# how to improve excel skills



## bigdan (Apr 12, 2011)

im decent in excel but no where as good as id like to be. thing is i dont even know what i need to learn - like i know i need to brush up on macro's and pivot tables but besides that i dont know what to work on. is there any resource out here that could work? i would really prefer something with exercises at the end to cement in the knowledge.

im going to be learning at work so no youtube please. well if there's something really awesome there then lemme know and i can check it out at home but for the most part id prefer non-audio/video.

thanks!


----------



## T. Valko (Apr 12, 2011)

bigdan said:


> im decent in excel but no where as good as id like to be. thing is i dont even know what i need to learn - like i know i need to brush up on macro's and pivot tables but besides that i dont know what to work on. is there any resource out here that could work? i would really prefer something with exercises at the end to cement in the knowledge.
> 
> im going to be learning at work so no youtube please. well if there's something really awesome there then lemme know and i can check it out at home but for the most part id prefer non-audio/video.
> 
> thanks!


It's really simple but it takes some time. A lot of time!

Spend 6 hours a day, every day, in these forums reading posts and trying the solutions provided. Experiment!

After about 4 - 5 years you should be good to go!


----------



## bigdan (Apr 12, 2011)

haha OK. anything more realistic? i'd like something more linear, this seems very scattered.


----------



## xenou (Apr 12, 2011)

You could do worse than spend a lot of time at Debra Dalgleish's site, which has good articles on many tools of the trade (Excel and Excel VBA):
http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html

Also for Charting (you may like to check out his links page too):
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/

As for VBA you'll learn that here for sure.  It is worthwhile to read a good book such as _Excel VBA Programming for Dummies_ and/or _Excel Power Programming_, both by John Walkenbach.  I also like the titles in the Business Solutions series: _VBA and Macros for Microsoft Excel_ (by our own "Mr Excel" Bill Jelen) and _Formulas and Functions with Microsoft Excel_ (by McFedries)


----------



## T. Valko (Apr 12, 2011)

bigdan said:


> haha OK. anything more realistic? i'd like something more linear, this seems very scattered.


Well, that's how I did it.

Did it work? Check out my signature!


----------



## bigdan (Apr 12, 2011)

got it. are there any notable books that come to mind? same as with above, with books id prefer to have end of chapter assignments in order to solidify learning.


----------



## Joe4 (Apr 12, 2011)

> are there any notable books that come to mind?


xenou listed a couple in his last paragraph...


----------



## bigdan (Apr 12, 2011)

those are a bit advanced for me. i want something a bit lower. also im not interested in learning vba to *that* level of sophistication, more like being adequate at it. id think a few chapters would suffice.


----------



## xenou (Apr 12, 2011)

Excel VBA for Dummies by Walkenbach is an _excellent _introduction / first book on Excel VBA.

ξ


----------



## personia (Apr 12, 2011)

Do you use Excel for work? If so you might want to ask if they'll pay for you to take instructor-led courses. 

I'm no Excel guru, but I've taken 3 (soon to be 4) at New Horizons and they're awesome for learning the basics. Check out newhorizons.com

Good luck!


----------

