Getting started with excel

[johnthelemon1]

Hi, as the discussion subject states, I'm just starting out using Excel. For the most part, I have no idea what I'm able to do with excel aside from knowing that proficient use of the tool is applicable in many jobs. I figured this is something I should really try to learn early on. With that said, where do I start? I see guides all over the internet and youtube on how to learn excel as a beginner but I wish I had more context to the learning path of excel. This might be a dumb question and maybe I should jump into it and go from there, but I'd really like to hear from people who've been using excel for years to better understand it.

[#2]

@johnthelemon1 

You declare that you have 365.  From 2019 and onward, Excel has placed increasing effort upon array calculation and that has been further developed by introducing variables within the LET function that can hold arrays in memory and Lambda that allows the developer to write functions to manipulate those arrays.  Used to the full, Excel 365 has very little in common with the traditional spreadsheet.

However backward compatibility means that all the 'tips and tricks' that characterised spreadsheet development still work in 365, so you have the choice of adopting one or the other or even some personal hybrid of the two.  You will find many orders of magnitude more material on traditional techniques; everyone and their dog is willing to share their favourite tips and tricks with you (sometimes the dog would have done the better job of evaluating and presenting the material).

Besides the functions I have mentioned, I would also look at Tables and structured referencing for collecting input data and make sure you know your way around Name Manager and download the Advanced Formula Editor (provided you use English language settings).

When you start trying things out, you may have further questions to post on this or other forums.

[#3]

My own suggestion, beyond getting books along the lines of "Excel for Dummies" (which is actually a pretty good first reference book) is to think of an application that would be meaningful to you, and set to work creating it. For example, creating a budget and expense tracking system of your own. And create it yourself. Don't go get a template that somebody else has done.

Do you have a hobby? Think of the kind of records you might want to keep in connection with that hobby. Then set out to create a workbook that will do that.

Having an actual task you care about, and working on using Excel as a tool to accomplish that, is far better than just seeking to learn Excel in the abstract.

But a book--and there are loads of them--is actually a good assistant in starting out.