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Best resources to learnExcel & Spreadsheets

Study sheet

Spreadsheets are the most-used analysis tool in business. You will learn formulas, lookups, pivot tables, charts, data cleaning and automation in Excel and Google Sheets.

9 resources · · How we curate

📺YouTube(2)

youtube

Excel Corporate Free Finance Class: The Power of NPV Cash Flow Analysis

A real institutional course, not a tutorial channel - sequenced, cumulative, with exercise files, which is exactly what a beginner needs and what the listicle economy never provides. A 135-video college course from Highline College instructor Mike Girvin covering the Excel interface, cell references, formatting, core formulas, lookups, PivotTables and charts. Downloadable practice workbooks accompany the videos; taught screen-by-screen at working pace.

beginner🇬🇧
youtube

Excel 365 & Power BI Intermediate to Advanced Free Course (365 MECS)

The single best free comprehensive Excel video course in existence. Mike Girvin's full Highline College Excel class, released free: formula construction, PivotTables, dynamic arrays, LET and LAMBDA, Power Query, the Data Model and DAX. Teaches why each tool exists rather than isolated click sequences, with downloadable workbooks.

intermediate🇬🇧

📚Books(2)

bookPaid

Master Your Data with Power Query in Excel and Power BI, 2nd Edition

This is the book that changes how someone works with spreadsheets — from hand-editing cells to building refreshable pipelines. The definitive treatment of Power Query: import, reshape, unpivot, merge and append messy data, then refresh it on demand. Covers the M language directly, turning manual copy-paste cleanup into repeatable, auditable transformation pipelines.

advanced🇬🇧
bookPaid

Microsoft Excel 365 Bible, 2nd Edition

The standard single-volume Excel reference, roughly a thousand pages covering worksheet design, formula construction, tables, PivotTables, charting, conditional formatting, custom functions and VBA automation. Dense enough to read cover to cover or consult indefinitely.

intermediate🇬🇧

🌐Websites(4)

website

Ben Collins - Google Sheets Tutorials

Several hundred free Google Sheets tutorials from a Google Developer Expert: formulas, QUERY, array formulas, pivot tables, charts, dashboards and Apps Script automation. Includes seven formula challenges with published solutions, so you practise rather than only read. Collins' free article library is deep enough to stand alone

beginner🇬🇧
website

Google Sheets Training and Help

Google's own Sheets documentation set: getting-started guides, the complete function list, cheat sheets, and migration notes for people arriving from Excel. Primary source for Sheets-specific behaviour like QUERY, ARRAYFORMULA, IMPORTRANGE and real-time collaboration semantics.

beginner🇬🇧
website

Exceljet Excel Functions Reference

Dave Bruns' function-by-function reference with plain-language syntax notes plus several hundred worked formula examples. Deliberately a lookup tool rather than a course, though the examples explain the reasoning behind each construction, including modern dynamic-array patterns.

beginner🇬🇧
website

Excel Help & Learning

Microsoft's official Excel hub: quick-start guides, free video training courses, and per-function documentation kept current with each Microsoft 365 release. The authoritative reference for what a feature actually does, including dynamic arrays and newer functions.

beginner🇬🇧

📄Papers(1)

paper

Spreadsheet Errors: What We Know. What We Think We Can Do

Panko summarises fifteen years of audit studies finding errors in the large majority of real operational spreadsheets, at cell error rates comparable to programming. Argues that of the proposed remedies, only cell-by-cell code inspection has demonstrated effect. The structural anchor the topic needs and the one thing no tutorial site will ever tell you: spreadsheets are code, most production spreadsheets contain errors, and confidence in your own sheet is not evidence. Reframes every other resource here from 'which formula' to 'how do I know this is right'. F

intermediate🇬🇧
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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best free resources to learn Excel & Spreadsheets?

Dantes has curated 9 resources for Excel & Spreadsheets, including 2 YouTube videos, 2 books, 4 websites, 1 papers. All resources are hand-picked for quality — no algorithmic filler. Browse the full list above to find the format that works best for you.

Is Excel & Spreadsheets hard to learn?

Excel & Spreadsheets is approachable at the beginner level — there are resources here specifically for those starting from scratch. As you progress, intermediate and advanced material is also available to take your skills further.

What types of Excel & Spreadsheets learning resources are available on Dantes?

For Excel & Spreadsheets, Dantes has curated 2 YouTube videos, 2 books, 4 websites, 1 papers. Each resource type serves a different learning style: videos and YouTube for visual learners, books for depth, courses for structured progression, and websites for quick reference.

How does Dantes select Excel & Spreadsheets resources?

Dantes is an algorithm-free learning directory. Resources are hand-curated based on quality, accuracy, and usefulness — not engagement metrics or paid placements. The goal is to surface the best learning material for Excel & Spreadsheets, whether it's a free YouTube series, a classic textbook, or an open courseware from a top university.

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