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This course explores Microsoft Excel 2013's sometimes-overlooked and advanced features. You will learn how to use data analysis tools and techniques to improve your decision making, and you will practice generating accurate data more quickly. By the end of this course, you will be well prepared to contribute more value to your organization with your advanced understanding of Excel. To kick things off, you will spend this first lesson exploring how to modify Excel to streamline processes and make your work easier.

This lesson will explore some great table management features in Excel 2013, discuss how to use data forms with Excel databases, and look at a few alternative database techniques. You'll be glad to know that working with tables has become much easier in this latest version of Excel. The lesson will wrap up with a brief look at some of the practical applications for data forms.

In this lesson you will tackle data validation techniques—your first line of defense against incorrect or missing data and the logical next step after data forms. You will also learn how to create input messages and error alerts to guide the user's data entry, how to keep track of validation rules, and how to apply a custom validation rule to other cells so that you don't have to create it all over again.

The first three lessons covered what you might call intro-level advanced Excel topics, but now it's time to head into more complex territory. In this lesson you will start working with custom controls—graphical objects that help facilitate data input and are sure to impress users. You will also master the process of creating a dynamic list box, which allows you to control the values in one list box based on the values chosen by your user in a separate custom control.

In this lesson you will discover how to use conditional formatting. You will see how to use conditional formatting to hide errors, to highlight records based on multiple criteria, to track and alert you about due dates, to find the differences between two lists, to shade every other row, and more.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use Excel's consolidation function to efficiently summarize data from multiple sources. You will begin with an exercise on consolidating data within the same workbook, and after that, you will practice consolidation using an advanced technique with category labels and wildcards. You will also learn how to use automatic and manual outlining to view or hide different levels or sections of your information.

This lesson will focus Logical, Database, Math & Trig, and Lookup & Reference. You will get an overview of these functions and take a look at the Insert Function dialog box. Then, you will practice working with the IF function, nesting functions, the DSUM function, and the VLOOKUP function—all of which will come in handy when you need to perform a quick, thorough analysis of your data.

In this lesson, you will find out all about importing external data. You will test two methods for refreshing the target area for the imported data and find out how to edit an Excel query. After that, you will do an import from an external database. Finally, you will learn how to perform a web query, which—you guessed it—allows you to import data from the Internet.

It's time to look at data tables. In this lesson, you will learn how to use two types of data tables: a one-variable data table (which lets you substitute a single variable in the formula) and the two-variable data table (which allows you to change multiple aspects of the formula).

This lesson explores three more of Excel's what-if analysis tools: Goal Seek, Scenario Manager, and Solver. You will put Excel's Solver to work to discover the optimal solution to models that have multiple variables and constraints.

In this lesson, you will discover how to use PivotTables, which are excellent for summarizing massive amounts of data and viewing different cuts of the information quickly. You will create a PivotChart based on the data fields in your PivotTable. You may not be done with the course, but after mastering PivotTables and PivotCharts, you will certainly be able to count yourself an advanced Excel user.

You will begin the final lesson with a look at the functions available in the Analysis ToolPak. You will complete an exercise using advanced filters, and then you will learn some relevant Excel tips and tricks. When you're done with this lesson—and the course—you will want to pass along the techniques you've learned to friends and colleagues who are still wrestling with Excel!