Getting Up to Speed with Excel 2019

Author: David H. Ringstrom

Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA, reveals the new features offered in Excel 2019 in this enlightening webcast. Many users choose not to update every time a new version is released, so David highlights new features added in Excel 2013 and 2016 as well. He shares ways you can benefit from the new capabilities if you’re already using Excel 2019, or the presentation could help you determine if you should move from an earlier version to Excel 2019. In addition, David compares Excel 2019 to the subscription-based Office 365 version of Excel, which, unlike perpetually licensed products such as Excel 2019, sometimes evolves as often as monthly.

David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in Excel 2019. David draws your attention to any differences in the older versions of Excel (2016, 2013, and earlier) during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. You’ll also discover some features only available in Office 365, but not Excel 2019. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the webcast.

Office 365 is a subscription-based product that provides new-feature updates as often as monthly. Conversely, the perpetual licensed versions of Excel have feature sets that don’t change. Perpetual licensed versions have year numbers, such as Excel 2019, Excel 2016, and so on.

Publication Date: May 2019

Designed For
Practitioners who wish to learn about the new features in Excel 2019, or those who are considering moving from an earlier version to this latest version.

Topics Covered

• Joining text together with space or other characters with the TEXTJOIN function in Excel 2019 and later
• Learning the benefits and risks of sharing workbooks via OneDrive in Office 365.
• Discovering new worksheet functions available in Excel 2016 and later.
• Using the Icons command in Office 365 to add emoji-style icons within spreadsheets.
• Mapping geographic data with just a couple of mouse clicks.
• Exploring the Forecast Sheet feature in Excel 2016 and later, which can extrapolate trends based on existing data in your spreadsheets.
• Streamlining the process of printing spreadsheets to .PDF format.
• Using Microsoft's free Excel Online service to view and edit spreadsheets that use features from Office 365 that aren't compatible with other versions of Excel.
• Editing .PDF documents in Word 2013 and later—useful for unlocking data you wish to edit in Excel.
• Jump-starting pivot tables by way of the Recommended PivotTables feature in Excel 2013 and later.
• Unearthing worksheet functions with the AutoComplete feature in Excel 2019 and later.
• Modernizing tasks that involve combining text with the CONCAT function in Excel 2019 and later.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize the most effective means for converting an obsolete .XLS workbook into modern .XLSX or .XLSM file formats
• Identify the chart form in Excel 2019 and Office 365 that displays data geographically
• Identify the closest alternative to the SWITCH worksheet function that is compatible in all versions of Excel
• Describe true statements about Slicers
• Recognize which Excel feature Timeline complements
• Identify what the IFS function will return in Excel 2016 and earlier
• Describe which chart type enables you to display results geographically in Excel 2019 and Office 365
• Identify which document type Excel's Convert command is only available for
• Describe which Table feature appears on which menu in Excel
• Identify how many criteria pairs can you specify in the MAXIFS function
• Recognize which worksheet function the CONCAT function in Excel 2019 and Office 365
• Identify which version of Excel the Search or Tell Me feature is available in
• Recognize what Treemap charts
• Describe the Forecast feature
• Recognize which version of Excel 3D objects can be edited and rotated in
• Recognize which command offers the easiest means to upgrade XLS workbooks to XLSX or XLSM formats

Level
Basic

Instructional Method
Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study
Computer Software & Applications (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
Practitioners who wish to learn about the new features in Excel 2019, or those who are considering moving from an earlier version to this latest version.

Advance Preparation
None