Excel Basics for Data Analytics

Excel sits at the start of most analysis work.

What you use Excel for
• Cleaning raw data
• Exploring patterns
• Quick summaries for teams

Core concepts you must know
• Data setup
– Freeze header row. View → Freeze Top Row.
– Convert range to table. Ctrl + T.
– Use proper headers. No merged cells. One value per cell.

• Data cleaning
– Remove duplicates. Data → Remove Duplicates.
– Trim extra spaces. =TRIM(A2)
– Convert text to numbers. =VALUE(A2)
– Fix date format. Format Cells → Date.
– Handle blanks. Filter blanks, fill or delete.
– Find and replace. Ctrl + H.

• Essential formulas
– Math and counts
▪ SUM. =SUM(A2:A100)
▪ AVERAGE. =AVERAGE(A2:A100)
▪ MIN. =MIN(A2:A100)
▪ MAX. =MAX(A2:A100)
▪ COUNT. Counts numbers.
▪ COUNTA. Counts non blanks.
▪ COUNTBLANK. Counts blanks.
– Conditional formulas
▪ IF. =IF(A2>5000,"High","Low")
▪ IFS. Multiple conditions.
▪ AND. =AND(A2>5000,B2="West")
▪ OR. =OR(A2>5000,A2<1000)
– Lookup formulas
▪ XLOOKUP. =XLOOKUP(A2,Sheet2!A:A,Sheet2!B:B)
▪ VLOOKUP. Old but common.
▪ INDEX + MATCH. Powerful alternative.
– Text formulas
▪ LEFT. =LEFT(A2,4)
▪ RIGHT. =RIGHT(A2,2)
▪ MID. =MID(A2,2,3)
▪ LEN. =LEN(A2)
▪ CONCAT or TEXTJOIN.
▪ LOWER, UPPER, PROPER.
– Date formulas
▪ TODAY. Current date.
▪ NOW. Date and time.
▪ YEAR, MONTH, DAY.
▪ DATEDIF. Date difference.
▪ EOMONTH. Month end.

• Sorting and filtering
– Sort by multiple columns.
– Filter by value, color, condition.
– Top 10 filter for quick insights.

• Conditional formatting
– Highlight duplicates.
– Color scales for trends.
– Rules for thresholds. Example. Sales > 10000 in green.

• Pivot tables
– Insert → PivotTable.
– Rows. Category or Product.
– Values. Sum, Count, Average.
– Filters. Date, Region.
– Refresh after data update.

• Charts you must know
– Column. Comparison.
– Bar. Ranking.
– Line. Trends over time.
– Pie. Share or percentage.
– Combo. Actual vs target.

• Data validation
– Dropdown list. Data → Data Validation → List.
– Prevent wrong entries.

• Useful shortcuts
– Ctrl + Arrow. Jump data.
– Ctrl + Shift + Arrow. Select range.
– Ctrl + 1. Format cells.
– Ctrl + L. Apply filter.
– Alt + =. Auto sum.
– Ctrl + Z / Y. Undo redo.

• Common analyst mistakes to avoid
– Merged cells.
– Hard coded totals.
– Mixed data types in one column.
– No backup before cleaning.

• Daily practice task
– Download any sales CSV.
– Clean it.
– Build one pivot table.
– Create one chart.

Excel Resources: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaifY548qIzv0u1AHz3i

Data Analytics Roadmap: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaGgzAk72WTmQFERKh02/1354

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