Basic Excel Skills

Basic Excel skills are essential for many professionals across various industries. Here's a list of fundamental Excel skills that are valuable to know:

  1. Navigating Excel: Understand how to move around a spreadsheet, including using arrow keys, the mouse, and keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl + arrows or Ctrl + Home/End.

  2. Entering Data: Know how to enter data into cells, including text, numbers, dates, and formulas.

  3. Basic Formulas and Functions: Learn common formulas and functions like SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, MIN, COUNT, and IF. These functions help perform calculations and manipulate data.

  4. Formatting Cells: Know how to format cells, including changing fonts, font size, alignment, borders, and applying cell styles.

  5. Managing Rows and Columns: Learn how to insert, delete, hide, and unhide rows and columns to organize data effectively.

  6. Sorting and Filtering: Understand how to sort data alphabetically, numerically, or by date, and how to apply filters to display specific data.

  7. Charts and Graphs: Know how to create basic charts and graphs (e.g., bar charts, line graphs, pie charts) to visually represent data.

  8. Conditional Formatting: Learn how to apply conditional formatting to highlight cells based on specific criteria, such as values greater than or less than a certain threshold.

  9. Data Validation: Understand how to set up data validation rules to control the type and format of data entered into cells.

  10. PivotTables: Know how to create PivotTables to summarize and analyze large datasets quickly.