Lessons
What you'll learn
We start with simple concepts and build from there. You'll learn the fundamentals properly before we move ahead. That's what makes the rest stick.
- Simple to complex math formulas
- Formatting for professional presentations
- The functions people actually use every day
- Sorting and filtering massive spreadsheets
- Pivot tables, and how to use them in living spreadsheets
- Slicers, to reshape data for a different question in one click
- Graphs and charts that turn data into a readable slide
- Dashboards that put many numbers into one clear picture
A pivot table, one piece at a time
Thousands of rows go in. One answer comes out. This is the single skill that changes how people see Excel, and it's usually learned in one sitting.
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Sum of Revenue | Column Labels | ||
| 4 | Row Labels | Q1 | Q2 | Grand Total |
| 5 | Northeast | $17,138 | $19,402 | $36,540 |
| 6 | Midwest | $12,369 | $11,880 | $24,249 |
| 7 | South | $10,515 | $14,067 | $24,582 |
| 8 | West | $7,421 | $9,338 | $16,759 |
| 9 | Grand Total | $47,443 | $54,687 | $102,130 |
Slicers: ask a different question in one click
A slicer is a button that reshapes the whole report. Try one. This is exactly what it feels like in Excel.
Revenue by Rep
Click a region. The chart rebuilds itself, no formulas rewritten.
Graphs and charts: the same numbers, finally readable
Four ways to make the same kind of data readable. These are the charts we build together once the fundamentals are solid: the same figures a spreadsheet full of rows would give you, except you can take them in at a glance.
Sales by Product and Year
One ring for the product, one for the year, and slicer buttons to switch between them.
Sales Breakup % by Segment
Each tile's size is its share of sales. The big ones find themselves.
Units Sold % by State
- New Jersey
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Connecticut
- Delaware
Where the units actually went, as a share of the whole.
Profit $ Generated by Month
A year of profit in one line, so the trend is the first thing you see.
Dashboards: everything that matters, on one screen
When the numbers live in one picture, you stop hunting through tabs and start making decisions.
Before and after: one question, one answer
This is the whole job in one picture. It's the same file on both sides, and the same numbers. The only thing that changed is that somebody knew how to ask it a question.
Before example
Eight thousand order rows, exactly the way they come out of the system.
You could scroll this all day and still not know how the year went.
After example
The same file, once we ask it which region sold the most last year?
One answer you can act on.