tutorials

How to Use Power Query for Pivot Table Data Analysis

by
The following is a guest post from Rishabh Bhandari, co-founder of Yoda Learning, a site that helps working professionals become faster and better in Microsoft office suite using high-quality video tutorials.  Before founding Yoda Learning, Rishabh worked with an Education-focused Private Equity fund in Mumbai, India.   Continue Reading >>

How to Create a Normally Distributed Set of Random Numbers in Excel

by
Whether you're building a model or trying to simulate a scenario within your analysis, at some point in your Excel career, you're going to need to use a randomized set of data.  If you need to create a purely random set of numbers, with no specific constraints or parameters, you can just use the RAND ... Continue Reading >>

How to Use VLOOKUP’s Range Lookup Feature

by
The vast majority of Excel users have never used VLOOKUP's range lookup feature.  Most Excel users familiar with the VLOOKUP formula are just conditioned to know that, when they get to the range lookup option portion of the VLOOKUP syntax, they should just put in the word "FALSE" because they want an exact match.  This ... Continue Reading >>

The Most Popular Excel Websites Based on Alexa Ranking

by
When I started MBA Excel, I never really gave much thought to Excel's broader web community, which I was implicitly joining.  At the time, I was really just posting Excel tips and tricks because I thought they were interesting and would be useful to fellow MBA students.  While my engagement and capacity to contribute to ... Continue Reading >>

The Ultimate Guide to VLOOKUP

by
Learning the VLOOKUP formula is, for most people, the first step taken towards becoming an advanced Excel user.  For me, this milestone actually occurred in 2004 during an internship at Microsoft in the company's Commercial Operations Division.  One of the senior analysts showed me the ropes by teaching me the formula.  While Continue Reading >>

How to Use OFFSET MATCH MATCH

by
OFFSET MATCH MATCH is the final lookup combination I'll cover among the lookup formula options you have available to you in Excel.  Of all the different lookup options you have to do a two-way lookup, INDEX MATCH MATCH is still probably your best bet and the approach I would generally recommend.  However, OFFSET MATCH MATCH ... Continue Reading >>

How to Use the VLOOKUP HLOOKUP Combination Formula

by
VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP are two of the most popular formulas in Excel and using them together is one of the first formula combinations that people learn.  While using INDEX MATCH for vertical lookups and INDEX MATCH MATCH for matrix style lookups are superior approaches, it's still a good idea to learn this formula combination and ... Continue Reading >>

The Eight Most Impactful Excel Shortcuts That You Should Master

by
If you've ever gone online to research improving your Excel skills, you've undoubtedly come across a post or two listing all of Excel's keyboard shortcuts.  In the latest version of Excel, Microsoft has made it easier than ever to learn shortcuts, by assigning shortcuts to nearly every function and making the discovery of the input Continue Reading >>

How to Write an Excel Criteria Statement That Links to a Specific Cell

by
I generally give Excel a lot of credit for being an intuitive and easy to learn tool.  However, writing criteria statements that link to cells is probably one of the most un-intuitive aspects of formula writing in Excel.  This is a very common mistake that occurs and therefore, should always be error-checked whenever you are ... Continue Reading >>