Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets Training for Beginners

For beginners, Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets can appear complex, difficult or overwhelming tools to use. However, with a little bit of knowledge and confidence, you can soon start to include this common spreadsheet software in your day-to-day job role, and will discover that it quickly enhances your record-keeping and calculation skills.
This short course provides you with written instructions for how the key functions of Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets work, alongside a short video for each function to show you how the skills work in action, plus a workbook for each module so you can practice the skills yourself.
- Developed by experts in Excel and Google Sheets
- Accredited by CPD
- Fully online course and assessment with no time limits
- Full audio voiceover
- Approximate duration: 1-2 hours
- On completion, certificate is posted the next working day
Who should take this course?
This Microsoft Excel for Beginners course is designed for anyone who wishes to update, refresh or learn new spreadsheet skills. The content is ideal for complete beginners to the subject who want to gain some basic knowledge of Excel or Google Sheets, either for their current job role or a future position, and is also perfect as a refresher course for people who already use Excel but want to remind themselves of its key functions.
Certification

All of our courses are accredited by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to universally accepted Continuing Professional Development (CPD) guidelines.
On successful completion of the course you will be sent a quality assured certificate through the post the next working day. This can be used to provide evidence for compliance and audit.
Screenshots (click to view)
If you wish to try this course then register for a demo by clicking the 'interactive demo' button. You will be given the option to purchase and continue with your course at the end of your demo!
Interactive Demo
Course content
Module | Description | |
---|---|---|
1 | The Basics of Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets | Accessing Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, the Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets interfaces, cells, columns and rows, worksheet tabs, ribbon tabs in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, ribbon and formula bars, data formatting and basic number formats. |
2 | Introducing Formulas, Functions and Features | Formulas and basic calculations, an introduction to functions, fill handle, relative, mixed and absolute references, sort and filter, conditional formatting, and charts and graphs. |
3 | Popular Functions | AVERAGE, SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS, COUNTIF, COUNTIFS, IF, IFS, VLOOKUP and Pivot Tables. |
Download Course Overview (PDF)
Aims of the course
By the end of this short course, you will know how to:
- Understand Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets terminology.
- Perform simple calculations.
- Input, sort, filter and edit data.
- Use conditional formatting functions.
- Create charts, graphs and pivot tables.
- Use basic formulas and functions, including AVERAGE, SUM, SUMIF and SUMIFS, COUNTIF and COUNTIFS, IF and IFS, and VLOOKUP.
Assessment
The online assessment is taken on completion of the training material. You will be asked 10 multiple-choice questions with a pass mark of 80%. The answers are marked automatically so you will instantly know whether you have passed. If you don't pass, don't worry! You can take the test as many times as you need with no extra charge.