11 Best Excel Video Tutorial Channels

No matter how proficient you are with the computer, learning Excel is something that takes time, dedication, and the right teacher. You may have plenty of the first two, but finding the right teacher can often take huge amounts of time, especially if you live in an area that is far away from a major city.

Fortunately, learning Excel has never been easier, with so many resources available online. If you go to YouTube, there are a number of people who will walk you through basic and advanced features of Excel in easy to understand videos. I’ve made a few Excel video tutorials myself but admittedly haven’t put a lot of time into them. There are, however, some other individuals producing outstanding content. That being said, some Excel channels are simply a waste of time, so for your convenience I’ve listed below the 11 best Excel video tutorial channels (in no particular order) that will save you time and frustration when trying to learn how to use this amazing program.

 

HowCast Excel

For many people, Excel is something new that they might not even be really sure how to use yet. If this describes you, and you are looking for a great way to really understand Excel as an application before diving any deeper, HowCast has the way to do it. Their collection of very easy-to-follow guides will show you how to navigate specific aspects of Excel, so that you can begin using this program to the fullest extent possible.

 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA1EF3576D3E443C3&feature=plcp

 

Ilan Patao

If, like many people, you are trying to learn Excel to improve your efficiency at work, then this channel is a must. Ilan will walk you through many of the most important aspects of Excel in his videos. It's interesting to note that while not all of his videos are Excel-oriented, they all have a focus on taking care of business-related tasks. This is a welcome departure from many other Excel videos where all they show you how to do is to count apples or oranges.

 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHF_ars_cUyE8T-T1zDGRxA

 

 

MotionTraining

Motion Training is a great resource for learning Excel. It makes this list because it has a very structured approach to helping Excel beginners quickly become skilled at working with Excel.

 

Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/MotionTraining?feature=watch

 

Contextures

If you're looking for something more regimented, this YouTube channel is built around teaching you how to complete specific tasks in short, 3 to 4 minute videos. This is a great channel to look at if you are running into problems with a specific part of Excel and are looking for a dedicated video to show you how to get past it.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/contextures

 

Bill Jelen a.k.a “Mr Excel”

You may find that when you're learning Excel, you might have a few questions about different aspects of the program, or how to complete something specific that you haven't yet found in a video. If that's the case, Bill Jelen is here to help you. He has an incredibly diverse YouTube channel consisting of over 1600 videos, many of them answering specific questions that his viewers have asked him about how to use Excel. This is a great place to go to for specific help on a question that actual users have.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/bjele123/videos

 

Excel is Hell

If you’ve spent any time around Excel, you may feel the same way. This channel will help you figure out how to do some of the things that really make Excel difficult, while simplifying your life at the same time.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/ExcelisHell/feed

 

Excel is Fun

On the other side of the aisle from the last channel, you have people who think the exact opposite about this popular Microsoft program. Instead of focusing on solving the problems that make Excel very difficult, this channel will help show you how fun Excel can be, showing you some "magic tricks" that you can use to do incredible things in Excel that you didn't think were possible.

 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/ExcelIsFun

 

ExcelVBAIsFun

Of course, learning Excel doesn't just end at formulas and formatting; VBA is an extremely powerful scripting language that you can use to make Excel do pretty much anything that you want. If you've ever seen an incredibly powerful spreadsheet, especially one with buttons, it's likely that there was some VBA involved in making it. Visit this YouTube channel to learn more about how you too can integrate VBA into your Excel spreadsheets and take your Excel use to the next level.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/ExcelVbaIsFun

 

Khan Academy

If you spent time learning Excel from some of the channels that we've mentioned, then you may be looking for a way for you that you can apply it in a more advanced manner. While the courses listed on this YouTube page are not specifically focused on using Excel, they will give you a great introduction to using Excel in other areas (specifically mathematically-oriented ones). Unlike many of the other channels, the Khan Academy courses are much more focused on theoretical exercises rather than helping you solve actual problems with Excel.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy/search?query=excel
 

 

Danny Rocks

Whether you've been looking for a tutorial on how to create a dashboard in Excel, or you need an introduction to pivot tables or shortcuts, Danny is the person to teach you. He has a unique style that you will learn to love after watching a few of his Excel videos.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/DannyRocksExcels

 

10 Minute Training

Maybe you only have a few minutes to spare on your lunch break, but that doesn't mean you can't learn something about Excel! All of these Excel videos are designed to take less than 10 minutes to watch, giving you important knowledge in a very truncated timeframe. While many of the videos on other channels are also under 10 minutes, this is one of the only channels that you will find where every video is specifically under this important hurdle.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/10minutetrain

 

No matter what your skill level is with Excel, these videos will teach you everything that you need to know about working with this incredible program. Whether you have one minute or 100, you can learn something about Excel by just taking a look at one of the channels provided.

 

Even though there are number of channels on the list above, you may find that one YouTube instructor caters more to your current knowledge base or teaching style (and is why I didn’t list them in any particular order, different strokes and all that). Even if you like one or more of the instructors right away, it's important to take a look at all of the channels to find someone who is right for you.

 

If you find this post useful I’d really appreciate it if you could please share it!

 

How to Make Alternating Row Colors in Excel

I was at work the other day staring at endless rows and columns of data on a spreadsheet with my boss. She made a statement about how she “wished there was a way to separate the rows to make it easier to look at.” I smiled and said there was and sprang into action, putting my Excel skills into use. Using a simple formula in conditional formatting I made every other row a different color. She was impressed.

So here’s my tip to get alternating row colors when not using tables or shared worksheets. The trick is to use conditional formatting to apply a fill color to even numbered rows by using this formula:

 

=(MOD(ROW(), 2)=0)

How does it work? The function MOD returns the remainder after a number is divided by a divisor. The ROW function returns the row number of a reference. So the formula takes the current row number and divides by two. The resulting remainder is either a 1 or a 0. If we set the conditional formatting formula equal to 0 then every other row will be colored in. Make sense?

 

 

Here’s a short video showing exactly how to use it if you’re confused:
 

I hope that helps!

Weighted Winter Olympics Medal Count 2014

In honor of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games currently being held in Sochi, Russia, I decided to create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet template for the medal count as I did for the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London. There are two primary methods most websites appear to be ranking the 2014 medal count. Sites like Yahoo rank countries by the total number of Olympic medals won. Other sites, like the International Olympic Committee (or IOC) rank countries by their gold medal count. Others rank by factors like per capita or GDP, which was used in a Freakonomics article about predicting the medal count with economics.

Pictured below is a bar chart showing all medals won for the top twenty countries (as of the time of this posting on 2-12-14). The bar chart is created in Excel by highlighting the data then going to Insert>Bar>Stacked Bar chart. Change the colors of the bars by right clicking on them then use the drop down menu to select the data you want to change.

The final 2014 Winter Olympic Medal Count

I've devised my own ranking system to give each Olympic medal a weight where the silver is worth half a gold medal and a bronze is worth only a quarter of the gold. Based on this new scoring system, the Olympic results aren’t as different as I thought they would be yet, but there are still a lot of medals to give out. See the results on Google Docs by clicking the link below:

Weighted Winter Olympic Medal Count spreadsheet

How would you weight each medal against the others? Comment below and share any of your Olympic medal rating systems!

2014 NASCAR Fantasy League Template

A reader recently asked me for help with creating a NASCAR Fantasy League spreadsheet and I’m making a template of it available for download. I’ve created Excel templates for many other games and sports, including one for horseshoes, but this is our first NASCAR spreadsheet! This NASCAR fantasy game is based on Total Driver Points according to NASCAR’S scoring system. In order for your drivers to score they must be running for Sprint Cup Points. Drivers may run in more than one NASCAR division but can only score points in one division.

The sheet to track the scores for each race and driver respectively.

Here's how to play: At the beginning of the year (first race is Daytona on February 23rd) participants choose ten race car drivers. These will be their 10 drivers for the entire year - no changing after the entry deadline. All players also submit the three drivers that they think will place 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the NASCAR standings at the end of the year. They don’t need to have these drivers in their picks, just who they think is going to finish on top. This is used as a tie-breaker.

Player ranking sheet.

The fantasy league manager manually enters each player’s picks into the spreadsheet once at the beginning of the year. They keep the same drivers all year long. After each race, the manager then goes to ESPN.com and enters the amount of points that each driver earned during the race into that driver’s column. The spreadsheet then automatically adds and ranks each player according to their driver’s scores. I used many of the same formulas found in the leaderboard of my NCAA Bowl Prediction Pool sheet. Can currently handle up to one hundred drivers and one hundred participants without needing to modify a single formula.

You can make each player pay a fee to play the game and split the pot to the top three winners. (1st=70%, 2nd=20%, 3rd=10%) Or many people have told me they like to use these types of games to raise money for charities, which is awesome!

To download the 2014 NASCAR Fantasy League manager simply click the link below which will take you to the box.com, where the file is hosted. Next, click on the “Download” link in the upper right hand corner. That’s it!

2014 NASCAR Fantasy League Template.xls download

If many readers play NASCAR fantasy games and find this useful I will improve the spreadsheet by automating the entry process and come up with a way to update the driver scores easier. This is the first version of the template and I don’t follow NASCAR myself so I’m sure it can be improved in some areas. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

Super Bowl Squares 2014 Spreadsheet

The NFL playoffs are over and the final two teams are set to go at it in the championship game, meaning it’s time to download the Super Bowl Squares template - 2014 edition! The Denver Broncos will play the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII (48) on Sunday, February 2nd at 6:30pm. To make the big game even more fun start an office pool using our printable Super Bowl square spreadsheet. Fill in the squares, watch the game, laugh at the commercials, and see who wins and maybe make a little money at the same time. If you’re a fan of a team that like mine (the Factory of Sadness) that will never make it to the championship (or playoffs for that matter), then playing Super Bowl Squares will make watching the game more exciting and gives you something to actually root for. Others may be torn between cheering for their favorite team and cheering for their squares.

There are actually two versions included in this year’s Super Bowl Squares spreadsheet:

1. Printable version - This print ready version contains a blank grid, simply print it off and write all the player’s names down on the piece of paper. It’s quick and easy!
2. Electronic version - Manage everything directly in Excel. Press the randomize button to generate the random score numbers. Use this for running your Super Bowl pool. No modifications are necessary, though you can if you so desire.

Leaderboard for the Excel squares

Super Bowl Squares Rules & How to Play

Listed below are the instructions on how to play Super Bowl Squares (which are also included within the spreadsheet, along with an example):

1. Participants “purchase” individuals squares by writing their name in their desired squares, until all one hundred are filled.
2. After all squares are taken, the numbers 0 through 9 are written in the empty horizontal and vertical rows in random order (draw the numbers out of a hat).
3. After the end of each quarter of the game, match the last digit of each team's score to the corresponding square to find the winner. Tip: 0, 3, and 7 are the best numbers to get. 8, not so much.

Below is a short video tutorial I put together of how to use my Super Bowl Squares template in Excel:



Download the spreadsheet for free, simply click the link below which will take you to the box.com, where the file is hosted. Next, click on the “Download” link in the upper right hand corner. That’s it!

2014 Superbowl Squares.xls download

Get the 2015 Super Bowl Squares spreadsheet!

Over 2,000 people downloaded last year’s version. My goal is to surpass that this year and I need your help! I would really appreciate it, if you enjoy this sheet, to share it on your favorite social media site. Let me know in the comments or by email which version you’ll use: paper or electronic!

NEW: 2016 Super Bowl Squares

Interview with an Excel Engineer

Reddit recently featured an interview with an Excel engineer who worked on Excel 2010 and Excel 2013. He answered numerous questions about everything ranging from tips and tricks to how to get a job working for Microsoft on Excel. The post is quite lengthy and there are many unanswered questions to sort through so for your convenience I’ve transcribed some of the most interesting and and informative Excel questions and answers here:

What would you say is the most under-utilized aspect of Excel?

The most underutilized feature IMHO is the Pivottable - the power it gives you is limitless and when people figure out how to use them it blows their mind. Traditional pivottables could only be created on a single table - with the new data model feature in Excel 2013 this limitation is gone and you can now join data from multiple tables/sources.

How does one become a data visualization MVP anyway?

Usually its awarded after years of experience, blogs, books written on the subject, etc.. These guys help us a lot when it comes to planning.

What is your background? How did you get the job?

Software engineer specializes in business intelligence and financial engineering. Got recruited out of school. There is all sorts of backgrounds though from ex flash game designers to mathematics phds to a guy who graduated from vet school. There are four disciplines that work directly on the Excel teams: developers, testers, program managers, and designers. There is also a ton of supporting staff like technical writers, support engineers, etc.. Each discipline had its own requirements. We're always hiring and you can specifically look inside the Microsoft Office Division.

How much do you study actual users and who are they?

A lot. We visit customers small and large shadowing them for days understanding their workflows. We conduct usability studies where we test out new features, designs, etc.. We comb through those crash reports (those popup dialogs that ask you to send info to MSFT) all the time to figure out what problems people are hitting. That said with 250+ million active users we always have to generalize. My first boss once told me, "When developing Excel any decision you make will probably piss off at least a million people, just make sure the rest are happy".

What are some lesser known tips shortcuts or tricks of Excel? What advice would you give to someone wanting to learn more?

• When inside a range of data Ctrl + A selects it all, Ctrl +T creates a table. Learn more keyboard shortcuts here.
• Macro recording to learn VBA is probably the trick that I have gotten the most out of. Or take an online class.
• Read this book: Excel 2010 Bible by John Wallenbach

To read through the entire Q&A session visit this link.

Horizontal to vertical formula across sheets

Typically, to transfer horizontal rows into vertical columns in Excel you would highlight the cells you want to change and copy, then right click on the cell you want to move to, select ‘paste special’, click ‘transpose’ box, and hit ok. But what if you want to accomplish this task with a formula instead so it is done automatically on the fly? In an earlier post I showed you how to do it by using the OFFSET function combined with a named range. Today, I’m going to show you a different Excel formula to transfer rows to columns.

I recently used these horizontal to vertical formulas in my 2013 NCAA college football bowl prediction pool manager, and I am going to refer to that template as an example, so if you haven’t already I recommend you download the sheet. I needed to get the list of the players from the main sheet, which were listed out horizontally, and get them into the leaderboard sheet. The players needed to be listed vertically in the leaderboard in order for my rank without ties formula to rank the players in order of who picked the most games correctly. The basic formula uses INDEX and ROWS functions and looks something like this:

=INDEX(Sheet2!D$22:H$22,ROWS(A$4:A4))

The INDEX function returns the value of the cell at the intersection of the rows and columns specified in the formula while ROWS returns the number of rows in a reference or array. The exact formula I used on the leaderboard sheet in cell A3 is shown below:

=IF((ROW()-2)<=$L$3,INDEX('Master Pool'!J$39:Z$39,ROWS(A$4:A4)),"")

The formula - notice the range

The range expands as the formula is filled down

It takes all the names in row 39 on the Master Pool sheet from column J to Z and puts them into a vertical column in the leaderboard sheet, starting in row 3. The dollar signs are very important. As you fill the formula down the range increases. I also used the IF and ROW functions to account for the number of players (if the row number minus two, because the formula started in row 3, is less than or equal to the total number of players, then transpose the data, otherwise leave blank). As you can see in the example spreadsheet, the data is transformed from a horizontal row on one sheet to a vertical column in another. This is important because the data in the horizontal column can change and the vertical column will update automatically - no manual revisions needed!