Excel for Business with AI: Essentials is a practical, beginner-friendly course designed to help you master Excel from the ground up — with a smart twist. You'll learn to build and format professional spreadsheets, perform essential calculations, manage and analyze data efficiently, and create eye-catching visual dashboards. Along the way, you'll also explore how AI tools can enhance your workflow, speed up your tasks, and uncover data insights. Whether you're new to Excel or looking to boost your skills, this course gives you the tools to work confidently and effectively in any business setting.

Excel for Business with AI: Essentials
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Recommended experience
Recommended experience
Beginner level
No previous experience with Excel required! This course is designed for beginners and those looking to formalize their Excel skills.
Recommended experience
Recommended experience
Beginner level
No previous experience with Excel required! This course is designed for beginners and those looking to formalize their Excel skills.
What you'll learn
Develop proficiency working in Excel and using best practise to create and format spreadsheets
Build confidence creating and understanding Excel calculations for accuracy and automation
Manage data effectively, generate insights and create visual reports
Use AI to improve productivity and problem-solve in Excel
Skills you'll gain
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There are 6 modules in this course
In this module we will create our own spreadsheet from scratch, developing confidence working in the Excel space and discovering important efficiency tools like the fill handle and the quick access toolbar.
What's included
11 videos12 readings7 assignments
11 videos•Total 50 minutes
- Welcome to Excel for Business with AI•2 minutes
- Getting the most out of your course•1 minute
- Introduction: Taking Charge of Excel•1 minute
- Discussion Video •3 minutes
- Practise Video: Taking Charge of Excel•7 minutes
- Practise Video: Navigating and Selecting Data•6 minutes
- Practise Video: Creating a Spreadsheet•6 minutes
- Practise Video: Entering and Editing Data•6 minutes
- Practise Video: Using the Fill Handle•6 minutes
- Practise Video: Managing Rows and Columns •6 minutes
- Practise Challenge Video•5 minutes
12 readings•Total 120 minutes
- Course Overview & Learning Journey •10 minutes
- Skills Checklist •10 minutes
- Taking Charge Workbook•10 minutes
- Navigating and Selecting Workbook•10 minutes
- Entering and Editing Data Workbook•10 minutes
- Using the Fill Handle Workbook•10 minutes
- Columns and Rows Workbook•10 minutes
- Columns and Rows Workbook Solution •10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook•10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook Solution •10 minutes
- Assessment Workbook•10 minutes
- Quick Reference Guide•10 minutes
7 assignments•Total 84 minutes
- Taking Charge of Excel•9 minutes
- Navigating and Selecting •9 minutes
- Creating a Spreadsheet•9 minutes
- Entering and Editing Data•9 minutes
- Using the Fill Handle•9 minutes
- Managing Rows and Columns•9 minutes
- Taking Charge of Excel Assessment•30 minutes
This module is all about making your spreadsheets look professional and easy to read as we apply a range of formats: from colours and fonts, to borders, alignment options and number formats. We look at using themes to assist with branding and consistency and explore some of the many copy paste options available.
What's included
9 videos11 readings7 assignments
9 videos•Total 44 minutes
- Introduction Video Formatting a Spreadsheet•1 minute
- Discussion Video•3 minutes
- Practise Video: Fonts and Colours•5 minutes
- Practise Video: Borders and Styles•7 minutes
- Practise Video Alignment Tools•5 minutes
- Practise Video Number Formats•6 minutes
- Practise Video Copy & Paste•7 minutes
- Practise Video Themes & Images•5 minutes
- Practise Challenge Video•6 minutes
11 readings•Total 110 minutes
- Formatting a Spreadsheet Skills Checklist •10 minutes
- Fonts and Colours Workbook•10 minutes
- Borders and Styles Workbook•10 minutes
- Alignment Tools Workbook•10 minutes
- Number Formats Workbook•10 minutes
- Cut, Copy & Paste Workbook•10 minutes
- Themes and Images Workbook•10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook•10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook Solution•10 minutes
- Assessment Workbook•10 minutes
- Quick Reference Guide•10 minutes
7 assignments•Total 84 minutes
- Fonts and Colours Practice•9 minutes
- Borders and Styles •9 minutes
- Alignment Tools•9 minutes
- Number Formats•9 minutes
- Cut, Copy and Paste•9 minutes
- Themes & Images •9 minutes
- Formatting a Spreadsheet•30 minutes
This module covers the key principles in creating and copying calculations in Excel. As well as simple calculations with operators we introduce the functions: SUM, AVERAGE, MAX & MIN, look at relative and absolute cell referencing and discover how AI tools can help us generate calculations.
What's included
9 videos15 readings7 assignments
9 videos•Total 50 minutes
- Calculations Introduction Video•1 minute
- Discussion Video•4 minutes
- Practise Video: Simple Calculations•8 minutes
- Practise Video: Absolute Cell References•6 minutes
- Practise Video: SUM and Autosum •6 minutes
- Practise Video: AVERAGE, MAX and MIN •5 minutes
- Practise Video: Calculations across Sheets •5 minutes
- Practise Video: Getting Help from AI •6 minutes
- Practise Challenge Video•9 minutes
15 readings•Total 150 minutes
- Skills Checklist •10 minutes
- Simple Calculations Workbook•10 minutes
- Absolute Cell References Workbook•10 minutes
- SUM and Autosum Workbook•10 minutes
- AVERAGE, MAX and MIN •10 minutes
- Calculations across Sheets •10 minutes
- Getting Help from AI Workbook•10 minutes
- Getting Help from AI Workbook Solution•10 minutes
- Practise Challenge: Calculations Workbook•10 minutes
- Practise Challenge: Calculations Workbook Solution•10 minutes
- Assessment Workbook•10 minutes
- Assessment Workbook Solution•10 minutes
- Quick Reference Guide•10 minutes
- AI as your thinking Partner•10 minutes
- AI Challenge: Use AI to help with Excel calculations•10 minutes
7 assignments•Total 81 minutes
- Simple Calculations Quiz•6 minutes
- Practise Quiz Absolute Cell References•9 minutes
- SUM and Autosum •9 minutes
- AVERAGE, MAX and MIN •9 minutes
- Calculations across Sheets •9 minutes
- Getting Help from AI •9 minutes
- Calculations Assessment •30 minutes
This module is all about data. Organising it, automating the management of it, sorting and filtering and generating insights from it, with a little help from Copilot.
What's included
9 videos14 readings7 assignments
9 videos•Total 50 minutes
- Managing Data Introduction Video•1 minute
- Discussion Video•3 minutes
- Practise Video: Working with Sheets •7 minutes
- Practise Video: Creating a Table •6 minutes
- Practise Video: Working with Tables •6 minutes
- Practise Video Sorting Data •4 minutes
- Practise Video: Filters & Slicers •7 minutes
- Practise Video: Data Insights with Copilot •6 minutes
- Practise Challenge Video: Managing Data•8 minutes
14 readings•Total 140 minutes
- Skills Checklist•10 minutes
- Working with Sheets Workbook•10 minutes
- Creating a Table Workbook•10 minutes
- Working with Tables Workbook•10 minutes
- Sorting Data Workbook•10 minutes
- Filters & Slicers Workbook•10 minutes
- Data Insights with Copilot Workbook•10 minutes
- Data Insights with Copilot Workbook Solution •10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook•10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook Solution•10 minutes
- Assessment Workbook•10 minutes
- Quick Reference Guide•10 minutes
- AI as your thinking Partner•10 minutes
- AI Challenge: Use CoPilot to help generate insights•10 minutes
7 assignments•Total 84 minutes
- Practise Quiz: Working with Sheets •9 minutes
- Practise Quiz: Creating a Table •9 minutes
- Practise Quiz Working with Tables •9 minutes
- Practise Quiz Sorting Data •9 minutes
- Practise Quiz Filters & Slicers •9 minutes
- Data Insights with Copilot •9 minutes
- Managing Data Assessment•30 minutes
This module explores options for setting up Excel sheets to sit nicely on the page when printed or converted to PDF and explores other options for sharing our Excel files and saving to cloud storage.
What's included
9 videos11 readings7 assignments
9 videos•Total 50 minutes
- Sharing & Printing Introduction Video•1 minute
- Discussion Video•3 minutes
- Practise Video: Print Preview •5 minutes
- Practise Video: Page Layout Options •6 minutes
- Practise Video: Headers and Footers •5 minutes
- Practise Video: Print Titles & Print Areas •5 minutes
- Practise Video: Page Breaks•6 minutes
- Practise Video: Save & Share Options •8 minutes
- Practise Challenge Video: Sharing & Printing•11 minutes
11 readings•Total 110 minutes
- Skills Checklist•10 minutes
- Print Preview Workbook•10 minutes
- Page Layout Options Workbook•10 minutes
- Headers and Footers Workbook•10 minutes
- Print Titles & Print Areas Workbook•10 minutes
- Page Breaks Workbook•10 minutes
- Save & Share Options Workbook•10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook •10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook Solution•10 minutes
- Assessment Workbook•10 minutes
- Quick Reference Guide•10 minutes
7 assignments•Total 90 minutes
- Print Preview •15 minutes
- Page Layout Options •9 minutes
- Headers and Footers •9 minutes
- Print Titles & Print Areas •9 minutes
- Page Breaks•9 minutes
- Save & Share Options •9 minutes
- Sharing & Printing Assessment •30 minutes
This module covers presenting data visually to help unlock insights and support data driven decision making. We look at conditional formatting, creating effective charts and how to construct a dashboard.
What's included
10 videos13 readings8 assignments
10 videos•Total 61 minutes
- Visualising Data Introduction Video•1 minute
- Discussion Video•4 minutes
- Practice Video: Quick Conditional Formats•7 minutes
- Practise Video: Column & Bar Charts •7 minutes
- Practise Video: Pie and Donut Charts •7 minutes
- Practise Video: Line and Area Charts •8 minutes
- Practise Video: Map and Treemap Charts •6 minutes
- Practise Video: Simple Dashboards •9 minutes
- Practise Challenge Video: Visualising Data•13 minutes
- Concluding Video•1 minute
13 readings•Total 130 minutes
- Skills Checklist•10 minutes
- Quick Conditional Formats Workbook•10 minutes
- Column & Bar Charts Workbook•10 minutes
- Pie and Donut Charts Workbook•10 minutes
- Line and Area Charts Workbook•10 minutes
- Map and Treemap Charts Workbook•10 minutes
- Simple Dashboards Workbook•10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook •10 minutes
- Practise Challenge Workbook Solution•10 minutes
- Assessment Workbook•10 minutes
- Quick Reference Guide•10 minutes
- AI as your thinking Partner•10 minutes
- AI Challenge•10 minutes
8 assignments•Total 144 minutes
- Quick Conditional Formats •9 minutes
- Column & Bar Charts •9 minutes
- Pie and Donut Charts •9 minutes
- Line and Area Charts •9 minutes
- Map and Treemap Charts •9 minutes
- Simple Dashboards •9 minutes
- Visualising Data Assessment •30 minutes
- Final Assessment •60 minutes
Instructor

Offered by

Offered by

Macquarie is ranked among the top one per cent of universities in the world, and with a 5-star QS rating, we are recognised for producing graduates who are among the most sought-after professionals in the world. Since our foundation 54 years ago, we have aspired to be a different type of university: one focused on fostering collaboration between students, academics, industry and society.
Why people choose Coursera for their career

Felipe M.

Jennifer J.

Larry W.

Chaitanya A.
Frequently asked questions
Excel is one of the most widely used and versatile business tools. In six action-packed modules, we cover the essential skills needed to create stunning, accurate, and automated spreadsheets in modern Excel.
Each module begins with a fireside discussion introducing important concepts, followed by six practical, hands-on videos with quick quizzes to test your understanding. At the end of each module, you'll practice all the skills covered to cement your learning before completing the assessment task.
Our course also includes a unique "AI Corner" in select weeks, providing helpful suggestions on improving your Excel productivity with artificial intelligence tools like Microsoft Copilot.
This course is ideal for:
- Business professionals aiming to improve their Excel skills - Students gearing up for careers in business or data analysis - Individuals wanting to boost their productivity with spreadsheets - Professionals looking to integrate AI tools into their Excel workflow - Complete beginners with no previous Excel experience
By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Create professional-looking spreadsheets from scratch
- Perform calculations and analyze data efficiently
- Build visually appealing charts and dashboards
- Leverage AI tools to enhance your Excel workflow
- Print and share your Excel documents professionally
- Apply best practices for data management and visualization
In this course, we are using Microsoft Excel $$$$ (Office 365) on a Windows PC with all options set to default. The Office 365 version of Excel is the latest version at the time of writing and developing this course. If you have a different version of Excel or you are using a Mac, some tools and buttons will look different, they may be located in a different spot, or some might be missing altogether. If there are any major differences, we usually point them out during the practice videos. If you cannot find a tool that we mention, you can always ask in the forums or search the Internet. Most of the functionality we demonstrate is also available in other spreadsheet programs, although the interface will look different. Most other spreadsheet software can import and export files in the Microsoft Excel format. If you are not sure which version of Excel you are using, check the Microsoft support pages for help.
If you cannot use Excel 2016 on a PC, you will be able to follow along with the videos, however, please note that some of the assessment tasks will require Excel. Where possible, we have designed assessment tasks so that users of older versions of Excel (such as 2013) can still solve them.
To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
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