How to Improve Your Microsoft Office Skills

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Digital programs have helped students and employees accomplish their tasks much easier than before. One of the most popular digital programs around is the Microsoft Office suite. Learning it gives users plenty of great advantages, but how exactly can you improve your Microsoft Office skills? In this article, we’ll talk about what Microsoft Office is and how you can improve your skill in using it. Read on!

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is a suite of digital products used widely by billions of people worldwide. The suite includes programs like:

Word
Excel
Powerpoint
Publisher
Access
Outlook

Each of these programs serves a specific requirement, but the three most used ones are:

Word: a word processing program for all purposes. You can type content in continuous text and adjust the document’s layout based on your requirements. It hosts a lot of other functions such as inserting tables, footnotes, and even illustrations. Nearly every business in the world that require paperwork use this program. Students also use it for their assignments, research, and projects.
Excel: this is a spreadsheet program that lets users make calculations of many kinds. You can use formulas and functions to solve mathematical calculations in seconds — as long as you know the formulas. Users can store, sort, filter, or manipulate data in many ways, too. Online excel training programs are popular among heavy users of Excel’s more complex features.
PowerPoint: this is a presentation program used widely among businesses and schools. It has powerful and professional presentation templates that you can customize to suit your needs. Users can also add designs and animate their powerpoint presentations for maximum impact.

While learning the basics of these programs is relatively easy, it’s still a must to master their more challenging functions.

Use Them Regularly

Practice as much as you can. Always use the tools and try out every feature you can find by yourself. If you are using Outlook accounts, try to use it regularly to learn about Outlook faster. This way, you’ll easily remember what each feature does and know how you can apply it to your homework, project, or work tasks. The many functions of each program may seem overwhelming at first, but with regular practice, they become easier and easier.

Try Online Courses

Online courses are helpful for those who want to achieve a higher level of proficiency in Microsoft Office. A layout artist using Word or a bookkeeper using Excel may want them, for instance.

If you’re that person, it’s wise to explore Microsoft courses online that you can follow and take at your own pace. Use them to educate yourself more thoroughly. They’re more accessible and cheaper than a formal college education.

Master the Shortcuts

When you’re already deep into learning the features of Microsoft Office programs, you can learn a lot faster when you know keyboard shortcuts. Knowing such shortcuts is an underrated skill, and many people don’t pay attention to them. However, mastering them saves users a lot of time and makes them more effective.

Some useful shortcuts that come in handy include:

Copying and pasting: CTRL+C and CTRL+V
Undo: CTRL+Z
Selecting the entire document: CTRL+A
Switching between Windows: Alt+Tabs

And more.

Why Improving Your MS Office Skills is Important

Microsoft Office programs are used in most administrative positions, regardless of the industry. It’s also one of the top three skills that employers need. To be truly computer literate, you need to master the complex functions and features that the programs offer.

Apart from getting a better shot at better jobs, mastering Microsoft Office programs also lets you do your actual job faster and better. You’ll know the right tools you should use to accomplish your tasks.