Forum Discussion
Just learned IF, DATEDIF, and VLOOKUP today
IF was nice to me
DATEDIF was surprisingly helpful :)
VLOOKUP? Felt like trying to text someone who only replies to you when you say the exact right words in the exact right order
Anyway I survived!
Next up is pivot tables and charting. Anyone got some beginner tips or tricks to make these less scary?
2 Replies
I will second Hans's recommendation of ExcelJet; it's an excellent resource, full of great examples.
And the other mental trick I hold dear: if you come to a place where you're thinking to yourself, "I wish somebody would make it do _____________!" then take it as a given: somebody has.
Somewhere in the vast library of Excel functions or tools, somebody has in fact written the function that does what you want it to. Your task is to "stop wishing" and go look for it. For the most part--and here's where a resource like ExcelJet can be most helpful--the built-in functions have intuitive names (i.e., they do what they sound like). VLOOKUP is a case in point.
Ah, one other thing, often commented on in this forum: there are often several different ways to get from Point A to Point B, several different functions or combinations of functions that will deliver the desired result. VLOOKUP, for example, is what I relied on a lot back in the day. It still works, but now there are other ways to get the same result, sometimes with greater ease.
I found Excel Easy useful to learn about Excel features, and Exceljet is my go-to reference for worksheet functions.
