Learn Microsoft Excel

There's is a lot to learn about Microsoft Excel, and not everything is in the manual. Below you'll see a mixture of free online lessons and short courses on how to get the best out of Excel. If you don't see what you want, why not get in touch and suggest a lesson we should write.

Count empty cells in Excel

COUNTBLANK allows you to count the number of cells in a range in Excel. This lesson shows you how to use COUNTBLANK, and also shares a couple of things to watch out for when you use COUNTBLANK in an Excel formula.

Calculate a running total of a column of cells in Excel

If you have a column of numbers and you want to calculate a running total of the numbers alongside, you can use the SUM() formula combined with a clever use of absolute and relative references.

Use SUMIF with multiple criteria in Excel

The SUMIF function allows you to add up the values in a range of cells in Excel that meet a certain criteria. However, in some cases the SUMIF function isn't quite enough, and you need the SUMIFS function instead. This lesson explains how to use SUMIFS.

Using SUMIF to add up cells in Excel that meet certain criteria

The SUM function in Excel allows you to add up the values in a range of cells. However, sometimes you only want to add up the cells that meet certain criteria. That's where the SUMIF function comes in handy, along with the more capable SUMIFS function.

Find the minimum or maximum value in a range of cells in Excel

 Excel offers a couple of handy functions that you can use to calculate the smallest and largest values in a range of cells. They are simple functions that go by the names of MIN() and MAX(). This lesson shows you how to use them. It also introduces SMALL() and LARGE(), functions which duplicate what MIN and MAX do, plus more besides. 

Using multiple IF statements in Excel

The IF() function in Excel allows you to evaluate a situation which has two possible outcomes (e.g. sales are greater than $1000) and calculate a different value for each outcome. However, sometimes you need to work with situations where there are more than two possible outcomes. That's where multiple, or nested, IF functions come in handy. In this tutorial we'll cover how to use nested IF functions to calculate sales commission for a team of sales people, given a range of different commission rates.

Using the IF statement in Excel

The IF statement is a simple function in Excel that is one of the building blocks you need when you are working with large spreadsheets. You may not know you need it yet, but once you know how to use it, you won't want to live without it.

How to use the VLOOKUP function in Excel

VLOOKUP is one of the most useful functions in Excel. In fact, the world can be separated into two groups of people - those who know how wonderful VLOOKUP is, and those who haven't discovered it yet. This VLOOKUP tutorial will help you join the ranks of the enlightened.

Calculate the sum of a column of numbers in Excel

On this lesson, we'll cover one of the most basic features of Excel - its ability to add up a column or row of numbers using the SUM() function.

Count the number of characters in a cell in Excel

This lesson introduces the LEN() function, which allows you to calculate the number of characters in a cell. This formula is useful on its own, or can be combined with other text functions such as RIGHT(), LEFT(), MID() and FIND().

Extract text from a cell in Excel

Sometimes it is useful (or necessary) to extract part of a cell into another cell in Excel. For example, you may have a cell that contains a combination of text and numbers, or a cell that contains two numbers separated by a delimiter such as a comma.

To do this, you can use one of the text manipulation functions available in Excel. These include LEFT() and RIGHT(). You may also need to use the LEN() function, which calculates the length of a value in a cell.

Using the SUBTOTAL() function with the Autofilter feature

If you're using the Autofilter feature, you're probably wondering how to perform calculations on only those values that are being displayed by the filter. The SUBTOTAL() function is the answer.

Add up a column of cells in Excel

There are a variety of ways to add up a range of cells in Excel, whether that be a column, row or selection of unconnected cells.

Absolute and relative references in Excel

When you create a formula in Excel that refers to other cells in the worksheet, Excel will store the information about those cells as relative references. Relative references and their counterpart, absolute references, are one of the things that make spreadsheets such a powerful tool.

Calculate a value in Excel that combines text and numbers

If you want to combine text with the results of a formula in a cell, you can use concatenation.

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