Microsoft Excel Intermediate

You are ready if you can write a formula from a blank cell, format numbers without changing the values underneath, and sort a list. If formulas are something you copy from a colleague and edit hopefully, start with Excel Essentials instead. If you already build PivotTables comfortably and want automation, you are ready for Excel Advanced. Tell us what your typical day in Excel looks like and we will place you honestly.

You should have completed an Excel foundation course, or have used Excel regularly for a year or more, and be comfortable with basic formulas, formatting and file management. No coding experience is needed and none is involved.

An intermediate Excel user can build and adapt their own formulas rather than copy them. In practice that means understanding the difference between relative and absolute cell references, using logical functions such as IF, working with text and date functions, structuring data so it sorts and filters reliably, and summarising it with PivotTables and charts.

An intermediate Excel course covers the ground between writing basic formulas and automating work: cell referencing, logical functions such as IF, nesting functions safely, text, number and date handling, troubleshooting formula errors, structuring and cleaning data, sorting and advanced filtering, removing duplicates, summarising with functions and PivotTables, and choosing charts that present data honestly. Vantage 365 covers all of it in one day.

Essentials covers understanding Excel: structure, navigation, formatting, writing and copying formulas, sorting, filtering and printing. Intermediate is where the time comes back: cell references that hold when copied, logical and text functions, cleaning and filtering data, first PivotTables and clear charts. Advanced covers PivotTables in depth, Power Query, advanced functions and automation. Most people take the first two a few weeks apart and return for Advanced when a specific need appears.

A relative reference changes when you copy a formula and an absolute reference does not. A1 is relative, so copying it down a column gives A2, then A3. $A$1 is absolute and always points at the same cell. Mixed references such as A$1 lock only the row or only the column. This single idea causes more broken spreadsheets than anything else at intermediate level.

Almost always because a reference is relative when it should be absolute. When you copy a formula, Excel shifts every relative reference by the same number of rows and columns you moved it, so a formula pointing at a fixed rate or a lookup table ends up pointing somewhere else entirely. Locking the reference with dollar signs, using the F4 key, fixes it.

Use a lookup function when you need to pull a value out of another table rather than retype it, for example matching a product code to a price. XLOOKUP is the modern replacement: it is easier to write, it can search in any direction, and it does not break when someone inserts a column. VLOOKUP still appears in a great many existing workbooks, so it is worth being able to read both.

With training, about a day, followed by a few weeks of applying it to real work. Without training most people take far longer, or never quite get there, because what holds people back at this level is usually a habit rather than a gap in knowledge, and habits are very hard to spot in yourself.

The scheduled online course is £249 per person excluding VAT. Classroom courses are priced by venue and start at £299 per person excluding VAT, with the price published against every date. Both include the courseware, exercise files, a quick reference guide, a certificate of completion and three months of trainer support. Private onsite training for a team is quoted separately.

Yes. The online course can be paid in three interest-free instalments of £99.60 using Klarna, offered at checkout. That is the full £298.80 including VAT split into three, with nothing extra to pay. Klarna's own terms apply and acceptance is subject to status. If you would rather be invoiced, or your employer is paying, Vantage 365 can raise an invoice against a purchase order instead.

No exam. Microsoft Excel Intermediate is a practical skills course taught on Vantage 365 courseware, and you receive a certificate of completion rather than a Microsoft certification. If a formal Microsoft credential matters to you, ask us and we will talk you through the Microsoft Office Specialist route.

Microsoft Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, which is the version most organisations now run. Almost everything applies to older perpetual versions such as Excel 2019 and Excel 2021, and to Excel for Mac, with small differences in where features sit on the ribbon and which newer functions are available. Tell us when you book if you are on something different.

A computer with Excel installed and a reliable connection. We strongly recommend a second screen, or a separate device to watch the session on, so that you can follow the trainer and work in your own workbook at the same time. Trying to do both on a single laptop screen makes for a frustrating day.

No. Everything is provided, including exercise files built to look like real reports rather than artificial data. If there is a particular task you are hoping to solve, tell us when you book and we will pass it to the trainer. Working through your own workbooks in detail suits a private onsite course, where the whole day can be built around your files.

Yes, and for a team it is often the better option. Onsite and private virtual deliveries use your own version of Excel and your own reports as the worked examples, and a team that structures data the same way stops producing five versions of the same monthly figure. Onsite is usually better value from four people upwards. Call 0121 269 8660 to talk it through.

Rebuild one real report with what you have learned within the first fortnight, because that is what makes it stick. After that, Excel Advanced is the natural next step for people who spend most of their week in spreadsheets. If your reporting is straining Excel, or several people need the same numbers at once, DP-605 is our one-day introduction to Power BI.