Picking an Excel Tutorial

So you want to learn how to use Excel? Selecting what tutorial you want can prove challenging. There are a large number of Excel tutorials to choose from. These are available both as web based courses and as books. This article can help you choose which tutorial you should pick.

Learning by using an Excel tutorial is an excellent way to save time. Often when you get a new program to use you simply dive in. This isn’t the most efficient way to learn how to use software. You spend time searching for features and often end up learning things you don’t need to know at the beginning. In short you waste time.

Learning from an excel tutorial is a great way to avoid time wasting. By using a properly structured tutorial you’ll find that you get the basics much faster. Quickly, you’ll understand where all the basic functions are and be able to use them effectively.

Choosing which tutorial to use depends a bit on your personal learning style and what you want to achieve. You might want to learn the program for work or you might want to use it for personal use. These objectives seem very different but in practise the starting steps are similar.

Learning for work generally means that you need an in-depth course. You’ll need an excel tutorial that will take you past the basics and onto the more advanced features. Advanced learning however shouldn’t be your initial aim. The best way to tackle learning a program like Excel is to learn the basics first.

A tutorial that teaches you the basics is also the best way to start from a personal learning perspective. Effectively leaning the basics and then reinforcing them enables you to gain foundations on which you can build.

Find an Excel tutorial that isn’t too long and that’ll get you through the main features of Excel quickly. Preferably work through a tutorial that gives you a real world example. I think this is especially important if you’re learning from a work or business point of view.

Any Excel tutorial that you select should cover both the input and formatting of data and the use of basic formulas. Often people faced with Excel for the first time are daunted by its array of features and functions. So it is important to find a tutorial that takes things one step at a time.

Assessing whether a web site or a book is the right place to go for your tutorial I think can be relatively easy. If you’re looking at web sites then find out if they also offer courses in Word and PowerPoint. These are the sister products to Excel. The chances are very high that any reputable site will offer them and possibly Microsoft Project.

If you’re thinking of buying a book to study with, then I’d again suggest looking at whether the book is a one off or a series of books. A good example would be the series of books for "dummies".

In summary:

1. Start learning with an easy to use Excel tutorial first
2. Find something free on the web and work through it
3. Ideally the tutorial should be based on a real world example
4. Don’t pick one that is too long or else you won’t follow it through to the end

Finally if you want to use a book for your Excel tutorial look for something that is part of a series. This also applies to Web based tutorials. Find a site that covers many basic learning courses not just Excel and you’ll be sure that they take training seriously.

Time Management Huddle: Excel tutorial
This links to my sites free Excel tutorial