A range is simply a group of cells you've selected, and we'll be using these often as we move into formulas and other Excel features. At the top of your screen, you'll notice the ribbon, which contains various tabs such as home, insert, page, layout, and data. Each tab is full of tools and options that are grouped together based on their function. For instance, the home tab contains tools for formatting, like font styles, text alignment, and number formatting. If you click on a tab, you'll see that the ribbon changes to display the tools available under that tab. On the top left corner of your screen, you'll find a quick access toolbar. This toolbar provides shortcuts for frequently used actions like save undo or redo. You can also customize this toolbar by adding any tools you use often. Just below the ribbon, you'll see the formula bar. This bar is extremely useful, especially when working with formulas. When you enter data into a cell, it appears here in the formula bar, and you can also use it to view or edit formulas you've entered. Once you have entered some data, it's time to save your work. To do this, click on file in the top left corner of the screen. Then select Save As. Choose a location where you'd like to save your workbook, give it a name something like Excel Basics Practice. Now, let's take a moment to compare two versions of Excel, the web version and the desktop version. Excel for the web is Cloud based, meaning you can access it through your web browser. It's completely free to use with a Microsoft account, but it does have some limitation compared to the desktop version. For example, while you can enter data, perform basic calculation, and create simple charts. So advanced features are missing. On the other hand, Excel for Desktop is in the full version that you install on your computer. It includes all the features of the web version, plus more advanced tools like Power Pivot, Power Query, and advanced charting options. The desktop version is ideal for users who need to do more complex task like creating larger data models or working with macros. Plus, you can use it offline. Which is not possible with the web version. Let's quickly go over some essential keyboard shortcuts for both Windows and Mac users. These shortcuts will help you navigate Excel more efficiently, no matter which version you're using. For Windows user, Control plus N is for new workbook. Control plus S is to save workbook. Control plus C is to copy, control X for cut, control V for paste, Control Z for undo. Control plus F for fine, Control plus B for print, Control plus the rookies is to move quickly across large ranges of data. For Mac users, command plus N is for new workbook. Command plus S is for save workbook. Command plus C is to copy, Command plus X is to cut. Command plus V is for paste, Command plus Z, is for undo Command plus F is for fine, Command plus B is for print. Command plus arrow keys is for move quickly across large ranges of data. The shortcuts for the web versions are very similar to the desktop version, though they might be slight differences depending on the browser you're using. Exploring the features, now that you're familiar with the layout, I encourage you to explore the ribbon and try out the tools available in the hometap. The more you experiment with the features and try entering data into your workbook, the more comfortable you'll become using Excel. Take your time to explore and practice navigating between the ribbon, formula bar, and the grid of cells. With these basics under your belt, you're now ready to start using Excel, whether you're working in the web version or desktop version, both offering similar functionality for beginners. So you can choose the one that works best for you. Remember, the more you practice, the quicker and more efficient you'll become. In our next lesson, we'll dive deeper into entering and managing sales value in Microsoft Excel. But feel free to go back and review this lesson. Download any available resources, and then we'll move on to the next steps. I hope you're finding this lesson clear and easy to follow. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask in the Q&A or discussion section. I'm here to help you succeed. We're always happy to update the lessons to keep improving this course for you. So please reach out anytime. 3. Understanding Excel Basics – Workbook, Spreadsheet Layout, and Key Tools: Welcome to the lesson on entering and managing sale values in Microsoft Excel. In this lesson, we'll cover how to enter data into sales. Use Excel's autofil feature, edit values, and format your data properly. We'll also explore some useful shortcuts that will make your work much easier and faster. Let's say you work for a small business and your manager has asked you to create a peril spreadsheet for employees. You need to set up a few basic columns, employee ID numbers in column A, employee names in column B, and then information about the wages and hours work in column C and D. Let's walk through how to enter data into these cells step by step. The first thing to remember when entering data into Excel is that you need to select the cell where you want the data to go. There's an old saying that I always keep in mind, select to affect. This means that to make any changes to your spreadsheet, you first have to click on the cell you want to modify. For example, if you want to enter data into cell A one, simply click on it. After clicking, you can start typing the data. Let's enter the employee ID for the first employee. I'll type number one into cell A. But here's the important thing. The data is not officially entered into the cell until you press Enter on your keyboard. When you press Enter, you'll notice that the active cell moves down to the next cell, which is a two. And you're ready to enter the next piece of data. You can keep entering data manually like this for each employee, but it can get repetitive. Fortunately, Excel has a feature called autofil handle that makes this process easier. The autofill handle can identify patterns and automatically extend them for you. For example, if we're entering employee ID starting from number one, Excel will recognize the pattern of adding one each time. To use this feature, click on the cell A one. Then click and drag the small green square of the bottom right corner of the cell. This is the autofil handle. When your mouse pointer turns into a black plus sign, hold down the mouse button and drag downwards. Excel will automatically fill in the numbers one, two, three, and so on. This sips a lot of time. Next, let's move on to entering employee names in column B. I'll click on Cell B one and type the name of the first employee, Mark Johnson. After typing the name, press Enter, and the cursor will move down to the next row. Or you can type the name of the next employee. Now, let's talk about correcting mistakes. If you make a typo such as writing Morc instead of mark, don't worry. The difference between clicking on a cell and clicking inside a cell is important here. When you click on a cell and start typing, it erases everything that was in that cell. But if you double click on the cell, you enter the editing mode and you can move the cursor to the exact spot where the error is and fix it without erasing everything. Once you made the correction, press Enter again, and the new name will be updated. Now, let's say you need to move between cells while entering data. If you press Tab on your keyboard, it will move the cursor to the next cell to the right. Press Shift plus tab to move the cursor back to the left. You can also press Enter to move down or Ship plus Enter to move up. This is useful when you're filling in a lot of data quickly. For example, I'll enter the hourly wage in Cell C one. To do this, just click on SLC one, type the wage and press Enter. Then I'll move to the next column, enter the number of hours work in column D. Now, let's talk about copy and clearing data. If you want to copy data from one cell to another, you can simply use the keyboard shortcut Control plus C to copy and Control plus V to paste. You can also use the buttons in the Home tab on the ribbon or right click the cell and choose copy and paste. If you only need to copy one value like wage across multiple cell, the autofil handle can help again. Just select the cell you want to copy, drag the autofil handle down to fill the cell with the same value. But what if you need to delete or clear information in the cell? You can either overwrite the data by typing something new or use the delete key to clear it. If you want to clear everything, including formatting, right click the cell, choose clear contents. As you're entering data, it's important to have clear headings for each column. This helps you and others understand what each column represents. For example, in row one, I'll enter employee ID in a cell A one, name in cell B one, hourly wage in the cell C one, and so on. You may notice that some of the text doesn't fit within the columns. If that happens, you can adjust the column manually by clicking and dragging the borders between column letters. A quicker way is to select the columns you want to resize, then double click the border between any two column letters, and Excel will automatically adjust the width to fit the longest text in each column. Lastly, as you work with your spreadsheet, you might realize you need to add more rows or columns. You can easily insert new rows or columns by right clicking on a row or column number and selecting inserts. This is useful when you need to add new data or adjust the layout of your spreadsheet. By following these simple stamps, you can easily enter, copy, edit, and organize data in Excel. These basic techniques will help you manage your spreadsheet more efficiently, saving you time and effort. Keep practicing and soon we'll be comfortable with these shortcuts and features. Remember, Excel is a powerful tool, and the more you use it, the easier it becomes. Keep going and you'll master Excel in no time. 4. How to Use Formulas in Excel - A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners: Welcome to this lesson and using formulas in Excel. In this segment, we're going to focus on how to use Excel's built in functions to make calculations quickly and easily. Whether you're new to Excel or just want to improve your skills, these lessons will give you the foundation you need to perform calculations effectively. Let's start by talking about a common task you might need to do in Excel. Calculating the total taxable income for employees. For this, we need to multiply each employee's wage by the number of hours they work. You might think you could just do this in your head or use a calculator. But this is exactly where Excel shines. It's more than just a spreadsheet. It's also a powerful calculator that can handle all kinds of math equations. Now, let's jump into how we can set this up in Excel. For this example, we'll use L E two to create our first formula. When you're creating a formula in Excel, the first thing you need to do is to type the equal sign. This tells Excel that what follows is a formula, not just a regular number. If you're like me, when I first started using Excel, you might be thinking, why do I need to type the equal sign? Well, it's similar to algebra. In algebra, we often have formulas like X equals Y plus 10/3. Excel works the same way. Each cell is like a variable, and we can use formulas to do the math. Let's start by clicking on cell E two and typing equals. Now we need to calculate the taxable income. I'll type in 13.9, which is the wage and multiply it by 158. The number of hours worked. In Excel, we use the asterisk symbol to multiply. So the formula will look like this, 13.9 asters 158. After typing that, press Enter and you'll get the taxable income for the employee. This is one way to do it by typing the numbers directly into the formula. But there's an even better way to do it that makes the formula dynamic, which means it will update if the numbers instead of typing the numbers, let's use cell references. When I type equals, I can click on the cell that contains the wage, which is C two, and then type the asterisk for multiplication. Next, I click on the cell with the hours worked, which is D two. Now, my formula looks like this. C two asterisk D two. You'll notice that Excel highlights the cell in different colors so you can clearly see which cells you're working with. Once I press Enter, Excel will calculate the taxable income for you. The best part is that this formula is now dynamic. If the wage of the hours work changes, the taxable income will automatically update. For example, if I change the wage from 13.9 to 14.25 in the cell C two, the taxable income will update instantly. This is much better way to create a formula because you don't need to manually update the numbers every time they change. Now, let's explore a third method for creating formulas. Instead of typing the cell reference directly, you can simply click on the cells. Let's click on the cell E three. Type equals, and then click on the cell C three, the wage and D three, the hours worked. Once you press Enter, Excel will calculate the taxable income just like before. You'll notice that the formula in cell E three looks like equals C three, asterisk D three. Now, let's talk about a feature that will save you a lot of time. Autofil handle. The autofil handle is a small square in the bottom right corner of a cell. When you see this, you can click and drag it to fill in the formula for other cells. But here's a quicker way to do it. Double click the autofil handle. This will automatically fill the formula down the entire column. So you don't have to keep typing the formula over and over again. This works because Excel uses relative cell references by default. This means that when you copy the formula down, Excel automatically adjusts the references. For example, in cell E two, the formula looks at C two, wage and D 2 hours worked when you copy it down to the next row, Excel changes the references to C three and D three for the next employee and so on. But what if you want to use a fixed reference for something like a tax rate, which doesn't change. Let's say the tax rate is 7%. We entered this as 0.07 in the cell H one. Now, we want to calculate the taxes to be paid for each employee based on their taxable income. To do this, click on the Sale F two and type equals E two, AsterisHI. This multiplies the taxable income by the tax rate in the sell H one. When you press Enter, you'll get the taxes for the first employee. But wait, when we use the autofil handle to copy the formula down, it doesn't work as expected. Why is that? It's because we're using relative sale references for H one. When we copy the formula down, Excel changes the reference for the tax rate and the formula becomes incorrect. To fix this, we need to use an absolute reference for H one. Absolute references are fixed, meaning they don't change when you copy the formula. To make a reference absolute, add dollar sign before the column row. Like this, $1 H dollar one. Now, when we copy the formula down, the reference to H one stays fixed and the tax rate is applied correctly. Once you've done this, double click the autofi handle and the formula will be copied down to the other rows. You can check that each formula is referring to H one for the tax rate. Finally, let's talk about errors. Sometimes Excel will show an error message like number sign DIV four slash zero. If you try to divide by zero, don't panic. This is normal. Excel is warning you that something went wrong. If you see an error like this, just check your formula and fix it. Excel may also give you a warning if it thinks there's a potential mistake in your formula, like dividing by zero or using incorrect references. You can either accept the correction or fix it yourself. One last step. You can name cells and range to make your formulas more readable. For example, instead of referring to cell E two, you can give it a name like taxable income. To do this, select the cell, go to the name box just above the spreadsheet. And type the name you want. Now, in your formula, you can use the name instead of the cell reference. This can make your formulas easier to understand. In conclusion, mastering Excel formulas is a powerful skill that can save you time and help you work more efficiently. Whether you're doing basic calculations or more complex analysis, Excel is a great tool that can handle it. Keep practicing and experimenting with formulas, and soon you'll feel confident using them in your everyday work. If you're finding the course helpful so far, I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a quick review whenever you can. Your feedback not only helps me improve the course, but also helps guide others in deciding if it's the right fit for them. Thank you for your dedication to learning. Let's keep up the great work together. 5. Understanding Excel Functions for Beginners: In this lesson, we'll focus on understanding functions and how they work in Excel. Now, many people get confused between formulas and function in Excel, even in some other videos you might have seen. But don't worry, by the end of this lesson, you'll understand the difference and how to use them correctly. To start, let's talk about the very first function we'll cover. So. Imagine you are working on a project where you need to add up all the hours worked by employees or the taxable income to be paid. In Excel, you can do this in just a few simple steps. For example, if you want to add up the total hours worked, you could scroll down to the bottom of the data, where you have the hours listed in the column D. Now, let's say you want to calculate the total. You can go to the cell at the bottom. In this case, D 72 and type equals. Which is the signal to Excel that you're about to write a formula. Instead of just typing a simple equation, we're going to use a function, specifically the sum function. As soon as you type S, Excel will automatically try to guess what functions you're looking for. It will suggest sum, and it will show you a little description saying that this function adds up a range of numbers. This is exactly what we want. So go ahead and click on. Now Excel will expect you to provide numbers or range of numbers you want to add. To specify a range, all you have to do is to tell Excel where it starts and ends. You can use the column symbol to describe a range. For instance, if you want to add all the hours from D two down to D 71, you would type D two, column D 71. Then you close the parentheses and press Enter. Excel will then give you the total of all the hours in that range. It's that easy. But let's look at another way to do this. Instead of typing the cell references manually, you can just click and drag to select the entire range. Click on the cell D two and drag all the way down to D 71. Then hit Enter and you'll get the same results. Now, one of the cool features of Excel is the Autosund function. This is especially helpful if you don't want to type out the formula. Here's how it works. Select the cell beneath your data. In this case, D 72, go to the home tab and look for the autosound button in the editing group. It looks like the Greek letter Sigma. Click on it, and Excel will automatically guess the range it should sum up. Just press Enter and you're done. This is often the fastest way to get a sum. And it's great when you're working with long columns of data. Next, let's take a look at how to add labels to your totals. After calculating the total, you can type total or total hours in the cell next to it. You might want to make a labeled bold, so go to the Home tab and click on the bold button. Or you can use the formatting options to adjust the alignment. Now, let's do something similar with taxable income. Instead of typing the formula from scratch, you can use the autofil feature to copy the formula over to the next column. Simply click on the square in the bottom right corner of the cell with the formula, D 72 and drag it over to the next column. Excel will adjust the formula for you. So it works for new data. This is a big time saver. We've seen how the sum functions works, but Excel has many other useful functions like average, max, mean, and count. Let's move on to the average function. This one calculates the average of a set of numbers. To use it, click on Cell D 73. Type equals average and then select the range you want to calculate the average four, just like we did with sum. In this case, you'll want to select D two, column D 71, and heat Enter. Now you know the average number of hours worked. Let's also take a look at the max and main function. These are great for finding the highest and the lowest values in your data. For example, let's say you want to know the maximum number of hours worked by any employee. I cell D 74 type equals max open parenthesis, D two, column D 71, close parenthesis, press Enter, and Excel will show you the highest number. To find the lowest value, use equal sign, Min, open parenthesis, D two, column D 71, close parenthesis in cell D 75, and press Enter. These functions make it easy to find the highest and lowest values without scanning through the data manually. Lastly, let's talk about counting the numbers of enters in the range using the count function. In the cell D 76, type equals count, open parenthesis, D two, column D 71, close parenthesis and press Enter. Excel will count how many cells in that range contained numbers. This is useful when you want to know how many employees you have or how many entries are in a dataset. If you need to perform this calculation on a specific range of data, you can also use name ranges. For example, if you have range of cells labeled as taxes owed, you can use that label in your formula. So in cell F 72, type equal sum, open parenthesis, taxes owed. Close parenthesis and press Enter. Excel will recognize the name, taxes owed and sum up all the values in that range for you. As you can see, Excel is a powerful tool for working with numbers. Functions like sum, average, max, min, and count are just the beginning. There are so many more functions that can help you with the task like counting specific items, finding trends, and analyzing data. Remember, learning Excel functions can save you a lot of time and effort, and they make working with data so much easier. Stay consistent and read practice, you'll be using these functions like a pro. Keep exploring and don't be afraid to try new things in Excel. You've got 6. How to Format Data in Excel: Numbers, Text, Rows, and Columns: In this lesson, we're going to cover how to modify and format data in Excel. Whether you're dealing with numbers, texts, or even who rows and columns, I'll show you how to make your data easier to understand and more visually appealing. Let's start by formatting numbers. You may have noticed that when we look at a spreadsheet, sometimes it's hard to tell what type of data we are dealing with, especially when you have numbers like money and regular numbers side by side. For example, in this case, we have a taxable income and hours work, and they all just look like numbers. Let's fix that. First, click on the column letter at the top of the column you want to format. For example, I click on the column C to select the entire column. Now, if you look at the top of your screen, you'll see the home tab. In the number group, you'll see an option for different number formats. Right now, it's set to general. Which is the default. If I click on the small arrow beside it, I get a list of options. Let's choose currency. Now you can see the difference. It's clear that the numbers in column C are representing money, and that makes them much easier to understand at a glance. But sometimes you might want to use slightly different format like accounting. If I change to accounting, you'll notice the dollar sign or a line to the left and the numbers look a bit cleaner. The key difference here is that with accounting, the dollar sign are separated from the numbers, which can help make your data easier to you can use the same technique for other types of numbers like dates or percentage. There are many other number formats in Excel that can be helpful, such as fractions or scientific notation. But for now, we'll stick to the basics. Now let's move on to formatting text. By default, Excel will align text to the left of the cell. If I click on any cell that contains text, you'll see that it's aligned to the left while numbers are aligned to the right. You can change this if you want. To change the alignment, go to the Home tab and in the alignment group, you'll see options like left, center, and right. You can easily change the alignment by clicking on any of these options. For example, if I want to center my text, I click the center button. You can also change the format of your text by selecting the text option in the number group. This tells Excel that the data you're working with is text, and it helps Excel know how to treat the data. Next, let's look at how to form an entire rows and columns. Let's say you want to highlight the first row of your data to make it stand out. I'll click on row one to select the entire row. Then I'll go to the Home tab and click on the bold button in the font group. Now, Row one is bolded, and it clearly stands out from the rest of the data. This is a good way to indicate that the first row contains column labels, not actual data. If you want to do something else like change the background color of a row, you can just do that too. Just select the row, then go to the Home tab and in the font group, click on the paint bucket icon. Choose the desired color, and then the row will be highlighted. Now, let's talk about a shortcut that will save you time. If youll format it exactly the way you want and you want to apply the same format to other cells, you can use the Format Painter tool. This tool is located in the home tab in the clipboard group. Select the cell with the formatting you want and then click on the Format Painter button. After that, click on any other cell, and it will take on the same formatting. But here's a neat trick. If you want to apply the same format to multiple cells, double click the Format Painter button. Now you can keep clicking on different cells and they will all take on the same formatting. When you're done, just press the escape key to turn off the format painter. Another cool feature in Excel is the Auto format, which allows you to apply a predefined format to your data quickly. To use Auto format, first, add it to your Quick Access toolbar by clicking on the small drop down arrow at the top left of your screen. Select more commands, then choose all commands and find the Auto format in the list. Click Add, then click Okay. Now you'll see the AutoFormat button in your Quick Access toolbar. To use AutoFormat simply click anywhere in your data. Then click in the AutoFormat button. A list of different formatting styles will appear. Just the one you like, click Okay, and your data will instantly be formatted in that style. I hope you're feeling more comfortable with formatting in Excel now. These tips and tricks will help you make your data clearer and more professional. Remember, Excel is all about making your data easy to read and understand, by using the right formatting tools, you can turn a messy spreadsheet into something that looks clean and polished. 7. How to Create Basic Charts in Excel - A Step-by-Step Guide: Today, we're going to learn how to create some basic charts in Excel. Charts are a powerful way to visualize your data and make it easier to understand. There are a few different ways to create charts, but we'll start with one of the easiest methods. The first thing we need to do is to make sure we can clearly see the data we want to chart. If you're working on a large spreadsheet, it might be hard to view everything at once. So we're using the Zoom feature to adjust the view. Look down at the bottom right of your screen. There's a Zoom slider. Click and hold a slider and drag it to the left to zoom out a bit. This will help you see more of your data on the screen. Next, we need to highlight the data that we want to use for our chart. You do this by clicking and dragging over the sales that have the important information. For example, if you're looking at a list of employees, you might want to highlight their names, hourly wages and hours work, but you probably don't need things like the tax rate or totals for now. So just highlight the data that matters. Now that we've selected our data, it's time to create the chart. Here's the quick way to do it. Hold down the Alt key or the option key on your keyboard and press F one key. This is a shortcut that automatically creates a chart for you based on the data you selected. Take a look. Excel has created a chart for you. It's not perfect, but it's a great starting point. If you look at the chart, you'll see that Excel tried to display all the information in one chart. You've got names, employee IDs, hourly wages, hours worked, and other data all in one place. It might look a bit crowded, though. This happens because you selected a lot of data at once, but don't worry, we can make it better. Click on the chart to select it. You'll notice a few new options appear at the top of your screen. One of these option is chart design. Click on this. Now, let's change the chart type to something that might work better for your data. For example, you can click Change Chart Time. And then choose something like a clustered column chart. This will make the chart easier to read because it separates the data into distinct columns. Once you've selected it, click Okay, and the chart will update. If you don't like how the data looks, it's okay. You can always go back to chart design and change the chart type again. For example, you can try a pie chart or another style. But remember, when you select all of your data at once, Excel might have a hard time creating a perfect chart. It is usually better to select a smaller portion of data that makes sense for the chart. Once you have a chart you like, you can customize it further. For example, let's add a chart title. With the chart selected, go up to Chart Design again and click on Add Chart Element. From the list, choose Chart title and place it above your chart. Now, click on the title text and type in something like summary chart. You can also adjust the title by triple clicking the text to edit it if needed. You can add other elements like Axis Titles too. If you want, click on Add Chart Element again. And choose access titles. You can add a horizontal access title and a vertical access title to make your chart even clearer. At this point, you can see that the chart is already looking much better. But remember, it is important not to try and fit too much data into one chart. If you're working with a lot of information, it's best to break it up. Into smaller simpler charts. As you practice creating charts in Excel, you'll get better at selecting the right data and choosing the best chart for the job. Don't forget, when you need a quick chart, just hold the Alt key or option key and press F one, and Excel will create one for you automatically. In conclusion, charts are a great way to visualize your data and make it more understandable. Today, you've learned how to create a simple chart using Alt or Option plus F one shortcut. How to change the chart type and how to add chart elements like titles. Remember, practice makes perfect. The more you work with charts, the more comfortable you'll become. Keep exploring and experimenting with different types of charts, and soon we'll be creating charts like a pro. 8. Printing and Publishing Your Excel Spreadsheet: In this lesson, we're going to explore how to print and publish your spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel. This is an important skill to master, because in many situations, you will need to share your work with others, either by printing it or publishing it digitally. Let's imagine you finish a spreadsheet that includes some data in a chart. Now you need to get it ready to print and hand out. But there's a question we must ask ourselves. Will everything fit on the printed page? To check this, go to the File Tab and click on Print. This will open the print preview. You should see a preview of your document on the screen. Let's say your spreadsheet looks fine on the first page, but when you scroll down, you see that it's spilling over to additional pages. In my case, I see that my chart is taking a part of the next page, and that's something we might want to fix. Now, you might notice that there's some extra content like a word or a small section. That's not quite fitting the way you want. The next step is to make sure the document fits nicely. One way to adjust the layout is to change the page orientation. Go to the page layout tab in the page set of section. You will see an option called orientation. By default, it's set to portray. But if you switch it to landscape, you might be able to fit more data across the page. After you change the orientation to landscape, go back to the File tab and click on Print again. Notice how much better the data fits, the data now spreads across the page more evenly. But my chart is still causing some issues. So what can we do about that chart? Let's go to the View tab and click on Page Break preview. This will show you where the page breaks are. You will see blue dashed lines on your spreadsheet. These lines indicate where each page will end. You can click and drag these dashes lines to move the page breaks. I am going to drag the page break so that the chart is no longer in the middle of the second page. Now, let's go back to the normal view and check the preview again. Now, my data fits nicely on just two pages instead of four. The chart is now properly placed and everything looks much cleaner. Now that your spreadsheet looks perfect, you can decide how many copies you want to print. For example, if you need two copies, you can adjust that setting. Also, make sure you've selected the correct printer. If you don't have a printer, don't worry. Excel allows you to print to a PDF instead. Simply click on the drat down menu under the printer selection, and you can choose to print to a PDF. Let's talk about a few other printing options. In the print setting, you can choose to print only the active sheet, print the entire workbook, or print a selection. If I just want a part of the spreadsheet, I can highlight the part and select print selection instead of printing the entire sheet. There's another useful option called custom scaling. If you want all of your data to fit on one page, you can select Fit Sheet on one page. This will shrink the printout so everything fits on a single page. Keep in mind, though, that if your spreadsheet is large, this will make the text very small and might be hard to read. Once you've made all your adjustments, click Print. If you're printing to a PDF, Excel will ask you where you want to save the file. Just a location on your computer, give it a name and save it. Now, you have a beautiful PDF file that you can easily email or upload to the web. Speaking of sh Excel offers other ways to share your document. You can click on the Share button, which allows you to upload your document to OneDrive. Once it's uploaded, you can share a link with others. You can also attach your document as an Excel file or PDF and send it via email. Another way to save your file is by using the Save As option. From there, you can choose to save it as an Excel workbook, a ESB file, a PDF, or even an HTML web page. It's important to be aware of these different formats because they can help you share and publish your work in a way that's convenient for others. And that's it. You now know how to print, save and publish your Excel spreadsheet. Whether you're printing to hand out in a meeting, saving a PDF for email or uploading your document to OneDrive for easy sharing, these skills will help you work more efficiently and share your work with others. 9. Project Create Your First Excel Spreadsheet: A Hands-on Project for Beginners: In this lesson, we'll be working together on a hands on project where you will create your very own spreadsheet using the skills you've learned throughout the lessons. Whether you're using Excel for personal organization or work, this project will give you the confidence to apply what you've learned in the real world scenario. By the end of this project, you'll have a functional and well organized spreadsheet, plus the confidence to keep exploring and learning more Excel skills. For this project, you'll create a simple Excel spreadsheet for tracking any type of data that's important to you. It could be tracking your expenses, organizing a contact list, managing a small project, or something else entirely. The focus is on applying the core Excel skills, formatting using formulas, grading charts, and preparing your spreadsheet for sharing or printing. Think about the type of data you want to track in Excel. Here are a few examples. Personal expense tracker. Track your monthly expense like groceries, bills, and entertainment. Task list, create a list of tasks or projects with deadlines and status updates. Contact list, organize contact details such as names, phone numbers, emails, et cetera. Sales tracker, keep track of sales numbers or inventory. Once you've chosen your project, open Excel and create a new workbook. Now, let's start entering the data. Whether it's a list of expenses or task, input the relevant information into rows and columns. You can add as much or as little data as you like, but try to include at least a few rows of data so you can practice using Excel features. Tip, start with simple column headers like item, date, amount, category, or any other headers that fit your data type. Once you've entered your data, it's time to make it look clean and organized. This will help you read and analyze the data more easily. Here are some basic formatting tips. Bold the headers of your columns to make them stand out. Resize the columns to fit the text by double clicking the line between column letters at the top, like between A and B. Use cell borders to make your table more visually clear. Select the data you want to border, then use the borders stool under the hometown. Format your data by using the format a stable feature, which automatically gives your data a professional look. Formulas are one of the most powerful features of Excel. Let's add a few formulas to make your data more useful. Visualizing your data with a chart makes it easier to understand at a glance. Once your data looks organized and your chart is ready, you might want to share your work. Once you've completed all the steps, it's time to submit your project. Step number one, take a screenshot of your spreadsheet or upload a PDF version of your work. Step two, share your project in the community. Don't forget to explain what your spreadsheet is tracking and how Excel helps you organize and analyze your data. Step number three, feel free to ask questions or request feedback from others. That's it. Congratulations on completing this hands on project. You have successfully created your first Excel spreadsheet and apply the core skills you've learned. This project is just the beginning and encourage you to continue experimenting with Excel to unlock even more features. Remember, the more you practice, the better you'll get. Excel is a powerful tool, and now you have the basic foundation to keep learning and improving. I'd love to see your project. Don't forget to share it with the community and ask any questions you may have. 10. Course Completion: Congratulations. You've successfully completed the entire Excel for beginners scores. That's a huge achievement. You put in the effort, learned new skills, and made progress every step of the way. Take a moment to give yourself a well deserved pat on the back. You've earned it. At this point, you have everything you need to start using Excel effectively. Yes, there's always more to learn, but you now have all the essential skills to be successful. I hope you're feeling confident in what you've learned so far. And I encourage you to keep practicing to strengthen your skills. Learning is a journey, and this course is just one step along the way. There's so much more to explore, and I hope you continue to challenge yourself and grow in your Excel abilities. The more you practice, the more confident you'll become. This course helped you, I'd really appreciate it if you could take a moment to leave a review. Your feedback not only helps me improve the course, but also guides others in deciding if this course is right for them. It's a small action that makes a big difference, and I truly value your opinion. Also, don't forget to check out my other classes. There's always more to learn. And I'd love to have you join me again. Thank you so much for being part of this learning experience. I can't wait to see what you can accomplish next. Before you go, be sure to follow me here on Skillshare so you stay updated on new classes and upcoming lessons. There's always something more to learn and I love for you to join me again. Thank you so much for being part of this learning experience. I can't wait to see all the amazing things you'll accomplish next.