Microsoft Excel Training: How to Choose the Best Microsoft Excel Course for You!

Excel is one of those programs that can do far more than most of us will ever need. You might use it to track a simple list, build a budget, analyze thousands of rows of data, create dashboards, automate repetitive tasks, or uncover trends that help you make better decisions.

And every time we think we’ve covered everything there is to cover with Excel, something new comes our way. In 2026, Excel continues to evolve, with new functions, data tools, automation features, and AI-powered capabilities giving us even more ways to work with our data and get things done.

So, where should you start? Let’s look at what you can do with Excel, the skills worth learning, and how to choose the right course for you.

In this article, we will talk about:

• How Are Professionals Using Excel in 2026?
• Using AI with Microsoft Excel
• Choosing the Best Excel Course for You
• Build Your Skills with a Training Package
• How Do You Choose Which Excel Training Course Is Right for You?
• Register for Microsoft Excel Training with The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company

How Are Professionals Using Excel in 2026?   

Excel has been a workplace staple for decades, but how we use it keeps changing.

Professionals across almost every industry rely on Excel to organize information, perform calculations, manage budgets, track projects, analyze data, create reports and forecasts, and turn numbers into charts and other visualizations that are easier to understand.

For some people, that might mean maintaining a simple spreadsheet or using formulas to calculate monthly expenses. Others might work with thousands of rows of data, build interactive dashboards, combine information from multiple sources with Power Query, or automate repetitive tasks.

And now, AI is changing how we work with Excel. Microsoft Copilot can help users create and understand formulas, analyze information, identify trends, and work with their data more efficiently.

That means working in Excel can look quite different depending on your role. An accountant, project manager, administrative professional, HR professional, or data analyst may all use Excel regularly, but they won’t necessarily need the same skills.

The question isn’t whether you can learn everything Excel has to offer. It’s which Excel skills will help you do your work more effectively.   

Using AI with Microsoft Excel  

AI is changing how we work with Excel. With Microsoft Copilot, you can ask questions about your data, get help creating formulas, identify trends and insights, and create charts and other visualizations.

This can help new users get more from Excel and help experienced users work more efficiently. Instead of spending time figuring out how to do something, you can ask Copilot for help getting started, troubleshooting an issue, or analyzing the information in your workbook.

But AI doesn’t replace Excel skills. You still need to understand your data, know what you are trying to accomplish, and be able to evaluate whether the results you receive are accurate. The stronger your skills are, the better you'll be able to give Copilot useful instructions and recognize when something doesn’t look right.

Learn How to Use Copilot with Excel

If you want to incorporate AI into the way you work with Excel, our Microsoft Copilot training can help you understand what the tool can do and how to use it effectively.

Our Getting Started with Copilot and Your Microsoft Applications course explores how Copilot works across Microsoft 365, including how you can use it to create complex Excel formulas and data visualizations.

For professionals who regularly work with data, our Copilot for GREAT Data Analysis Workshop takes a more focused approach. You’ll learn how to use natural language prompts and Copilot in Excel to analyze complex datasets, identify trends, automate repetitive workbook tasks, and turn your findings into clear reports

We also offer role-specific Copilot workshops for professionals in finance and accounting, human resources, marketing, operations, project management, sales, and manufacturing, so you can learn how to apply AI to the work you actually do.

Before You Start Using AI at Work

Before entering company information, customer data, financial information, or other sensitive content into an AI tool, make sure you have clear policies in place. You also want clear guidelines on what information you can share with AI tools and how to review and verify AI-generated results.

If your organization is still working through those questions, our AI Policy and Governance courses can help IT, HR, legal, and leadership teams identify risks, establish acceptable-use guidelines, and develop practical AI policies for their organization.

Choosing the Best Excel Course for You

There’s no single definition of being “good at Excel.” The right skills depend on what you do with it and what you want to accomplish.

That’s why we offer Excel training for different skill levels and goals. Whether you want to build a strong foundation, work more efficiently, analyze data, or automate repetitive tasks, you can choose training that focuses on the skills you actually need.

Essential Excel Training

If you want to build your overall Excel skills, start with our essential Excel training.

Excel Levels 1, 2 and 3 provide a structured path from basic to advanced skills, covering everything from formulas, functions, and formatting to data analysis, pivot tables, and macros. Choose the level that best matches your current experience or complete all three to build a broader Excel skill set.

If you want to cover a wide range of essential Excel skills in less time, Excel Boot Camp provides an accelerated overview of formulas, functions, charts, data management, pivot tables, and more.

Be More Productive with Excel

Already comfortable with your data, but want to learn ways to be more productive with Excel and get more done?

Our Excel Tips, Tricks, and Time Savers courses focus on shortcuts, tools, and techniques that can help you reduce repetitive work and use Excel more efficiently.

Data Visualizations

If you need to turn your data into information others can understand, explore our Data Visualizations courses.

Depending on your goals, you can learn how to create effective charts and graphs, build interactive dashboards, develop custom data visualizations, or use pivot tables to summarize and explore your data.

Power Functions & Features

For experienced users who want to do more with their data, our Power Functions & Features courses explore some of Excel’s more advanced capabilities.

Learn how to clean, analyze, and visualize data with Excel Data Mastery, combine and transform data with Power Query, work with connected datasets using Power Pivot, or take your calculations further with Advanced Functions and Formulas.

Automation with Macros and VBA

If you regularly repeat the same processes in Excel, it may be time to explore automation with macros and VBA.

Our Excel VBA Complete course provides a comprehensive introduction to creating and editing macros with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). For a shorter introduction, A Quick Start to Excel VBA + AI combines basic VBA and macro skills with AI tools that can help you draft, troubleshoot, and improve your code.

Keep Your Excel Skills Current

You can also keep up with newer Excel tools and features through our Microsoft 365 New Features Upskilling: Excel workshop.

This shorter session is a practical option for individuals and teams who already use Excel and want to learn about recent Microsoft 365 updates without taking a full Excel course.

Build Your Skills with a Training Package

Not sure which course to take next? If you want to build a broader set of skills rather than focus on one specific topic, an Excel package can give you a clear learning path.

Our packages bring together courses that build on one another, so you can progress from foundational skills to more advanced techniques without figuring out what to take next. Our Excel Essentials package is designed for professionals who work with Excel regularly and want to become more confident, productive, and efficient.

The package includes all three of our Excel courses:

• Excel Level 1 to build a solid foundation in creating, editing, and formatting spreadsheets, functions, and cell references.
• Excel Level 2 to expand your skills with more advanced formulas and functions, data tables, filtering, charts, and graphs.
• Excel Level 3 to explore more advanced data analysis, slicers, macros, linking, and data consolidation.

Once you’ve completed the three levels, you can choose an elective based on the skills that are most useful to you.

Choose Excel Tips, Tricks and Time Savers Level 2 if you want to find faster and more efficient ways to work, including more advanced techniques for conditional formatting, drop-down lists, and creating Gantt charts.

Or choose Advanced Formulas and Functions if you want to strengthen your analytical skills and explore more sophisticated Date, Logical, Lookup, Text, Math, Statistical, and Database functions.

By combining a structured foundation with an elective that reflects how you use Excel, the package gives you both broad knowledge of Excel and the opportunity to develop skills that are particularly relevant to your work.

How Do You Choose Which Excel Training Course Is Right for You?

The right training depends on what you already know, what you want to accomplish, and how you prefer to learn.

Whether you’re choosing a course for yourself or planning training for a team, we can help you build a training roadmap that fits your needs.

Build a Training Roadmap for Your Team

If you are responsible for training a team, you don’t have to figure out the entire learning path yourself.

Our Training Coordinators can help you assess current skill levels, understand how employees use Excel, and identify the skills they need to develop. From there, we can help you build a training roadmap that combines the right courses and formats.

A training roadmap might include a mix of workshops and webinars to introduce new concepts, build foundational skills, and provide specialized training in the areas your team uses most.

When building a roadmap, we consider several factors.

What Is Your Current Skill Level?

If you’re new to Excel, Excel Level 1 is a good place to start. If you’re already comfortable with the basics, we can review the outlines for Excel Level 2 and Excel Level 3 to determine which topics match your current knowledge and where you want to go next.

Some teams include a mix of Excel users that have different experience levels. If some people on your team know only the basics while others are already more advanced, how do we know which training is right for each employee? We can also conduct Excel skills assessments. These will identify gaps and help us choose the right course for each team member.

What Do You Want to Do with Excel?

Your goals are another important part of building a training roadmap. You don’t necessarily have to take courses in order. If you already have a solid foundation, think about the tasks you want to do better.

If you want to:

• Work faster, consider Excel Tips, Tricks and Time Savers
• Analyze and present data, explore Charts, Dashboards and Data Visualizations
• Clean and combine data, Power Query or Power Pivot may be the next step
• Develop more advanced skills, choose Advanced Functions and Formulas
• Automate repetitive tasks, consider learning more about VBA
• Use Microsoft Copilot, choose one of our Copilot or AI courses.

Starting with your goals helps you choose the skills that will have the greatest impact on your work.

Is Excel the Right Tool for the Job?

Sometimes the next step isn’t to learn more about Excel.

If you’re working with large or complex data sets, creating interactive reports and dashboards, or sharing business intelligence across an organization, Microsoft Power BI may be a better fit.

We offer training in both Excel and Power BI and can help you determine which tool and training path make the most sense for your needs.

How Would You Like to Learn Excel?

The best training roadmap also depends on your schedule, number of participants, learning preferences, and the depth of training you need.

Our public training offers individuals and smaller groups flexible, cost-effective access to regularly scheduled, live instructor-led classes.

Our private training lets organizations train groups together through customized sessions delivered online, on-site, or at our Ottawa training centre.

Our workshops are shorter, hands-on sessions that help teams develop specific skills or keep up with new Microsoft 365 tools and features.

Our live, instructor-led webinars provide a convenient way to introduce a topic through Lunch and Learns, professional development events, or other focused learning sessions.

Our learning packages provide a structured progression through multiple courses for those who want to build their skills over time.

Should You Take Instructor-Led or Self-Paced Training?

There are plenty of ways to learn Excel, and you don’t have to choose just one.

Free videos, articles, and self-paced platforms such as LinkedIn Learning and Udemy can be useful when you need a quick answer, want to explore a feature, or need a refresher.

Instructor-led training provides a more structured learning experience. You can practice and learn directly from an experienced instructor.

For teams, instructor-led training can also help establish a more consistent level of knowledge and give employees a shared approach to working with Excel.

Register for Microsoft Excel Training with The Great Canadian Training & Consulting Company 

Ready to build your Excel skills? Browse our Excel courses and upcoming public classes to find your next course or connect with one of our Training Coordinators to discuss private training, learning packages, or a customized training roadmap for your team.

Not sure which course is right for you? Tell us what you want to accomplish, and we’ll help you find the right training.

Once you’ve booked your training, you don’t have to wait until your course starts to begin learning.

We have plenty of free Excel resources you can explore in the meantime, including webinars, blog articles, downloadable guides and tip sheets, podcast episodes, and videos.

Some of our free Excel resources include:

• Turning Data to Decisions with Excel Dashboards
• Power Up with Power Query
• Advanced Pivot Tables for Deeper Analysis
• Colourful Data Makes Clear Decisions: Mastering Conditional Formatting
• Excel Tips and Tricks

Excel is, and will remain, one of the most important tools in many workplaces. And to truly excel at work, you need GREAT training. Whatever your current skill level or goals, the right training can help you work more confidently, efficiently, and effectively with Excel.