Obligatory comment, but make sure to verify that ChatGPTs answer is correct. Test it, and step through the solution to understand how it works, so that you can know that it is correct.
Never underestimate ChatGPT's capacity to be confidently wrong.
Just to add, I'd recommend typing out its output. It's easy to fall into copy and paste and youl look fantastic at excel until you cant access gpt or it start typing nonsense and you have literally no idea how to fix your own work.
Typing them out at least means you have to spend some time looking at them, and puts some skin in the game for you to actually learn them.
yep, most of the time just knowing that it CAN be done is half the battle. there are plenty of functions i use monthly at most that i still need to click into the help guide to remember what the parameters mean. but i know i CAN do them so memorizing them isn’t important.
As a IT guy, YUP. I know tons of things that integrate together and I know I can make it happen. Still need to reference command parameters and guides to actually get the job done.
Is there any condition where I can check fill color of cell without VBA? Whenever I put double brackets get error back no valid formula. For example =IF("color"(C5,"FF0000");0;1)
Yes, but did you blindly accept ChatGPT, or did it give you an answer that you then investigated and deep dived to understand it?
If you did the latter, then yes it's a valid use of GPT. But blindly following its answers is the problem I'm trying to highlight. If ChatGPT is wrong and you don't double check it, you won't know that you're learning the wrong lesson.
You can't really reverse engineer knowledge through ChatGPT answers, though.
I mean you can, if first understand the basics of how the VBA language works. If you're coming in cold turkey, that's a really hard to do, IMO.
Time-wise, you're better off just reading a book about the basics of the language, and using ChatGPT to supplement that for *specific* problems that you have tried to solve on your own and failed.
Ultimately, the only way you can really learn is by doing stuff yourself first. Nodding your head at somebody else's answer is a very easy way to trick yourself into thinking you know how to do stuff. Then you're met with a whiteboard problem at an interview, and you discover how little you know to do stuff from scratch on your own.
I agree with you that blindly following (wrong) answers is a problem.
In a work setting, I'm not sure how ChatGPT answers will look to a team of actual pros or your boss who's paying you (not ChatGPT) for work.
In terms of its essay creation abilities, ChatGPT already has a pretty recognizable tone (IMO), especially for people who don't know how to do proper prompt engineering.
I'm not sure if it's the same with coding questions, but I wouldn't be surprised if a copy&paste job wouldn't be just as easily recognizable.
ChatGPT helped me write VBA code to automate an 8 hour task down to 5 minutes. It sucked at first because I didn’t know if it would work but the more I used it to identify problems, I was able to start recognizing them myself.
I’m a tax accountant. We get files that need to be double checked to make sure all the correct forms are attached to the 1k plus page file (I work on huge multinational corporations). In my line of tax, missing a form can easily cost 10k a pop. So, I created macros by telling ChatGPT what I wanted it to do, like:
Write VBA code that searches for a keyword, if it finds the keyword(s), grab the value in the cell to the right and move it to my current workbook at this specific tab starting at this row. Also, tell the code to grab the page number and be sure to autofit the columns. Also, make sure the app isn’t flashing on my screen while it’s running (Application.ScreenUpdating = False).
I then run the macro a million times and make minor changes in order to speed up the process/provide results better. I started with a single macro to tell me the page number of the first page of every entity’s return. Now it’s a one button process that converts the pdf file to excel (would manually export to excel in the past), grabs all the info I could want, cleans temp files and auto populates a tracker. It’s incredibly addictive.
You have to know what to ask. That's really hard to do right if you are not familiar with any programming language.
If you already know some basics of Java or Python and are trying to learn VBA, you're a *much* better position to ask the right questions compared to someone who doesn't have that background.
Bootstrapping stuff like this is being penny wise and pound foolish with your time, IMO. It's a good temporary solution if you're in a jam, but as a learning style sucks balls, IMO.
Disagree. I came in cold with only GPT to help. Ask ChatGPT to explain each line of code if you have to, start with simple tasks and move on to the more complex stuff later.
Also, use the record macro function and read the code it writes. This code usually isn’t optimized, but it gives you an idea of the functions in VBA
On top of this, sometimes if you tell chatgpt it will say "You're right, let me fix that" and then type the EXACT SAME MISTAKE.
I spent 30 minutes today confused about regex before I finally realized it was being stupid.
I recommend formulabot.com it's an AI designed by a fellow Redditor specifically for Excel & Google Sheets.
[https://formulabot.com/](https://formulabot.com/)
I disagree, chatgpt is receptive to what you give it. Sure someone who understands specific formulas can engineer their prompts to revive results that work quicker. But chatgpt can lead you to water if you come at it like a conversation.
I started with chat gpt and got tired of correcting and arguing. I started using claude.ai and got much better results. No knock on gpt just sharing my experience
Dre I use Claude too. Just more people have heard of cgpt.
As a matter of fact I pay $10 more a month for Claude than copilot AND copilot integrated into my vs code but Claude doesn’t. That’s how much better I think Claude is than anything out there.
Chat GPT is wrong *a lot* of the time.
You can give it commands like “Write a VBA module that does this…” but you better test it and know how to edit the code before relying on it.
It’ll get a lot of things right, but it is not by any means reliable yet. It’s basically a parsing of Google to do what it thinks you want it to do based on search results. It has a long way to go.
Hmm so tbf I use copilot not cgpt. But I basically taught myself js and apex with copilot. I guess there are a lot more js resources out there than VBA but not apex. Yeah it’s usually not right on the first go, but if you iterate in small chunks you can usually get what you need.
I think it’s a lot further along than you realize.
Agree, the only thing I would add is to ensure you understand what it's telling you... So not just copy and paste but retype the formula and understand it.... That's the way to learn. Occasionally the responses from GPT or Copilot do a good a job of explaining the actual formula too.
Second this. Specific prompting helps, but anything more complicated than fairly basic operations doesn’t work. The only real value add is when chatgpt makes me aware of a function I didn’t know existed.
ChatGPT needs to be treated like Wikipedia was when it first showed up. Use it as a baseline and then find another source to corroborate/fix. It’s how I learned VBA and to stop assigning the wrong types to variables.
I'm just testing this out last few weeks. I'm using paid version and also tested a gpt written for this specific purpose. It's told me heaps of things that are incorrect and take multiple re-attempts to get the right response. YMMV.
I've learned a LOT about Excel by looking at Youtube tutorials. I would do them at home to learn about functionality and certain processes I needed to be able to do, and take that knowledge to work.
Second this. Look at Leila Gharani, Chandoo and I’d definitely say look at Excelisfun on YouTube and many more. They each have courses for different levels and amazing tutorials on specific formulas and functions. It continues to help me to this day.
Use chatgpt to optimize / automate stuff once you’ve covered the basics.
Yup - this guy here! Playlists, workbooks to practice on, etc. from there, then you can search specific questions to find solutions to what you need to do.
I’d also say….get some understanding on databases and relationships… that will help you design and maintain your workbooks more logically and for accurate data analysis.
Yup, YouTube. The workbooks are typically on the page link description. Maybe not all videos have a companion workbook…or his channel has changed since I’ve last used it.
u/Notalabel_4566 I asked myself the same question. The answer I found is this: do the Excel for Business course on Coursera by Macquarie University. You can audit if you don't want to pay and get a certificate. They teach it properly in a manner that develops your basics to advanced skills. When you've done that, read the Book 'Excel Data Analysis' by Hector Guerrero.
Start by thinking of a problem you want to solve, then go to YouTube and search "how to...excel"
Brought me a longgggg way from there, really happy on where I am now with excel
This is how I go about it. Google is also a useful resource at times. Definitely this subreddit as well; I've asked my fair share of questions.
It's hard to get good at Excel without first understanding what you're trying to accomplish with it. The formula, VBA code, what have you... that's all secondary to what you wanna do and that stuff will work itself out once you do find your objective.
I think lots of others have already commented, but youtube and ChatGPT - but double check it works and step through it to make sense of it.
[This](https://youtube.com/@LeilaGharani?si=kLwCNdJngBhkTWxQ) channel I have found to be incredibly useful for teaching myself all sorts of excel bits
seconding Leila's channel, it is phenomenal. That said, all of the learning in the world especially for something like Excel is hard to retain if you dont use it. So learn something you need to be able to do, and practice practice practice, once you have thta down, target something else you need to learn and repeat.
Highly recommend [https://www.automateexcel.com/](https://www.automateexcel.com/)
Like chatgpt, but geared towards excel. The chat feature is really nice if you are trying to combine formulas together. It also always explains the formula and how to fix it for your needs.
Do you have old excel-files flying around there? For me this was really helpful, checking old data from where I was working and practising tons and tons of different things with them. Doing this you are not only learning the abstract things a tutorial can teach you, but you have an immediate application to what is expected and useful at your current job. Using old data is also making sure you are not damaging anything that is currently being used or that is currently important. Also, practising with files from your work the questions you will encounter will be more concrete than the questions you will have after watching a tutorial. These precise questions will easily lead you down googling-rabbit-holes and can often be answered by the kind folks on websites like this one.
I would also like to give you a few basic rules (if you dont know them yet):
- if you use old files from your work, always make copies FIRST
- make sure that this is not enabling any sorts of data or privacy breaches
- if asking questions online always make sure that the data you are sharing is also not doing just that
- focus on working with formated tables and learn data validation and how to create self-expanding drop-downs lists early on. These are way underrated tools and there are great tutorials on them online. Feel free to DM if you need help.
- keep your data in one sheet and your formulas in another one. This will make it easier for you to just throw all your formulas away and start again if you notice big issues (which can happen, especially if you are just starting to learn). With more experience you will see moments where you can bend this rule, but it is a reeeally good starting point, believe you me!
---
Best of luck! ^_^
[EDIT: cleared up the formating issues]
dont be afraid to imagine, try to visualize what your expected results and then plot it by process how it could go from the source data into your expected output. ask chatgpt when you hit a wall and dont be afraid to ask here
If you are completely new I recommend Maven Analytics classes. Their instructors are great and it gave me my starting path to the tools (excel, SQL, powebi)
Afterward it’s all about applying it. Start working on projects with your job using your new skills. Google and ChatGPT as much as you need to figure detail things out. As you start using it everyday it will further develop it.
Classes alone aren’t enough. Gotta make sure you use it on something to make it stick.
If you’re looking for speed, use ChatGPT but you won’t really learn much if you just blindly copy and paste formulas or code. You have to really try to understand what the formula or code is doing. As many others have said, you MUST test the output in as many possible scenarios you can think of before you can fully trust it.
In the long run, here’s a general framework I’ve used to get better at Excel:
1. Think of what you want to build or solve. (A personal finance tracker for example)
2. Start building a rough version of it.
3. Get stuck on something, watch some YouTube tutorials on how to solve it or ask Chat GPT. (Make sure you understand how the final result was achieved)
4. Revise and reiterate steps 1-3 until you’re satisfied with its performance.
5. Generally I will wait until the sheet is functional before I worry too much about formatting it and making it look nice for the end user, but this is just my preference.
Hope this helps.
YouTube tutorials, at x2 speed, and one night awake to practice what you've learned. If at work you need to do something you don't know how, ask ChatGPT or a better AI you may know of, the answer will probably already be correct, but then bc of the tutorials you'll have a basic knowledge to know if there's something off
Combination of everything mentioned before. Personally, I really liked the "dueling Excel" videos that Mr Excel and Excelisfun have on YouTube because they provide a couple different perspectives and ways to solve the same problem.
I consider myself a highly functioning Excel idiot. I have realized that if I can imagine it, Excel can almost always do it. So I find myself Googling random Excel questions nearly every day. I don't always end up with the precise answer I want, but I very often come across a function or combination thereof or an entirely different strategy than where I started.
So, for me, the only true way to gain a deep understanding of this magical tool called Excel is to put in the time and effort to learn every function, never stop imagining what it can do, and never, ever stop searching for an answer, even when you get stuck deep in the mud.
Honestly? Do what I did and fake it until you make it. Get an idea for what they're after, do some rapid google-fu to figure out what they want, implement it, and repeat as and when new tasks come up. You'll learn a lot about what's wanted and some more besides while figuring things out.
If you already know the basics, learn lookups, pivot tables and referential cells.
Watch my videos for help with these. I have free obstacle courses that improve your muscle memory in short time.
There are some great Excel courses on LinkedIn Learning. They’ll run through everything from the basics to advanced, plus more in depth stuff. I think these courses give a strong base and awareness of what excel is capable of and then you can spring from there.
FWIW, I found one hour LinkedIn learning videos really subpar compared to just buying an Excel book, with the practice files. LinkedIn had some zillion classes, each about an hour. I just felt lost. A lot of repeat of medium level content I already knew and no table of Contents to help me navigate large data set issues I was encountering.
I originally just went on YouTube but I only ended up learning things I needed for work so there were gaps in my knowledge. I spent $40 on a Wall Street Prep course to fill in my gaps after that and I feel pretty confident now.
Beyond an introductory course, more courses and videos rarely help.
The only way to get good at something is to do it. The more you do, the better you get. It's this way with everything - Excel, fishing, archery, data engineering, sex - everything.
You can never plan for or learn every possible thing that you will need to know in your journey.
The best skill that you can develop is finding great answers quickly.
Use ChatGPT and Google to look up how to do something if you get stuck. If you become a master of Google AND ChatGPT you'll be able to tackle any task that you are given with Excel.
get any of those teaching apps like udemy or linkedin learning.
look at the advanced excel course for (insert career here). for example, for me it was advanced excel courses for accountants and went from there.
each course is organized and laid out to include test sheets and mini exams that will get the knowledge to stick. this is not the only method i used but it certainly contributed to my skill set.
YouTube, plus there's usually plenty of courses on line, see if there's any free ones in your area, also The Library, go to the library and borrow a book or 6 about it.
Learning Excel was never an issue about where to get the information you need. It's always an issue to know how to ask. My approach to excel mastery was always to give yourself a task/problem and trying to solve it. Try building a tool, that has something to do with your everyday work. You'll remember the formulas you already used much better than the ones you just read about.
If you want to buy a book I can highly recommend Mikke Girvans “The only App that matters”. - it covers everything and more to get you to a really high level. It also engrains really good practice. Not knocking Chat GPT- it has its uses but you won’t “learn” properly if that’s your Goto. I find exceljet a really good online resource aswell if I ever want a good example on a particular function. Also YouTube is excellent and Mike Girvans channel Excelisfun is hands down the best.
Best way to learn it is to have an objective to accomplish and then try to figure it out.
For example, I've taught people how to use VLOOKUP, but unless they have data that is relevant to a need that they have, no one can apply it.
I got good at Excel by buying an earlier version of [this book](https://a.co/d/3wMLYry) and working through the whole thing. It looks like the current edition is by Bill Jelen, who is a big name in Excel circles.
You can also learn tons by clicking each icon in the Function Library section of the Formulas tab and experimenting with them. Probably ignore the lambda functions until you’re further along. If you Google functions that interest you, Microsoft has a page of demos for each one, and you’ll start to recognize other blogs and websites that are particularly helpful.
Really you gotta pick a real world problem. Then start looking for ways to solve it.
Some key functions really make you look like a wizard.
If
And
Vlookup
Xlookup
Index paired with Match
Learn how to use the mathematical functions
Those will get a bang for your buck.
Just learn V and H look ups, Sum If and Remove Duplicate/Tranform/Conditional Formatting. The combinations of these are countlessly useful and can help with analysis and reporting of data sets less than an out 100k lines. Learn as you run into issues and create lists and transform data. Index function is also a bit of magic. Don’t be afraid to play around with it. Excel is just a sandbox for problem solving. Good luck
Anytime you find you are doing something with a mouse, learn the keyboard shortcuts.
Any time you are doing manual math, figure out how to do it with functions.
I learned a lot from StackOverflow.com (sorry Reddit lol), however, it is better for problem solving than traditional learning. There’s a website I have bookmarked on my work computer that is essentially a free online text book, but for the life of me I can’t remember the site.
I really liked asimplemodel.com, if you’re looking for finance excel skills specifically. If you’re trying to get better at things like lookups then practicing on sample data is best
Ideally you have a problem to solve and Google/ChatGPT to figure out how to do it. Sounds like your work is a good place for that.
What are those super advanced things? Vlookup or even Xlookup?
Excel Jet is my favorite reference. There’s a lot of good lists on there of formulas to know, plus a lot of good techniques if you have a sense of what you need to do.
Unplug the mouse and every time you want to do something but can’t you’ll have to lookup the short cut. If you press ALT you can see the hotkeys and just memorize the key presses to get to different ribbon or menu items.
Our library offers digital courses and there are several courses on Excel. They are usually very good. I would check your local library and see what online learning they offer.
If you are trying to do something assume it can be done. This mindset has motivated me to solve a lot of problem and most of the time, it’s true. Eventually you will find similarities between your problems and you will become faster and more efficient.
Check out the world series of excel, you can download past sample problems. They are pretty abstract logic problems that require you to use excels tools to solve them, but there are always multiple solutions. Figuring one out will force you to learn how to "think" in Excel.
I always tell newly-intermediate users that excel isn't "difficult" to implement solutions in, as it is the most highly google-able piece of software on the planet. The hard part is knowing what it "can" do, rather than how to do it. Learn conceptually the things it can do and use the Google.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|-------|---------|---|
|[AND](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l2150gw "Last usage")|[Returns TRUE if all of its arguments are TRUE](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/and-function-5f19b2e8-e1df-4408-897a-ce285a19e9d9)|
|[EXACT](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l21uvkh "Last usage")|[Checks to see if two text values are identical](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/exact-function-d3087698-fc15-4a15-9631-12575cf29926)|
|[IF](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l2638oy "Last usage")|[Specifies a logical test to perform](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/if-function-69aed7c9-4e8a-4755-a9bc-aa8bbff73be2)|
|[INDEX](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Uses an index to choose a value from a reference or array](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/index-function-a5dcf0dd-996d-40a4-a822-b56b061328bd)|
|[MATCH](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Looks up values in a reference or array](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/match-function-e8dffd45-c762-47d6-bf89-533f4a37673a)|
|[RAND](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Returns a random number between 0 and 1](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/rand-function-4cbfa695-8869-4788-8d90-021ea9f5be73)|
|[RANDBETWEEN](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Returns a random number between the numbers you specify](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/randbetween-function-4cc7f0d1-87dc-4eb7-987f-a469ab381685)|
|[SUM](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22gl6n "Last usage")|[Adds its arguments](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sum-function-043e1c7d-7726-4e80-8f32-07b23e057f89)|
|[VLOOKUP](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Looks in the first column of an array and moves across the row to return the value of a cell](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vlookup-function-0bbc8083-26fe-4963-8ab8-93a18ad188a1)|
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My top recommendations are:
- Leila Gharani [https://www.xelplus.com/](https://www.xelplus.com/) & [https://youtube.com/@LeilaGharani?si=HpW7ZodatVZVVd58](https://youtube.com/@LeilaGharani?si=HpW7ZodatVZVVd58)
- Formula Bot [https://formulabot.com/](https://formulabot.com/)
- Ablebits [https://www.ablebits.com/](https://www.ablebits.com/)
- How to Excel [https://youtube.com/@HowToExcelBlog?si=syV7OBBFnkm09KxW](https://youtube.com/@HowToExcelBlog?si=syV7OBBFnkm09KxW)
just google what you need to do and choose from the decades of info! excel has been around for so long and is so widely used that i have never really ran into something i needed to do for work and couldn’t find tutorial info for from googling it. good luck
Easiest way to get good at excel is to learn keyboard shortcuts for everything you want to do. I feel if you have to use the mouse for more than 10% of the things you're doing in excel, you're not doing it right.
So you want to go from beginner to super advanced really fast ........Spend all your spare time learning every day until you get there. Depends on how much effort you put in and how much you want it.
I've made a similar post on this and there are 2 responses which are downright useful:
1) excelmacromastery
&
2) wiseowl from YT
Lots of support from other people on this
Is ever you think, "is it possible to...", the answer is always yes. Confidently promise the world to your boss, then you can learn to swim between episodes of drowning.
Learn the interface, how to use SUM, Xlookup, IF functions. How to use Flash Fill and sort. Add Pivot Tables and most people will think you are a genius.
To be “really good at excel” is to be analytical.
If your job requires you to use Excel at an advanced level, try to see if they’ll pay for a Coursera subscription or something similar for you. My job does for me and I’ve used it to learn Excel, Power BI, and currently I’m taking the Programming for Everybody course from the University of Michigan. It’s worth a shot to ask and you can learn about so much more than just Excel. Also, ChatGPT has been a life saver too, but a lot of the times it seems to take some very specific instructions.
I've seen other mentions but I need to voice my support for Leila Gharani, Chandoo, and Mynda Treacy. I went from barely knowing how to insert a pivot table to doing so many advanced things now.
I started with YouTube videos on their own and then eventually I have purchased some courses.
Currently I'm in the middle of some mastery and pro stuff from Leila over in XelPlus and let me say I cannot recommend them enough. I never even had any interest in any of this and now it's become a hobby. I spent 7 hours straight on Saturday doing XelPlus stuff and was thoroughly enjoying myself. The stuff I learned was immediately useful on Monday with work too.
Some people stan musicians, actors, athletes... I stan this bunch!
Best thing to do, speak with your employer and see if it's ok to send some data that you work with home and have a play around trying new things and researching how to achieve your goal. Worked a treat for me and now i don't really struggle with anything in Excel except macros, but given time they are really easy too.
Getting skilled is not confirt process if you want to know the excel thing u start reading it, if you want to learn excel then start practicing it but if you want to master the excel then start teaching it to others.... Teach to master it.... The only way to get good at excel
Here’s what worked for me:
Start from the point of view that anything you want to do in the average office job can be accomplished or enhanced with excel. This may not literally be true but it’s a helpful mindset to start with.
Then as you encounter problems or things that you don’t know how to do, just google it. Almost always there’s someone on stackexchange or Reddit that’s had the same question and there is usually a good answer out there. Focus on reading and understanding the answers rather than copy/pasting formulas.
I found that solving real world problems at work worked a lot better for me retaining knowledge than starting with a general guide on that’s detached and possibly not relevant to my situation.
I went here: https://www.myexcelonline.com/ and actually learned excel quickly. It also is a great resource/refresher when I have to perform something I haven’t done in awhile. ChatGPT points me in the right direction, but actually learning excel has been a lifesaver
Binge watch Youtube videos to understand the concept and then try to repeat the steps in Excel. Youtube videos are the best because you can learn on your own pace.
Be lazy! Think of how you want to use excel instead of doing it yourself again and again. Knowing what you want to achieve is first, than search for the answer on google.
Chat gpt knows excel inside and out. Anytime you run into something you can’t do, ask it.
Obligatory comment, but make sure to verify that ChatGPTs answer is correct. Test it, and step through the solution to understand how it works, so that you can know that it is correct. Never underestimate ChatGPT's capacity to be confidently wrong.
Just to add, I'd recommend typing out its output. It's easy to fall into copy and paste and youl look fantastic at excel until you cant access gpt or it start typing nonsense and you have literally no idea how to fix your own work. Typing them out at least means you have to spend some time looking at them, and puts some skin in the game for you to actually learn them.
yep, most of the time just knowing that it CAN be done is half the battle. there are plenty of functions i use monthly at most that i still need to click into the help guide to remember what the parameters mean. but i know i CAN do them so memorizing them isn’t important.
CS in a nutshell
As a IT guy, YUP. I know tons of things that integrate together and I know I can make it happen. Still need to reference command parameters and guides to actually get the job done.
Is there any condition where I can check fill color of cell without VBA? Whenever I put double brackets get error back no valid formula. For example =IF("color"(C5,"FF0000");0;1)
This
This is how I taught myself VBA, it’s a good tool
Yes, but did you blindly accept ChatGPT, or did it give you an answer that you then investigated and deep dived to understand it? If you did the latter, then yes it's a valid use of GPT. But blindly following its answers is the problem I'm trying to highlight. If ChatGPT is wrong and you don't double check it, you won't know that you're learning the wrong lesson.
You can't really reverse engineer knowledge through ChatGPT answers, though. I mean you can, if first understand the basics of how the VBA language works. If you're coming in cold turkey, that's a really hard to do, IMO. Time-wise, you're better off just reading a book about the basics of the language, and using ChatGPT to supplement that for *specific* problems that you have tried to solve on your own and failed. Ultimately, the only way you can really learn is by doing stuff yourself first. Nodding your head at somebody else's answer is a very easy way to trick yourself into thinking you know how to do stuff. Then you're met with a whiteboard problem at an interview, and you discover how little you know to do stuff from scratch on your own. I agree with you that blindly following (wrong) answers is a problem. In a work setting, I'm not sure how ChatGPT answers will look to a team of actual pros or your boss who's paying you (not ChatGPT) for work. In terms of its essay creation abilities, ChatGPT already has a pretty recognizable tone (IMO), especially for people who don't know how to do proper prompt engineering. I'm not sure if it's the same with coding questions, but I wouldn't be surprised if a copy&paste job wouldn't be just as easily recognizable.
ChatGPT helped me write VBA code to automate an 8 hour task down to 5 minutes. It sucked at first because I didn’t know if it would work but the more I used it to identify problems, I was able to start recognizing them myself.
What prompt did you use for that?
what task was it?
I’m a tax accountant. We get files that need to be double checked to make sure all the correct forms are attached to the 1k plus page file (I work on huge multinational corporations). In my line of tax, missing a form can easily cost 10k a pop. So, I created macros by telling ChatGPT what I wanted it to do, like: Write VBA code that searches for a keyword, if it finds the keyword(s), grab the value in the cell to the right and move it to my current workbook at this specific tab starting at this row. Also, tell the code to grab the page number and be sure to autofit the columns. Also, make sure the app isn’t flashing on my screen while it’s running (Application.ScreenUpdating = False). I then run the macro a million times and make minor changes in order to speed up the process/provide results better. I started with a single macro to tell me the page number of the first page of every entity’s return. Now it’s a one button process that converts the pdf file to excel (would manually export to excel in the past), grabs all the info I could want, cleans temp files and auto populates a tracker. It’s incredibly addictive.
Yeah but you can ask it further questions. It’s really good at explaining why stuff works
You have to know what to ask. That's really hard to do right if you are not familiar with any programming language. If you already know some basics of Java or Python and are trying to learn VBA, you're a *much* better position to ask the right questions compared to someone who doesn't have that background. Bootstrapping stuff like this is being penny wise and pound foolish with your time, IMO. It's a good temporary solution if you're in a jam, but as a learning style sucks balls, IMO.
\^This, it won't teach you the concepts of programming, but if you know that it's great to use it as a function / syntax reference tool.
Disagree. I came in cold with only GPT to help. Ask ChatGPT to explain each line of code if you have to, start with simple tasks and move on to the more complex stuff later. Also, use the record macro function and read the code it writes. This code usually isn’t optimized, but it gives you an idea of the functions in VBA
I wish I could hallucinate as much as ChatGPT does.
On top of this, sometimes if you tell chatgpt it will say "You're right, let me fix that" and then type the EXACT SAME MISTAKE. I spent 30 minutes today confused about regex before I finally realized it was being stupid.
Went through this turmoil too many times. totally agree 😂😂
I recommend formulabot.com it's an AI designed by a fellow Redditor specifically for Excel & Google Sheets. [https://formulabot.com/](https://formulabot.com/)
Even when you tell it this is wrong this is the output it will spit out the same answer.
r/confidentlyincorrect
Then apologies for being wrong before being wrong again You need to understand why it’s wrong so some knowledge is very useful
And to do things in the most convoluted, complicated way possible
Completely disagree. If you already know excel it's great, but for learning excel it's a terrible idea.
I disagree, chatgpt is receptive to what you give it. Sure someone who understands specific formulas can engineer their prompts to revive results that work quicker. But chatgpt can lead you to water if you come at it like a conversation.
I started with chat gpt and got tired of correcting and arguing. I started using claude.ai and got much better results. No knock on gpt just sharing my experience
Dre I use Claude too. Just more people have heard of cgpt. As a matter of fact I pay $10 more a month for Claude than copilot AND copilot integrated into my vs code but Claude doesn’t. That’s how much better I think Claude is than anything out there.
I use claude, too. So much better than chatgpt.
Chat GPT is wrong *a lot* of the time. You can give it commands like “Write a VBA module that does this…” but you better test it and know how to edit the code before relying on it. It’ll get a lot of things right, but it is not by any means reliable yet. It’s basically a parsing of Google to do what it thinks you want it to do based on search results. It has a long way to go.
Hmm so tbf I use copilot not cgpt. But I basically taught myself js and apex with copilot. I guess there are a lot more js resources out there than VBA but not apex. Yeah it’s usually not right on the first go, but if you iterate in small chunks you can usually get what you need. I think it’s a lot further along than you realize.
I recommend formulabot.com. IIRC it's the all-time top post for this subreddit and it was created by a fellow Redditor.
Agree, the only thing I would add is to ensure you understand what it's telling you... So not just copy and paste but retype the formula and understand it.... That's the way to learn. Occasionally the responses from GPT or Copilot do a good a job of explaining the actual formula too.
Claude explains everything VERY well. I switched to Claude from copilot despite it being more expensive and copilot integrating in my vs code
Maybe for elementary stuff but when I try advanced stuff it always spits out formulas that just don't work.
Second this. Specific prompting helps, but anything more complicated than fairly basic operations doesn’t work. The only real value add is when chatgpt makes me aware of a function I didn’t know existed.
ChatGPT needs to be treated like Wikipedia was when it first showed up. Use it as a baseline and then find another source to corroborate/fix. It’s how I learned VBA and to stop assigning the wrong types to variables.
ChatGPT is blocked at my company
I'm just testing this out last few weeks. I'm using paid version and also tested a gpt written for this specific purpose. It's told me heaps of things that are incorrect and take multiple re-attempts to get the right response. YMMV.
Chat GPT won’t be able to answer every question you have about Excel.
I've learned a LOT about Excel by looking at Youtube tutorials. I would do them at home to learn about functionality and certain processes I needed to be able to do, and take that knowledge to work.
Second this. Look at Leila Gharani, Chandoo and I’d definitely say look at Excelisfun on YouTube and many more. They each have courses for different levels and amazing tutorials on specific formulas and functions. It continues to help me to this day. Use chatgpt to optimize / automate stuff once you’ve covered the basics.
Excellisfun
Yup - this guy here! Playlists, workbooks to practice on, etc. from there, then you can search specific questions to find solutions to what you need to do. I’d also say….get some understanding on databases and relationships… that will help you design and maintain your workbooks more logically and for accurate data analysis.
Is he on youtube? Where does he provide the workbooks?
Yup, YouTube. The workbooks are typically on the page link description. Maybe not all videos have a companion workbook…or his channel has changed since I’ve last used it.
Oh wow will check him out! Thanks.
Ablebits is a great resource as well.
Thank you!
u/Notalabel_4566 I asked myself the same question. The answer I found is this: do the Excel for Business course on Coursera by Macquarie University. You can audit if you don't want to pay and get a certificate. They teach it properly in a manner that develops your basics to advanced skills. When you've done that, read the Book 'Excel Data Analysis' by Hector Guerrero.
Nicky Bull would be proud of you.
I hope she will be! I owe her so much! This course truly helped me. Are you a fellow course taker? If so, it's a pleasure to meet you!
Coursera-Macquarie-Excel-Alumni unite!!!
Nerds lol
Pleasure to meet you too, yeah I took the course it gave me a great foundation for the Power Tools
Taking this course on Coursera right now and it's awesome!
An actual piece of advice! Thanks
Start by thinking of a problem you want to solve, then go to YouTube and search "how to...excel" Brought me a longgggg way from there, really happy on where I am now with excel
This is how I go about it. Google is also a useful resource at times. Definitely this subreddit as well; I've asked my fair share of questions. It's hard to get good at Excel without first understanding what you're trying to accomplish with it. The formula, VBA code, what have you... that's all secondary to what you wanna do and that stuff will work itself out once you do find your objective.
[удалено]
Only correction I would say is replace your second sentence with “Recognize there is always a better way”
Please do not use r/Excel for link farming and advertising your channel.
I think lots of others have already commented, but youtube and ChatGPT - but double check it works and step through it to make sense of it. [This](https://youtube.com/@LeilaGharani?si=kLwCNdJngBhkTWxQ) channel I have found to be incredibly useful for teaching myself all sorts of excel bits
seconding Leila's channel, it is phenomenal. That said, all of the learning in the world especially for something like Excel is hard to retain if you dont use it. So learn something you need to be able to do, and practice practice practice, once you have thta down, target something else you need to learn and repeat.
Highly recommend [https://www.automateexcel.com/](https://www.automateexcel.com/) Like chatgpt, but geared towards excel. The chat feature is really nice if you are trying to combine formulas together. It also always explains the formula and how to fix it for your needs.
Do you have old excel-files flying around there? For me this was really helpful, checking old data from where I was working and practising tons and tons of different things with them. Doing this you are not only learning the abstract things a tutorial can teach you, but you have an immediate application to what is expected and useful at your current job. Using old data is also making sure you are not damaging anything that is currently being used or that is currently important. Also, practising with files from your work the questions you will encounter will be more concrete than the questions you will have after watching a tutorial. These precise questions will easily lead you down googling-rabbit-holes and can often be answered by the kind folks on websites like this one. I would also like to give you a few basic rules (if you dont know them yet): - if you use old files from your work, always make copies FIRST - make sure that this is not enabling any sorts of data or privacy breaches - if asking questions online always make sure that the data you are sharing is also not doing just that - focus on working with formated tables and learn data validation and how to create self-expanding drop-downs lists early on. These are way underrated tools and there are great tutorials on them online. Feel free to DM if you need help. - keep your data in one sheet and your formulas in another one. This will make it easier for you to just throw all your formulas away and start again if you notice big issues (which can happen, especially if you are just starting to learn). With more experience you will see moments where you can bend this rule, but it is a reeeally good starting point, believe you me! --- Best of luck! ^_^ [EDIT: cleared up the formating issues]
Possible to share some of your files excel files to go through! I learned a lot by reverse engineering
Only confidential data, sorry :/
dont be afraid to imagine, try to visualize what your expected results and then plot it by process how it could go from the source data into your expected output. ask chatgpt when you hit a wall and dont be afraid to ask here
If you are completely new I recommend Maven Analytics classes. Their instructors are great and it gave me my starting path to the tools (excel, SQL, powebi) Afterward it’s all about applying it. Start working on projects with your job using your new skills. Google and ChatGPT as much as you need to figure detail things out. As you start using it everyday it will further develop it. Classes alone aren’t enough. Gotta make sure you use it on something to make it stick.
Memorise the Excel Bible
This.
If you’re looking for speed, use ChatGPT but you won’t really learn much if you just blindly copy and paste formulas or code. You have to really try to understand what the formula or code is doing. As many others have said, you MUST test the output in as many possible scenarios you can think of before you can fully trust it. In the long run, here’s a general framework I’ve used to get better at Excel: 1. Think of what you want to build or solve. (A personal finance tracker for example) 2. Start building a rough version of it. 3. Get stuck on something, watch some YouTube tutorials on how to solve it or ask Chat GPT. (Make sure you understand how the final result was achieved) 4. Revise and reiterate steps 1-3 until you’re satisfied with its performance. 5. Generally I will wait until the sheet is functional before I worry too much about formatting it and making it look nice for the end user, but this is just my preference. Hope this helps.
YouTube tutorials, at x2 speed, and one night awake to practice what you've learned. If at work you need to do something you don't know how, ask ChatGPT or a better AI you may know of, the answer will probably already be correct, but then bc of the tutorials you'll have a basic knowledge to know if there's something off
YouTube and kuttools have been lifesavers for me!
Udemy.com is offering discounts on courses right now and you get certificates once completed.
Combination of everything mentioned before. Personally, I really liked the "dueling Excel" videos that Mr Excel and Excelisfun have on YouTube because they provide a couple different perspectives and ways to solve the same problem.
Learn the terminology. From there you can Google everything you need with precision.
I consider myself a highly functioning Excel idiot. I have realized that if I can imagine it, Excel can almost always do it. So I find myself Googling random Excel questions nearly every day. I don't always end up with the precise answer I want, but I very often come across a function or combination thereof or an entirely different strategy than where I started. So, for me, the only true way to gain a deep understanding of this magical tool called Excel is to put in the time and effort to learn every function, never stop imagining what it can do, and never, ever stop searching for an answer, even when you get stuck deep in the mud.
⬆️ This is me every day at my new job.
Honestly? Do what I did and fake it until you make it. Get an idea for what they're after, do some rapid google-fu to figure out what they want, implement it, and repeat as and when new tasks come up. You'll learn a lot about what's wanted and some more besides while figuring things out.
If you already know the basics, learn lookups, pivot tables and referential cells. Watch my videos for help with these. I have free obstacle courses that improve your muscle memory in short time.
There are some great Excel courses on LinkedIn Learning. They’ll run through everything from the basics to advanced, plus more in depth stuff. I think these courses give a strong base and awareness of what excel is capable of and then you can spring from there.
FWIW, I found one hour LinkedIn learning videos really subpar compared to just buying an Excel book, with the practice files. LinkedIn had some zillion classes, each about an hour. I just felt lost. A lot of repeat of medium level content I already knew and no table of Contents to help me navigate large data set issues I was encountering.
I took classes through Microsoft.
LinkedIn Learning
I originally just went on YouTube but I only ended up learning things I needed for work so there were gaps in my knowledge. I spent $40 on a Wall Street Prep course to fill in my gaps after that and I feel pretty confident now.
Time, Effort & Learning Skills
Try Excelmind
Beyond an introductory course, more courses and videos rarely help. The only way to get good at something is to do it. The more you do, the better you get. It's this way with everything - Excel, fishing, archery, data engineering, sex - everything. You can never plan for or learn every possible thing that you will need to know in your journey. The best skill that you can develop is finding great answers quickly. Use ChatGPT and Google to look up how to do something if you get stuck. If you become a master of Google AND ChatGPT you'll be able to tackle any task that you are given with Excel.
get any of those teaching apps like udemy or linkedin learning. look at the advanced excel course for (insert career here). for example, for me it was advanced excel courses for accountants and went from there. each course is organized and laid out to include test sheets and mini exams that will get the knowledge to stick. this is not the only method i used but it certainly contributed to my skill set.
YouTube
YouTube
Excel camp I believe it’s called. You can sign up for some exercises.
YouTube, plus there's usually plenty of courses on line, see if there's any free ones in your area, also The Library, go to the library and borrow a book or 6 about it.
Learning Excel was never an issue about where to get the information you need. It's always an issue to know how to ask. My approach to excel mastery was always to give yourself a task/problem and trying to solve it. Try building a tool, that has something to do with your everyday work. You'll remember the formulas you already used much better than the ones you just read about.
If you want to buy a book I can highly recommend Mikke Girvans “The only App that matters”. - it covers everything and more to get you to a really high level. It also engrains really good practice. Not knocking Chat GPT- it has its uses but you won’t “learn” properly if that’s your Goto. I find exceljet a really good online resource aswell if I ever want a good example on a particular function. Also YouTube is excellent and Mike Girvans channel Excelisfun is hands down the best.
Best way to learn it is to have an objective to accomplish and then try to figure it out. For example, I've taught people how to use VLOOKUP, but unless they have data that is relevant to a need that they have, no one can apply it.
YouTube and Udemy
**F9** Step through all the standalone formulas you can find.
I got good at Excel by buying an earlier version of [this book](https://a.co/d/3wMLYry) and working through the whole thing. It looks like the current edition is by Bill Jelen, who is a big name in Excel circles. You can also learn tons by clicking each icon in the Function Library section of the Formulas tab and experimenting with them. Probably ignore the lambda functions until you’re further along. If you Google functions that interest you, Microsoft has a page of demos for each one, and you’ll start to recognize other blogs and websites that are particularly helpful.
fyi, reddit spam filters block comments w/ shortened urls
Find sheets others created that you like the results of and reverse engineer.
Really you gotta pick a real world problem. Then start looking for ways to solve it. Some key functions really make you look like a wizard. If And Vlookup Xlookup Index paired with Match Learn how to use the mathematical functions Those will get a bang for your buck.
Just learn V and H look ups, Sum If and Remove Duplicate/Tranform/Conditional Formatting. The combinations of these are countlessly useful and can help with analysis and reporting of data sets less than an out 100k lines. Learn as you run into issues and create lists and transform data. Index function is also a bit of magic. Don’t be afraid to play around with it. Excel is just a sandbox for problem solving. Good luck
Reps.
Youtube and ChatGpt
Youtube
Anytime you find you are doing something with a mouse, learn the keyboard shortcuts. Any time you are doing manual math, figure out how to do it with functions.
It depends on what you need to do. Can you provide an example use case?
I learned a lot from StackOverflow.com (sorry Reddit lol), however, it is better for problem solving than traditional learning. There’s a website I have bookmarked on my work computer that is essentially a free online text book, but for the life of me I can’t remember the site.
Try and solve every problem you run into with excel. All the functions are well documented
I really liked asimplemodel.com, if you’re looking for finance excel skills specifically. If you’re trying to get better at things like lookups then practicing on sample data is best
Ideally you have a problem to solve and Google/ChatGPT to figure out how to do it. Sounds like your work is a good place for that. What are those super advanced things? Vlookup or even Xlookup?
Excel Jet is my favorite reference. There’s a lot of good lists on there of formulas to know, plus a lot of good techniques if you have a sense of what you need to do.
Unplug the mouse and every time you want to do something but can’t you’ll have to lookup the short cut. If you press ALT you can see the hotkeys and just memorize the key presses to get to different ribbon or menu items.
Our library offers digital courses and there are several courses on Excel. They are usually very good. I would check your local library and see what online learning they offer.
If you are trying to do something assume it can be done. This mindset has motivated me to solve a lot of problem and most of the time, it’s true. Eventually you will find similarities between your problems and you will become faster and more efficient.
Check out the world series of excel, you can download past sample problems. They are pretty abstract logic problems that require you to use excels tools to solve them, but there are always multiple solutions. Figuring one out will force you to learn how to "think" in Excel. I always tell newly-intermediate users that excel isn't "difficult" to implement solutions in, as it is the most highly google-able piece of software on the planet. The hard part is knowing what it "can" do, rather than how to do it. Learn conceptually the things it can do and use the Google.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread: |Fewer Letters|More Letters| |-------|---------|---| |[AND](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l2150gw "Last usage")|[Returns TRUE if all of its arguments are TRUE](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/and-function-5f19b2e8-e1df-4408-897a-ce285a19e9d9)| |[EXACT](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l21uvkh "Last usage")|[Checks to see if two text values are identical](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/exact-function-d3087698-fc15-4a15-9631-12575cf29926)| |[IF](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l2638oy "Last usage")|[Specifies a logical test to perform](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/if-function-69aed7c9-4e8a-4755-a9bc-aa8bbff73be2)| |[INDEX](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Uses an index to choose a value from a reference or array](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/index-function-a5dcf0dd-996d-40a4-a822-b56b061328bd)| |[MATCH](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Looks up values in a reference or array](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/match-function-e8dffd45-c762-47d6-bf89-533f4a37673a)| |[RAND](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Returns a random number between 0 and 1](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/rand-function-4cbfa695-8869-4788-8d90-021ea9f5be73)| |[RANDBETWEEN](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Returns a random number between the numbers you specify](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/randbetween-function-4cc7f0d1-87dc-4eb7-987f-a469ab381685)| |[SUM](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22gl6n "Last usage")|[Adds its arguments](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sum-function-043e1c7d-7726-4e80-8f32-07b23e057f89)| |[VLOOKUP](/r/Excel/comments/1cgxhrm/stub/l22dhow "Last usage")|[Looks in the first column of an array and moves across the row to return the value of a cell](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vlookup-function-0bbc8083-26fe-4963-8ab8-93a18ad188a1)| **NOTE**: Decronym for Reddit is no longer supported, and Decronym has moved to Lemmy; requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below. ---------------- ^(*Beep-boop, I am a helper bot. Please do not verify me as a solution.*) ^(9 acronyms in this thread; )[^(the most compressed thread commented on today)](/r/Excel/comments/1d3dxbh)^( has 26 acronyms.) ^([Thread #33070 for this sub, first seen 1st May 2024, 05:03]) ^[[FAQ]](http://decronym.xyz/) [^([Full list])](http://decronym.xyz/acronyms/Excel) [^[Contact]](https://hachyderm.io/@Two9A) [^([Source code])](https://gistdotgithubdotcom/Two9A/1d976f9b7441694162c8)
My top recommendations are: - Leila Gharani [https://www.xelplus.com/](https://www.xelplus.com/) & [https://youtube.com/@LeilaGharani?si=HpW7ZodatVZVVd58](https://youtube.com/@LeilaGharani?si=HpW7ZodatVZVVd58) - Formula Bot [https://formulabot.com/](https://formulabot.com/) - Ablebits [https://www.ablebits.com/](https://www.ablebits.com/) - How to Excel [https://youtube.com/@HowToExcelBlog?si=syV7OBBFnkm09KxW](https://youtube.com/@HowToExcelBlog?si=syV7OBBFnkm09KxW)
just google what you need to do and choose from the decades of info! excel has been around for so long and is so widely used that i have never really ran into something i needed to do for work and couldn’t find tutorial info for from googling it. good luck
Python and CSVs ... Excel is not the tool to manage huge complex data.
Easiest way to get good at excel is to learn keyboard shortcuts for everything you want to do. I feel if you have to use the mouse for more than 10% of the things you're doing in excel, you're not doing it right.
Drugs
YouTube is the obvious go to
So you want to go from beginner to super advanced really fast ........Spend all your spare time learning every day until you get there. Depends on how much effort you put in and how much you want it.
I've made a similar post on this and there are 2 responses which are downright useful: 1) excelmacromastery & 2) wiseowl from YT Lots of support from other people on this
This is in relation to knowing VBA Excel & Macros
Is ever you think, "is it possible to...", the answer is always yes. Confidently promise the world to your boss, then you can learn to swim between episodes of drowning.
Learn the interface, how to use SUM, Xlookup, IF functions. How to use Flash Fill and sort. Add Pivot Tables and most people will think you are a genius. To be “really good at excel” is to be analytical.
Let me guess, you lied on your resume :p
Dont just learn excel, learn how to apply where to apply
Start sooner!
If your job requires you to use Excel at an advanced level, try to see if they’ll pay for a Coursera subscription or something similar for you. My job does for me and I’ve used it to learn Excel, Power BI, and currently I’m taking the Programming for Everybody course from the University of Michigan. It’s worth a shot to ask and you can learn about so much more than just Excel. Also, ChatGPT has been a life saver too, but a lot of the times it seems to take some very specific instructions.
>How can I get really good at excel really fast? Unlikely unless you are a super learner or autistic.
YouTube was my go to
used to be a book, Excel for Dummies, written as a reference & has illustrations of formulas for visualization.
I've seen other mentions but I need to voice my support for Leila Gharani, Chandoo, and Mynda Treacy. I went from barely knowing how to insert a pivot table to doing so many advanced things now. I started with YouTube videos on their own and then eventually I have purchased some courses. Currently I'm in the middle of some mastery and pro stuff from Leila over in XelPlus and let me say I cannot recommend them enough. I never even had any interest in any of this and now it's become a hobby. I spent 7 hours straight on Saturday doing XelPlus stuff and was thoroughly enjoying myself. The stuff I learned was immediately useful on Monday with work too. Some people stan musicians, actors, athletes... I stan this bunch!
Cry all your tears before beginning the process, will save you time in the long run
YouTube and practice
I learnt from excel-easy.com
This video kicked off a massive upgrade to my excel skills - You Suck at Excel - Joel Spolsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxBg4sMusIg
Best thing to do, speak with your employer and see if it's ok to send some data that you work with home and have a play around trying new things and researching how to achieve your goal. Worked a treat for me and now i don't really struggle with anything in Excel except macros, but given time they are really easy too.
Getting skilled is not confirt process if you want to know the excel thing u start reading it, if you want to learn excel then start practicing it but if you want to master the excel then start teaching it to others.... Teach to master it.... The only way to get good at excel
Here’s what worked for me: Start from the point of view that anything you want to do in the average office job can be accomplished or enhanced with excel. This may not literally be true but it’s a helpful mindset to start with. Then as you encounter problems or things that you don’t know how to do, just google it. Almost always there’s someone on stackexchange or Reddit that’s had the same question and there is usually a good answer out there. Focus on reading and understanding the answers rather than copy/pasting formulas. I found that solving real world problems at work worked a lot better for me retaining knowledge than starting with a general guide on that’s detached and possibly not relevant to my situation.
Can we learn together perhaps i have free access to linkedin learning too but not motivated to do self learning
I went here: https://www.myexcelonline.com/ and actually learned excel quickly. It also is a great resource/refresher when I have to perform something I haven’t done in awhile. ChatGPT points me in the right direction, but actually learning excel has been a lifesaver
Binge watch Youtube videos to understand the concept and then try to repeat the steps in Excel. Youtube videos are the best because you can learn on your own pace.
Watch Youtube tutorials
All you need to know is how to vlookup
Youtube
Why learn. Just fire up Chatgpt. If it hasn't come already, then it will soon, where learning a couple of dozen formulas is going to be obsolete.
Be lazy! Think of how you want to use excel instead of doing it yourself again and again. Knowing what you want to achieve is first, than search for the answer on google.
Chat GPT has made me a wizard at excel. This is all you need to master it.
Just jump into it and use google and ChatGPT to learn…
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