Excel

[Sue]

Who knows how to use this program? Is it super easy to teach to yourself in a couple of hours over the course of a day or two?

Realistically, would a person of reasonable intelligence (like me , be able to learn Excel and provide complete spreadsheets of data with no problem in a couple days?

Sue

 

[Luc]

Yes.

Excel is fairly easy to use. You could have your data on one sheet and have a graphic on another sheet to you would get a better presentation. The online help is usually very good. There are very complicated formulas and Excel can do a lot of things. If I understood your question correctly, you should be able to do simple graphs in a few days if you never used it before.

 

[82R100]

It should be pretty easy to pick up.

I guess it depends on the intended audience. Are you using for your own practical purposes or for someone else?

- Chris

 

[thirdeye]

Yes it is very easy to put together a simple spreadsheet.
You have my number Sue, Call if you need help and I can walk you through it.

 

[luvmysuper]

The Microsoft website has a free online tutorial that you can go through self paced as well.

 

[thirdeye]

The Microsoft website has a free online tutorial that you can go through self paced as well.

Oh yes, that's right too. Great advice!

 

[mretzloff]

Excel is easy, but if you want a free version, use Open Office. Same thing, different company, FREE.

 

[Gruder]

Depending on what you want to do, Sue, I've found Excel to be quite user-friendly. Things might take a bit longer as you learn useful shortcuts, but the program is intuitive overall. I'll echo Ray -- if you encounter trouble, your B&B pals will fall over one another to help!

 

[DunEdinRanger]

Who knows how to use this program? Is it super easy to teach to yourself in a couple of hours over the course of a day or two?

Realistically, would a person of reasonable intelligence (like me , be able to learn Excel and provide complete spreadsheets of data with no problem in a couple days?

Sue

Yes.

The 2007 version even does time calculations.

 

[Austin]

Do yourself a favor and stop by Barnes & Noble and get an excel book. I find on-line tutorials confusing.

 

[perry]

To get the basics, no problemo.

To get in to advanced stuffs, problemo. Excel is a very powerful tool and I think it'd take a while to really understand what all it does.

Depends on what you need to do, I suppose. I know some of the folks at my company do things that make my head spin, and I have a couple years of college calculus under my belt

 

[RazorDingo]

It depends.

Simply adding up columns of data, performing simple calculations, and making basic pie and line graphs - easy to do in a day or so.

But even mid-level Excel mastery: lookup functions, logic function (if - then, etc.), macros, custom dialog boxes, etc. - that takes a little while longer.

And the truly advanced stuff - basically writing vbasic routines to create just about anything you can imagine - that takes years, and you've gotta have a coders mindset to begin with.

What do you want to do?

 

[Austin]

Who remembers Lotus 123 in DOS? I remember starting with it in the early 90's.

 

[RazorDingo]

I actually remember Visicalc.

The first time I did the entire vehicle inventory for the car dealership I was working at in 20 minutes, as opposed to six hours like it took on green ruled columnar pads, people were amazed.

I was a college student at the time. I was making minimum wage: $3.35/hr.

I got fired about six months later for asking for a raise. Capitalism is alright - but don't let anyone tell you it is the answer to all of our problems.

 

[thirdeye]

Who remembers Lotus 123 in DOS? I remember starting with it in the early 90's.

Oh yuck, you had to remind us...Syntecs Error....

 

[FreezerBurns]

Excel is very easy to learn............ If you have a live person walking you through the ins/outs and showing you the shortcuts and tricks. My advice? Since a live person has already offered: CALL RAY!

 

[DunEdinRanger]

I actually remember Visicalc.

The first time I did the entire vehicle inventory for the car dealership I was working at in 20 minutes, as opposed to six hours like it took on green ruled columnar pads, people were amazed.

I was a college student at the time. I was making minimum wage: $3.35/hr.

I got fired about six months later for asking for a raise. Capitalism is alright - but don't let anyone tell you it is the answer to all of our problems.

There is no cure for stupid management, and they were stupid to fire someone who saved hours of work every time an inventory was needed.

 

[Wendy]

Who knows how to use this program? Is it super easy to teach to yourself in a couple of hours over the course of a day or two?

Realistically, would a person of reasonable intelligence (like me , be able to learn Excel and provide complete spreadsheets of data with no problem in a couple days?

Sue

Oh good. Now you can teach me : )

 

[_JP_]

FunctionX is a great web site for learning how to use Excel. This link provides tutorials for the 2007 version. Check your version number because there are differences between them The 2003 version is linked to down the page.

The trick to using the tutorials is to decide what you are trying to do and then go that tutorial.

http://www.functionx.com/excel/index.htm

 

[SRock]

Excel is very easy and fairly versatile. Try getting a copy of Excel for Dummies.