Learning Excel basics

I need quick advice. I have Excel but never needed to use it. I doubt I'll need to be an expert, but I might need the basics to keep track of projects and hours. Can I teach myself - or should I sign up w/ Lynda.com or something comparable? Thanks!

Robyn wrote:I need quick advice. I have Excel but never needed to use it. I doubt I'll need to be an expert, but I might need the basics to keep track of projects and hours. Can I teach myself - or should I sign up w/ Lynda.com or something comparable? Thanks!

Hey robyn, using lynda would help or another cool little tutorial can be found at exceltutorial.info

Thanks so much! I'm going to exceltutorial now...

Robyn wrote:I need quick advice. I have Excel but never needed to use it. I doubt I'll need to be an expert, but I might need the basics to keep track of projects and hours. Can I teach myself - or should I sign up w/ Lynda.com or something comparable? Thanks!

Robyn, frankyl I wouldn't bother to pay $25 to learn Excel, even though Lynda.com is a good resource for more technical programs, especially if you don't need the advanced business/math functions that it can do. Whether you can learn from just the built-in tutorials depends on you and how you learn. But I would go here first:

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/

For basics, especially Microsoft basic courses, there are free options all over the Internet. Even Microsoft has free online training for Excel if you do a Google search. Another well-known source for free online courses is http://alison.com/ This one from Goodwill I posted some months ago in this Training section and it looks good, though I haven't used their online courses (I might do that for Access later on).

Do I remember right that you're in graphics or something like that? I remember that the first time I opened an Excel program (decades ago) I was a bit dumbfounded; it just looks like a bunch of little boxes and that's it! But now many years later I use it ALL the time, for business and personal stuff (chronic list maker!); and the formatting, color-coding options are great for organizing all kinds of stuff.

I've taught basic Excel use to a number of artists who still use it (if we lived closer, I'd offer, but I think you can find plenty of stuff online to get you going with it!), and it's come in handy whenever I had to take any of those office temp tests in a pinch. In fact, I keep all my work search records in an Excel sheet, not that I will need those much longer if there are no further tiers!

Hey Nancy - thanks! I kept financial/payment lists in Excel years ago, but Excel seemed cumbersome. I'm a Mac person and know Adobe and Apple software, but I use Word. No, I'm radio/TV/film (broadcast journalism), but I love design. On Friday I watched people at a TV station open Excel to view production schedules, and I knew I had to learn. I won't know if I make it to the final tryout stage until late next week, but regardless, learning is good.

Thanks for mentioning color coding options. Creativity helps!

Robyn wrote:Hey Nancy - thanks! I kept financial/payment lists in Excel years ago, but Excel seemed cumbersome. I'm a Mac person and know Adobe and Apple software, but I use Word. No, I'm radio/TV/film (broadcast journalism), but I love design. On Friday I watched people at a TV station open Excel to view production schedules, and I knew I had to learn. I won't know if I make it to the final tryout stage until late next week, but regardless, learning is good.

Thanks for mentioning color coding options. Creativity helps!

Oh, interesting. That's my early background also; I was in broadcast graphics, 2D and 3D animation for most of the big post houses for almost ten years, before I veered off into multimedia and then into web-related work. (Probably should have just moved to LA years ago and would have made more money in paintbox work, but alas, I stayed for the "lifestyle.")

Good luck with whatever you trying for!

Here's a link to Microsoft Excel 2007 All-in-one Desk Reference for Dummies.rar

http://www.mediafire.com/?yntml1xztm0