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There are many different spreadsheet programs, from free options like Google Sheets to industry-standards like Microsoft Excel. Learn about the options in this video.
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There are countless software packages for
building and working with spreadsheets.
0:00
The most widely used spreadsheet software
is Microsoft Excel, it's everywhere and
0:05
is used extensively in most businesses.
0:10
And it has a very powerful
set of features and
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it's the spreadsheet
software most people use.
0:14
In this course,
we're gonna use Google Sheet software.
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It's free,
has all the functionality you will need,
0:19
and looks and works the same across
different types of computer systems.
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Generally speaking, any spreadsheet
software that comes with your computer or
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Google Sheets, which is free online,
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are fine places to begin
learning how to use spreadsheets.
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But if you're working with a large
amount of data and formulas
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I'd argue it's probably worth investing
in more robust software than Sheets.
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What software do you use
depends a lot on your use case,
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as there are some industries with very
specialized spreadsheet software needs
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where using more generic spreadsheet
software is impractical.
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For example, you could build out an
inventory management spreadsheet in Excel.
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But there is specialized software out
there that will allow you to do that
1:03
without Excel.
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Another example,
is using a spreadsheet for
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your accounting instead of
software like QuickBooks.
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Here we are looking at
a blank Google sheet.
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You can see the spreadsheet
title at the top.
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You can rename the title
by clicking on it and
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then entering whatever text
you want to have changed.
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The menu bar includes different options
that will allow us to work with
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the spreadsheet's data.
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This is the menu bar right here.
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These menu items are similar to those
you'd find in any spreadsheet software.
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Under File, for example,
you can see some of the typical
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options you may be familiar with like New,
Open, or Make a copy.
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There is noticeable item
missing from file though, save,
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fortunately Sheets automatically saves for
you, as seen right here.
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Don't forget to save regularly
if you are using other software
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as there is nothing
worse than losing work.
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I do want to call out
something important here.
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You'll notice that if you
scroll over the undo button,
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there is also a Command Z in parentheses.
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If you are using a PC,
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it will say Control Z instead of Command,
this is a keyboard shortcut.
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So to undo something, instead of having
to scroll through the Edit menu or
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click on the toolbar I can just type
Command and Z at the same time to undo.
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I can't stress enough how
important keyboard shortcuts are.
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Learning and
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using them will make you so much more
productive than simply using the menus.
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They're so important, in fact,
I'll be talking about and
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asking you to memorize them
throughout the course.
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