ICDL Excel: A step-by-step guide to spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel

Spreadsheets become much easier to work with once the rows, columns, cells and tools start to make sense. Conor Jordan’s ICDL Excel guide takes a step-by-step approach to the fundamentals of Microsoft Excel, with its coverage aligned to the ICDL/ECDL Spreadsheets syllabus, Version 6.0.

From finding your way around the interface to organizing information and preparing a worksheet for print, the focus is on practical skills learners can use as they build confidence with spreadsheets.

Start with the spreadsheet essentials

The guide introduces Excel’s basic functions and interface, then moves into everyday tasks: entering and formatting data, editing rows and columns, and using worksheets effectively. Clear familiarity with these building blocks helps make larger spreadsheets less daunting and routine work more manageable.

Make numbers work for you

Calculations and functions are a central part of spreadsheet use. The material covers a range of them, alongside formatting tables and creating charts to represent data visually. Together, these skills help readers both work with figures and present information in a more readable form.

From workbook to finished output

Readers also encounter saving spreadsheets in different formats, using help facilities, shortcuts and the Go To tool, and preparing worksheets for printing. The sequence connects working within Excel to the practical tasks of saving and presenting spreadsheet work.

Practice with a syllabus in view

Written for students and teachers, this guide is organized around the skills associated with ICDL certification. It includes revision sections for practice; the publication notes that these are not official ICDL tests. Referenced work files offer additional material for practicing the techniques described.

A practical starting point for learners who want a guided introduction to Excel’s core spreadsheet tools and functions.