With the best online Excel courses and training, you can acquire the skills needed to unleash the full potential of this popular Microsoft Office program.
Think about it, Microsoft Excel is a crucial skill used in tons of applications, and whether it’s down to analyzing business performance, strategizing budget, or organizing transactions, having the right Excel skills will definitely put you a step above the rest.
Thankfully, you can build the skills you need by taking online courses from the comfort of your home, on your own schedule. Not only are they more convenient, but online Excel classes also cost much less than traditional in-person classes. And they’re arguably even better in terms of quality.
And while this all seems very interesting and useful, there is a catch: with the information overload that exists in today’s world of online Excel training, how are you supposed to land the goldmine when searching for the best Excel courses online?
That’s where I can help.
I’ve compiled a thorough list of the very best online Excel classes, reviewing and ranking them so you don’t have to subject yourself to trial and error. With my trusty list, you’ll have all you need to “excel” in the world of online Microsoft Excel training.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost for you, we might get a commission if you click the link and purchase.
How We Chose the Best Online Excel Training Classes
Learning Excel is an important skill for professionals, students, and anyone else who relies on data to make decisions or take action.
If you can master Excel, you can save yourself a great deal of time and effort when working with data.
We wanted to create a comprehensive list of the best online Excel training classes available, so we took the following factors into consideration:
- Curriculum Quality–When looking at Microsoft Excel courses online, we first did an in-depth analysis of the curriculum, reviewing all of the details provided about the class content and even taking some lessons to get a feel for the overall quality.
- Instructor Credentials–When learning Excel, it’s important to make sure you’re being taught by someone who actually knows what they’re doing. We spent time researching each instructor of the courses we looked at, verifying their experience and expertise.
- Student Reviews–When putting together our guide to the best online courses in Excel, we didn’t want to just consider our own opinions, we also wanted to know what other users had to say. We looked at written student reviews and course ratings to get an idea of the overall student experience.
- Price & Value–Of course, everyone wants to know if they are getting a good deal for their money when signing up for an online course. We looked at each course in terms of price and value for money, comparing it against other Microsoft Excel courses.
After doing all of this, we were able to come up with a short list of what we believe are truly the top Microsoft Excel courses and training programs available online.
What are the Best Excel Courses Online?
Here are my top picks for the best online Excel courses you can take in 2023:
1. Excel Pivot Tables: Advanced Pivot Table Techniques for Analyzing and Presenting Data Faster (Skillshare)
Excel PivotTables: Advanced PivotTable Techniques for Analyzing and Presenting Data Faster (Skillshare)
This online Excel course from power user Al Chen teaches you advanced PivotTable techniques to make your data more interactive, so you can get deeper insights from it.
Price
Skillshare offers a 1-Month Free Trial. After that, the price is about $165 per year for unlimited access to the entire Skillshare course catalog. Check our Skillshare pricing guide for more info.
Duration
8 self-paced lessons for a total of 55 minutes
There are certain Microsoft Excel skills that stand out above the rest, and Excel pivot tables are top among those. That’s why this is one of the best online Excel courses.
With its wide range of functions – summarize, reorganize, sort, count, group, total and average – it’s no surprise that pivot tables are a vital Excel component, and this online Excel training covers pivot tables in detail.
Once you’ve got a good grip on pivot tables, you can truly start to use Excel for its more advanced functions.
And don’t feel daunted, this Microsoft Excel class doesn’t run, it walks with you to ensure maximum understanding and knowledge retention.
Your instructor is Al Chen, Mirosoft Excel trainer and Coda evangelist with over 10 years of experience in the field. His varied Excel work activities, including providing consultancy and Excel training to Fortune 500 companies, have made him apt at knowing just which skills need to be taught, when they need to be taught, and how.
Click here to try Skillshare free for one month.
You will learn
- Creating and setting up pivot tables in Excel
- Clear data visualization
- Filtering, sorting and slicing in pivot tables
- Addition of calculated fields within tables
- Creating custom pivot chart templates in accordance with company branding
- Creation of custom reports for data retrieval and formatting
- Refreshing pivot tables with macros
- Beginner and advanced Excel skills
User Feedback
“The class exceeded my expectations for sure! The downloadable material that was provided really helped supplement video lessons and allowed me to practice reinforcement of the concepts I learned. The best part was how well structured the classes were, not only were they logical but it was all really easy to follow. Al was a great instructor, I could sense his enthusiasm to teach from the other side of the screen. One thing’s for sure, don’t throw yourself in the deep end with this course if you’re an Excel beginner – take your time, learn some basic Excel and then try your hand at this course. You’ll love it!”
Best for: Excel users looking to take their skills up a notch by gaining control over one of the most essential Excel features: pivot tables. Great for professionals involved in data analysis in any field.
2. Excel Spreadsheet Design: Extreme Makeover (LinkedIn Learning)
Excel Spreadsheet Design: Extreme Makeover Online Class (LinkedIn Learning)
Poor spreadsheet design can make it difficult for you and others to properly see and understand your data. This online Excel class shows you how to become a masterful spreadsheet designer.
Price
One-month free trial, then $19.99/month billed annually or $39.99 when paid month to month.
Duration
5 chapters spread over 46 minutes
We live in a world of visuals, and it’s a fact that before anyone starts looking at how well constructed and comprehensive your Microsoft Excel data and its analysis is, they’re going to take in how it looks.
Hence, it’s just as important to master your spreadsheet design. And since this is a lesser spoken truth in the industry, this Excel training class is designed to help you achieve the perfect design that will captivate all who view it.
Learn how to get the message across with simple yet seamless design. Avoid the clutter that results from an excess of information on Excel spreadsheets by learning how to compartmentalize and section – all with the help of tried and tested design fundamentals that will help you achieve the best in Excel practice.
Joshua Rischin, director of Axium Solutions, shares his learned experience from over 15 years in the professional services industry.
He combines the age-old tactics of sustainability, flexibility, and practicality while producing a design that is pleasant to the eye – and he aims to impart all that to his students through this course.
You can take this online Excel course free during your one-month LinkedIn Learning trial.
You Will Learn
- The importance of good spreadsheet design
- User-friendly design tactics
- Design to audience correspondence and customization
- Data layout
- Cell formatting
- One-time data inputs to uphold integrity
- Data validation to streamline inputs
- Conditional formatting
- Charts
- Tab customization
- Pagination
- Rebuilding a spreadsheet
User Feedback
“If there’s one thing I learnt in this course, it’s that practice really makes perfect. And I couldn’t have picked a better course to teach me this! Mr Joshua’s attention to detail and the effort that he put into every step really shone through, not only making me attentive in class but also actually making me excited to learn new things and better my Excel skills. I’m someone who doesn’t have a natural eye for design, but despite this I was able to follow along perfectly well – and by the end I was able to make Excel spreadsheets more beautiful than I had ever imagined. I’m truly grateful to this course, and I definitely think it’s a must take for everyone in the Excel field!”
Best for: Everyone. Whether you’re a beginner, an intermediary, or an Excel expert – you need to know the fundamentals of Excel aesthetics. Especially recommended for individuals struggling with Excel spreadsheet presentation.
3. Excel Essentials: The Complete Excel Series – Level 1, 2 & 3 (Udemy)
Excel Essentials: The Complete Excel Series - Level 1, 2 & 3 (Udemy)
This online Excel class covers everything you need to know to go from a novice to a true master. It's the most comprehensive training out there.
Price
Duration
340 lectures spread over almost 28 hours
Want to have Excel at your fingertips?
Then stop wasting your time taking bits and pieces from a variety of different courses, this course right here is the A to Z of all things Excel! Because of just how comprehensive this class is, it’s one of the best Excel courses online.
Perfect for beginners, this course will have you become an Excel master by the time you’re through.
With rigorous and well-explained videos that are designed on a stepping-stone method, lifetime access means that you can go back and solve any queries on your own time and pace, making this a great way to learn Microsoft Excel from the ground up.
The course uses easy-to-follow language and detailed steps to help you slowly build up your Excel skills and smoothly transition from one stage to the next.
It starts with the basics and evolves into an advanced Excel training as the class goes on.
With a Microsoft Excel experience of over 30 years, instructor Alan Jarvis will help you land your next big promotion in a matter of 28 hours – all you need is this course, a PC, Excel access, and the attitude to learn!
You Will Learn
- Spreadsheet building – from scratch!
- Building simple and advanced formulas in Microsoft Excel
- How to use built-in basic Excel functions – including exploitation
- Creating a relational database
- Perfecting project planning via Gantt chart creation
- Creating data entry screens aimed at auto-populating more complex templates
- VBA programming
- Understand coding
- Automated report generation
- Master third-party Microsoft applications
- Application development
- Execute programming projects flawlessly
- Everything from basic to advanced Excel skills
User Feedback
“This is undoubtedly the single, greatest course to exist on Excel ever! It is just that good. To the point, yet also informative and comprehensive. The instructor surely has a gift for teaching with his old-world, grade school type of delivery, which I find particularly useful. He explains each new concept step by step and then builds upon the concepts to establish a very strong foundation. Outstanding class and presentation. I highly recommend the instructor to everyone – it’s a must to take his class if you want to master Excel. Brilliant. Simply brilliant.”
Best for: Beginners who want to learn Microsoft Excel, all the way from the basics through the most advanced Excel formulas and functions.
4. Master Excel Functions in Office 365 – Excel Dynamic Arrays (Udemy)
Price
Duration
91 lectures spread over more than 7 hours
So, you’ve spent some time learning the basics of Excel, and now you want to try your hand at mastering Excel functions – well, this is one of the best Excel training classes for you!
Learn to utilize Excel in Microsoft 365 by learning newer and more complex functions as well as mastering dynamic arrays. With quizzes, notes, and workbooks to help you stay on track and evaluate your learning, you’ll soon think using Excel is a walk in the park.
Leila Gharani walks you through the steps in this advanced Excel training, using her 15 years of using Excel VBA to stand out in the Finance and IT world – and with her help, you can do the same in just a matter of hours!
You Will Learn
- Excel’s latest functions, including: FILTER, XLOOKUP, UNIQUE, SORT, SORTBY, RANDARRAY, and SEQUENCE
- How to add interactivity to Excel reports – including how to create reports in the style of pivot tables without actually using them
- Make use of Excel’s calculation engine
- Easily solve tough problems such as splitting numbers and texts from alphanumeric notations
- Utilize dynamic array to ascertain chart ranges
- Advanced Excel skills to set you apart from others
User Feedback
“Amazingly well organized and thoroughly implemented course. It was so easy to follow along yet challenging in all the right places. For example, I had never previously used the CHOOSE function which was your proposed solution in one of the advanced challenges. Still having the urge to try and figure out the solution on my own (without seeing yours first), I decided to watch a video from another YouTube instructor on that specific function. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand it at all until I watched your instruction. The way you break down the components of a difficult formula, showing loads of examples of how they work, before building up to the final solution is a great way of teaching. Your advice for spilling component results right next to the source data is an Excellent method for troubleshooting formula problems. 5 stars for this course!”
Best for: Experienced Excel users who have command over basic functions such as IF, SUM & VLOOKUP, and are looking to enter into the more complex field.
5. Excel Shortcuts, Excel Tips, Excel Tricks – Excel Skills! (Udemy)
Price
Duration
46 lectures spread over almost 5 hours
Do you use Microsoft Excel daily and want to speed up the process? Tired of repeating the same monotonous set of steps that make it seem like it’s taking forever to execute a simple function?
Well, this tips and tricks Microsoft Excel training course is just the thing you need!
It’s essential to know the ins and outs of Excel, but to truly master it, it’s imperative that you know your way around the application and take the few-step method to do simple tasks.
And with this online Excel class, you can have the upper hand by knowing all the shortcuts and outsmart everyone as you race through Excel tasks. After all – knowing the shortcuts is a true sign of an expert in any field!
Get expert insight from Billy Wigley and Stephanie Jhoy Tumulak, both well-versed in the world of Microsoft Excel. With a combined 32 years of experience between them, it’s safe to say that you’ll be in safe hands!
You Will Learn
- To use hidden features like camera tools and quick analysis
- Create pivot tables with charts in no time
- Control by slicers
- Advanced features and formulas
- Spreadsheet streamlining
- Create one-button charts
- Dealing with text in Excel
- Excel conditional formatting
- How to reduce time on Excel tasks and increase efficiency
- How to work smarter, not harder on Excel
User Feedback
“Billy’s Course is the perfect start for newcomers to Excel and for Excel veterans to polish their skills and increase their knowledge, proficiency, and skills!!! It’s one of the best Excel courses online. Billy is by far the most knowledgeable and entertaining Excel mentors I’ve had the pleasure of learning from. I wholeheartedly recommend his online courses as a must for any aspiring Excel guru, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND trying to find one of his awesome live lectures. You’ll remember Billy and his courses long after you’ve succeeded at Excel.”
Best for: Individuals who are using Excel frequently in their work lives and would love to save some time when using the application, especially those with substantial prior knowledge of the field.
6. RIT Data Processing and Analysis with Excel (edX)
Price
Free with an optional upgrade priced at $249. The optional upgrade allows lifetime access to the course as well as a shareable certificate and graded assignments and exams. See our edX review to learn more.
Duration
4 weeks (estimated), with 6-8 hours each week
Data analysis is a key skill to master whether you’re in research, consultancy, or various other sectors of the corporate world. And this course is designed to help you learn just that! Built on a ladder format, the course starts off by teaching data organization via input and then moves onto making it ready for analysis before the actual task.
Designed for individuals that have a relatively good grasp over the application, this course allows you to widen your Microsoft Excel horizons by teaching its real-life application.
Instructor Beth Prince Bradbury takes on the task of course delivery wonderfully. An Associate Director for Institutional Research, Data and Analytics at the Rochester Institute of Technology, she has years of experience perfecting teaching delivery and instruments necessary to equip individuals with the ability to utilize Excel skills in the real world.
You Will Learn
- Complete data organization
- Data cleaning
- Constructing and executing data analysis planning
- Analysis methods
- Analysis tools
- Evaluation and comparison
- Command over Excel functions such as VLOOKUP
User Feedback
“It is truly an amazing course. In just 4 weeks I have learnt more about Excel and all of the awesome features inside of it than I have in the past seven years. Excel truly is an amazing software and Ms. Beth Prince Bradbury is an amazing instructor. The more complex analysis sections of the course I felt will be a bit difficult for some beginners if you don’t have some prior Excel knowledge. I had ample experience – more than eight years – with Excel and all its features so the concepts being taught were relatively easier for me. That being said, thanks a million for this game changing course! And as far as free Excel classes go, it’s unparalleled.”
Best for: Experienced Excel users looking to use the application for complex, professional-grade data analysis.
7. Excel Time Series Models for Business Forecasting (Coursera)
Price
Duration
Estimated 11 hours
Predicting market trends is key within any and all business, and Microsoft Excel is the perfect application to help you achieve accurate and thorough forecasts.
This online Excel training course covers time series business forecasting including level, seasonal, and trending. It allows the user to incorporate these forecasting methods within Excel to produce graphical representations that clearly map out accurate business trends for the future.
With multiple forecasting methods being taught in the same course, individuals can learn how to segment their business forecasts depending on external factors of the market and internal company factors, making for more accurate and varied data.
Dr. Prashan S. M. Karunaratne, a Senior Actuarial Studies and Business Studies lecturer at the Macquarie Business School, is your instructor for this course. His in-depth knowledge of both Excel and business fundamentals supplement one another to offer a course that is complete in every sense.
You Will Learn
- Time series models – level, trending, and seasonal
- Time series data
- Average forecasting
- Errors in Excel forecasting
- Excel skills for business settings
User Feedback
“The course was superb – the content, the instructor, the planning, it was all done in a way that made understanding come naturally. I’ve been involved in the Excel world for a while now and have taken many courses to build my skills. I can safely say that I haven’t come across any other course that explains business forecasting in Excel in such great detail. Definitely a must take for all!”
Best for: Business professionals wanting to take their ventures one step further by staying ahead of the market and looking out for future patterns
8. Excel BI Training: Power Query & Power Tools Course
Price
Varies
Duration
2 Days
Master Excel’s suite of business intelligence tools (Power Query, Power Pivot, Power Maps, etc.) on this 2-day Excel BI training course. It’s a hands-on course with a trainer that includes lots of time to experiment with what you are being taught and ask questions.
When you finish the training, you’ll be a confident Excel Power Query and Power Pivot user. It contains the following:
✔ A complete Excel Power Tools course covers all of Excel’s BI functions.
✔ Plenty of one-to-one attention and time to ask questions.
✔ Friendly expert trainers, small groups, and a comfortable learning place.
✔ Ongoing support and help with issues you have after the course.
You Will Learn
You will confidently use Excel’s business intelligence Power Tools to analyze data. You’ll be very comfortable using Microsoft Excel to:
- Create a Power Pivot model by importing data from various sources
- Understand and manage data relationships
- Create and edit hierarchies
- Insert calculated columns using Data Analysis Expression (DAX) formulas
- Insert, modify, and format PivotTables and PivotCharts
- Create and edit Measures (DAX aggregate functions)
- Create report dashboards using slicers, timelines, and KPIs
- Use Power View, Power Maps, and Power Query tools
Ready to Start Taking Online Excel Training Classes?
It’s clear that Microsoft Excel is a skill of the now, and if you’re going to Excel (pun intended) in the business or research world, it’s fundamental to establish your grip over the comprehensive spreadsheet application.
And what better way to start than with this immersive array of online Excel classes in front of you?
There’s a massive opportunity knocking at your door, so you better catch it before it’s too late and learn Excel online.
So, what are you waiting for? Get on that PC and start your course hunt today – you won’t be disappointed with the online Excel training that you receive!
Have any questions about finding the best online Excel courses and training? Comment below and we’ll help you out.
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