Resources for Working on Excel Spreadsheets
- Microsoft has online resources available at Ofice.Microsoft.com. The site allows you to search for the resource that you need based on program and version. For example, if you are an Excel 2007 user, you can find resources specific to 2007. The site offers training videos and templates that you can download and use for your own purposes.
A common complaint from users of this site is that the topics are often presented too technically and are difficult for the average person to understand. - An Excel template is pre-formatted spreadsheet. For example, if you need to put a budget in Excel, rather than create it from scratch yourself, you could use a template and make any adjustments you need to personalize it. This saves you time and effort.
Vertex42.com offers free Excel templates available for download. Categories include calendars and schedules, budgets, invoice and inventory, timesheets and human resources, and both personal and business financial spreadsheet templates, to name a few. - An Excel Add-In is a macro or program that works within Excel to perform a specific function. For example, if you would like to generate random numbers in Excel, you could use the add-in located on Office-addins.com, which would automatically perform that function for you. This site offers a large selection of add-ins for Excel ranging from very simple to very complex. Some of them are free, while others offer a free trial before purchase.
Excel-it.com is another site that offers free add-ins for Excel. It offers such tools as a date generator, calculator tool and formula converter. - Appspro.com offers an add-in that is a more complex tool. It includes a wish list of shortcuts that many Excel users will benefit from on a daily basis to simplify common Excel functions. It will add a new toolbar to Excel, which includes an improved help feature, Excel bug fixes and formatting of the Name Box. Happily, this is a free download. Unhappily, as of fall 2009, it is not available for Excel 2007 or later.
- CPA Matt Evans of Arlington, Virginia, provides resources for free on his website Exinfm.com. He has downloads available for nearly 100 financial resources you can use in Excel, as well as an impressive list of general resources.
