Microsoft   

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2016 (not included in enrollment).
• Note that the "Starter Version" and "Web App" versions of Microsoft Excel will not work with the full version of Excel taught in this course.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Harness the power of Excel and become a master user of this powerful program. This hands-on course will provide skills using charts, graphs, PivotTables, Slicers, Sparklines, AutoFilter, macros, and other advanced Microsoft Excel 2016 functions.

Excel Charts and Graphs

In your first lesson, you will discover why Excel 2016 is such a powerful charting tool. To you, a workbook's numbers might tell an interesting story; to others, that story may not be obvious. You will learn how to choose the right chart for your story and then how to create, format, and edit your chart.

More Excel Charts

This lesson continues exploring Excel's charting options—this time looking at the lesser-known options that are available to you. Even though they may not be well-known, these options can add tremendous value to your worksheets in the right situations.

AutoFilter and Sorting

Working with data in Excel can be quite easy when you know about the tools that are available in a table format. One of these great tools is the Auto Filter command. This lesson will teach you how to use Auto Filter to limit your table information to just the records you want.

Goal Seeking

Learn how to use Solver to solve a complex problem based on the criteria and constraints that you provide it. You'll also explore in detail how to create all three types of Sparklines, as well as formatting options for each and gain the skills to create dashboard-like mini charts sure to make you the envy of your office.

PivotTables

Find out how to use macros to turn boring, repetitive, time-consuming tasks into automated Excel functions. Then, receive a quick overview of all the categories of functions and the different methods you can use to create them.

Advanced PivotTables

Just like charting, Excel's PivotTables are too big a topic to fit into one lesson. This lesson takes a tour through some of Excel's more advanced techniques, like the PivotTable filtering tool Slicer. You will also learn how a PivotTable can serve as your source for the PivotChart.

Solver

Have you ever worked with a financial model in Excel and wondered how you could speculate different outcomes by changing different input amounts? The Excel Solver can do just that. In this lesson, you will learn how to use Solver to solve a complex problem based on criteria and constraints.

Sparklines

There's nothing more exciting than learning how to master a new feature in Excel. This lesson focuses on creating three types of Sparklines, as well as formatting options for each. By the end of the lesson, you will have the skills to create dashboard-style mini charts.

Macros

In this lesson, you will find out how to use macros to turn repetitive and often time-consuming tasks into automated Excel functions. You will also learn how to record a macro that performs a task in seconds with the click of a button.

Introduction to Functions

If you have used Excel for a while, you know there are hundreds of functions at your disposal. The last three lessons of this course will cover how and why you would use these functions. This lesson introduces creating various functions with the Text category.

Math/Trig Functions

Next to learning how to create macros, most students want to learn as much as they can about Excel functions. This lesson covers on more complex functions of the "Math & Trig" category, focusing on the SUMIF and COUNTIF functions in particular.

VLOOKUP, INDEX, and MATCH Functions

Since functions are such an integral part of using Excel, your final lesson will cover advanced features. In this lesson, you will learn how to use the VLOOKUP, INDEX, and MATCH functions.

What you will learn

• Master charting, PivotTables, Slicers, Sparklines, and other advanced features of Microsoft Excel 2016
• Learn to create useful and eye-catching charts
• Discover how to manipulate data with the push of a button
• Add the time-saving functions of advanced Excel users to your repertoire

How you will benefit

• Take your Excel 2016 skills to an expert level and become a more productive member of your organization
• Gain indispensable skills that will be useful in any organization that relies on numbers-based reporting
• Learn to fully harness the power of Microsoft Excel 2016 and use all of its capabilities to save time and money

Chad Wambolt

Chad Wambolt has spent his entire professional career in the finance field, working for both private and publicly-held companies with sales ranging from $500 million to $3 billion. He is a graduate of Boise State University, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in accounting. Through the course of his career, Wambolt became an expert user of Microsoft Excel. Since 1997, he has taught Excel to students of varying skill levels and helped organizations streamline internal processes.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
• Microsoft Word 2016 (not included in enrollment).
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Master the advanced features of Microsoft Word 2016 and create truly professional looking documents. This hands-on course will help you learn how to create an index, build a list of figures, design a table of contents, do desktop publishing, perform a mail merge, and use timesaving shortcuts.

Shortcuts and Time-Savers in Word 2016

Humanity has come a long way since the days of the typewriter. What used to take hours can now be done in seconds with Microsoft Word 2016. And the less time you spend typing, the more time you can spend being creative and having fun. In this lesson, you'll learn shortcuts in Word that can help you create documents faster and more accurately than ever before. Not only will these shortcuts save you time, but they'll help you create letters and reports more easily than you might have thought possible.

Text and Paragraph Formatting Methods

What you write is half of communication. The other half is getting people to read what you write. One way to make your writing more appealing is to make it look presentable with formatting. Of course, formatting text is easy, but applying different types of formatting over and over again can get tedious. That's why, in this lesson, you'll learn a fast and easy way to format chunks of text quickly and consistently using something called styles. You'll find out what a style is, how to apply it, and more important, how to create and save your own styles to use in any document. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to make any document look presentable with just the click of your mouse.

Templates

If you've ever baked cookies, or even just watched someone else do it, you know how difficult it can be to make all the cookies in a batch look exactly alike. Some turn out big, some small, some gooey, and some burned! However, if you use a cookie cutter, you can make identically shaped cookies every time. That's the same principle you'll learn in this lesson; instead of using a cookie cutter, though, you'll use something called a template. A template stores the formatting of a document so that you can apply it to another document. Templates let you format entire documents as easily as formatting a single word. Word offers lots of convenient templates stored right on your computer or available over the Internet, and you'll also find out how you can create your own.

Graphics: Part 1

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so what better way to spice up your documents than by adding pictures? In this lesson, you'll learn how to add your own digital photographs to a document so that you can show everyone your vacation pictures, family holidays, or just interesting sights you've captured with your own camera. In addition to adding your own photos, you can also add clip art from Word's massive library of free graphics. And you'll find out how to resize, rotate, and style your pictures, as well as wrap your document text around them. By the end of this lesson, you'll see why Word documents are about much more than words!

Graphics: Part 2, and Columns

Digital photographs and clip art are just the beginning of what you can do with graphics in Word. In this lesson, you'll discover how to add a variety of informational graphics, including charts, graphs, and WordArt, which allow you to display text as a graphic image. Not only will you learn how to add these graphics, but you'll also find out how to edit them when your data changes. You'll finish off the lesson by seeing how Word allows you to format documents with multiple columns—a handy skill for creating newsletters and publications!

Sections and Notes

Do you often create long documents? If so, you'll appreciate this lesson, which shows you how to divide a large document into parts called sections. Sections allow you to format part of a document a certain way without that formatting affecting the rest of your text. For example, you may want headers and footers to appear on some pages but not others. Sections make this easy! You'll also spend some time inserting footnotes and endnotes in a document. If you need to write research papers or other academic content, Word makes it a snap to add and format these previously pesky notes!

Tables

If you've ever seen a spreadsheet, you know how rows and columns let you organize numbers and text on the screen. Well, tables do the same thing in Word. In this lesson, you'll see how to create tables of all different sizes right in a Word document! The lesson will cover how to modify tables, too. And don't think Excel users get to have all the fun—you can even enter formulas to perform calculations in your tables, sort them, and style them for a customized look. Your data has never looked so appealing!

Envelopes and Odd-Size Pages

You probably print most of your documents on standard letter-size paper. While this is great for ordinary letters or business reports, sometimes you may want to get creative with your paper sizes. But then there's the trouble of printing. In this lesson, you'll see how you can define the dimensions of the paper you're using, so Word will print everything correctly. You'll also learn how to print names and addresses directly on envelopes of any size. After this lesson, you won't feel confined to boring 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper anymore!

Desktop Publishing: Part 1

As you've probably already figured out, Word can do more than write letters. It also functions as a simple desktop publishing program for creating greeting cards, calendars, or newsletters. In this lesson, you'll find out how text boxes are the key to simple desktop publishing and see how other elements come into play in customized documents. Along the way, you'll look at business cards and greeting cards to get a feel for how desktop publishing works. If you've always wanted to create a document that combines text and graphics in an artistic or visually appealing way, you'll find out how to do that and much more.

Desktop Publishing: Part 2

With the basics down, it's time to take your desktop publishing skills to the next level. In this lesson, you'll discover the magic of linked text boxes that give you the power to move your text anywhere you want on the page and keep it flowing. You'll see how to create, position, resize, and group text boxes so you have total control over your text.

Merging Data with Documents

Have you ever received one of those "personalized" letters from a company in the mail? You can be sure that nobody typed the entire sales letter from scratch. Instead, the company used a form letter and something called mail merging. In this lesson, you'll learn how to store long lists of names and addresses that you can use over and over again in a form letter. Just create a document once, leave blanks for inserting information such as names and addresses, and let Word personalize each letter for you. Now you, too, can create personalized letters for business or personal use, such as sending out holiday greetings to family members and friends.

Final Touches

Look in most books, and you'll find the table of contents at the beginning and an index in the back. Often, these are the last components added to a document, since they need to have accurate titles and page numbers. But Word takes a lot of the tedious work out of creating these components. In this final lesson, you'll see how you can use Styles to make creating the table of contents a snap, and then explore how to tag index terms so Word knows what page they're on, even if they move later. Word can also help you keep track of any figures, such as charts, illustrations, or graphs, in your document. By letting Word worry about the details, you can create an accurate table of contents, index, or list of figures with very little extra effort on your part. These finishing touches will make your most important documents shine!

What you will learn

• Learn how shortcut keys, macros, and the AutoCorrect feature can save you time
• Discover fast ways to format text in a document
• Find out how to insert graphic images, including clip art and photos, into your documents
• Add charts, SmartArt, and WordArt to a document, and divide any document into columns
• Practice dividing a long document into sections and using footnotes and endnotes
• Get acquainted with some of Word's desktop publishing features, such as using text boxes, layering, and aligning objects
• Learn how to link text boxes, and position them in a document to create brochures and newsletters
• Use mail merging to quickly and easily personalize form documents

How you will benefit

• Master the more advanced features of Microsoft Word
• Learn how to use Word more effectively and take advantage of all its many features so you can get your work done more quickly and more easily

Wallace Wang

Wallace Wang is the author of over 40 computer books including "Microsoft Office 2019 For Dummies." In addition to writing computer books, he has also co-authored "Breaking Into Acting for Dummies" and ghost written several books about investing in real estate, day trading stocks, and becoming an entrepreneur. Some of his past jobs have included teaching computer science courses at the University of Zimbabwe, performing stand-up comedy, and appearing on a weekly radio show.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 10 or later.
• Mac: macOS 12 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Microsoft Excel 365 for Windows or Microsoft Excel for Mac. Excel 365 Online can be used to study the features it includes, but you will not be able to practice certain skills. For the best experience, use Excel 365 for Windows or Word for Mac to complete this course. If that software isn't available, some exercises can be completed using Excel 365 Online in a web browser on Windows, MacOS, or ChromeOS.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Getting to Know Excel

This lesson introduces the fundamentals of Excel, including navigating its interface, understanding workbooks and worksheets, and mastering basic data entry. You'll learn how to input labels, numeric data, and fractions, move efficiently within a worksheet, and save your work in various formats, ensuring your files are well-organized and accessible.

Modifying a Worksheet's Structure

In this lesson, you'll explore how to modify the structure of a worksheet by selecting, moving, and copying data. Topics include inserting and deleting rows, columns, and cells, merging cells, and using shortcuts to streamline tasks. These skills will enable you to organize and manipulate data effectively.

Using Formulas and Functions

This lesson focuses on creating and using formulas and functions to perform calculations in Excel. You'll learn about simple formulas, essential aggregate functions like SUM and AVERAGE, and time-saving tools like AutoFill and Flash Fill. These techniques will help you automate calculations and save time.

Formatting Cells and Their Content

Learn how to format cells, rows, and columns to enhance the readability and appearance of your data. This lesson covers text alignment, cell borders, fill colors, number formatting, and custom cell styles. These formatting techniques will give your spreadsheets a polished and professional look.

Formatting and Printing a Worksheet

This lesson covers preparing your worksheet for presentation and printing. Topics include modifying page setup, applying headers and footers, using themes, and printing to PDF or other formats. You'll learn to optimize your worksheets for both digital and physical distribution.

Referring to Cells, Ranges, and Formulas

In this lesson, you'll explore cell references, including relative, absolute, and mixed references, and learn to name ranges for clarity and ease of use. You'll also practice resolving formula errors and using tools to display and troubleshoot formulas effectively.

Using Multiple Sheets and Workbooks

This lesson focuses on managing and linking data across multiple sheets and workbooks. You'll learn to add, delete, and group sheets, reference data across worksheets, and link content to other applications, expanding your ability to manage complex projects.

Working with Tables

This lesson introduces Excel tables, showing you how to create, format, and manage table data. You'll explore sorting, filtering, adding totals, and using table styles to make your data more organized and interactive.

Charting Data

This lesson teaches you to visualize data with charts. You'll create and modify various chart types, format chart elements, and apply styles to make your data presentations clear and impactful. Topics include pie charts, bar charts, and advanced chart customizations.

Using Aggregate, Statistical, and Financial Functions

This lesson explores several types of powerful functions. We start with a review of aggregate functions, and then turn our attention to statistical functions like AVERAGE and standard deviation, as well as financial functions such as PMT and PV to calculate loan values and payments.

Creating Business Forms

This lesson explores using Excel to create professional business forms, including calendars, invoices, and purchase orders. You'll learn to design layouts, apply formatting, and incorporate formulas to create functional and visually appealing forms.

Working with Templates

In the final lesson, you'll learn to create and use templates to save time and ensure consistency across projects. Topics include using Excel's built-in templates, designing custom templates, and creating chart templates for reuse. This lesson helps streamline your workflow and maintain professional standards.

What you will learn

• Create and edit worksheets with text and labels
• Modify the structure of a worksheet
• Construct formulas and functions for data calculation and analysis
• Format cells, cell content, and worksheets
• Share data between worksheets, workbooks, and other applications
• Organize data with tables and learn important keyboard shortcuts
• Create and format charts for visual data summarization
• Utilize templates for efficient workbook creation
• How to create worksheets, charts, and graphs, as well as parse data with Flash Fill
• Methods for sorting and analyzing automating often repeated tasks

How you will benefit

• Leverage your Excel 365 knowledge to become a more productive member of your organization
• Gain indispensable skills that will be useful for numbers-based reporting
• Develop skills that can be used to simplify your life of calculating and displaying numbers both personally and professionally
• Understand efficient data organization, customizable data presentation, and enhanced data visualization to make it easier to understand and interpret data
• Create professional looking worksheets and time saving templates that you can customize as needed
• Demonstrate skills to help you efficiently organize, analyze, and present data for professional and personal needs

Chad Wambolt

Chad Wambolt has spent his entire professional career in the finance field, working for both private and publicly-held companies with sales ranging from $500 million to $3 billion. He is a graduate of Boise State University, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in accounting. Through the course of his career, Wambolt became an expert user of Microsoft Excel. Since 1997, he has taught Excel to students of varying skill levels and helped organizations streamline internal processes.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
• Microsoft Word 2016 (not included in enrollment).
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Microsoft Word is used in nearly every modern workplace. In this course, you will master all the basics of this powerful word-processing program, including how to type and edit text, and how to format, spell check, and print documents. You will also learn dozens of different ways to modify the appearance and content of your documents and how to catch errors with Word's spell and grammar checker. After completing the course, you will be able to use Word confidently at home or on the job.

Getting Started

In this introductory lesson, you will learn how to use the different parts of Word 2016's user interface, how to look at your document from different types of views, how to zoom in and out to magnify or shrink your text, and how to change the margins of individual paragraphs.

Typing and Navigation

The whole purpose of Word is to let you create and edit text. This lesson introduces the basics of moving the insertion point and deleting text. By knowing the pros and cons of navigating through a document with the keyboard and mouse, you can use both to help you work faster in Word.

File Management

In this lesson, you will learn how to save the documents you create in Word. You will also learn how to rename, copy, and even delete any files you have created, so you will always be in complete control of all the files you create.

Editing Text

After you've typed some text in a Word document, you may need to edit that text. This lesson focuses on editing text. The easiest way to edit text is to delete it, but a more sophisticated way to edit text is to copy text and paste a duplicate of that text in another location.

Working With Multiple Documents

Most people use Word to view and edit a single document at a time, but Word actually lets you open and view two or more documents at the same time. This lesson will teach you how to open, switch between, and view multiple documents.

Text Formatting and Alignment

Once you know how to add, delete, copy, and move text, the next step to modifying your document is to change the physical appearance of your text. You can make text appear in different colors or background highlighting, change text size and alignment, and even modify fonts.

Printing

Most people use Word to print letters and reports. In this lesson, you will learn about the different ways you can print a document, such as portrait orientation or landscape orientation. With Word's ability to print on different types of paper sizes and orientation, you can create more than just typical documents.

Margins, Tabs, and Page Numbering

By knowing how to set and use margins, you can modify an entire document or just a single page. By using tabs, you can modify how individual paragraphs look on a page. Finally, you will also learn how to add page numbers to the top or bottom of a page to keep track of page order.

Paragraph Formatting

Word provides ways to change the appearance of a paragraph's first line, line spacing within a paragraph, and line spacing between paragraphs. In addition, Word lets you create bullet and number lists, so you can display short bits of information in a visual manner.

Language Tools

For important documents, you may even need to collaborate with others. To keep track of all the changes multiple authors may make to a single document, Word offers a Track Changes feature, so you can see exactly what and who changed the document.

Customizing Word

With Word, you can press different types of keystrokes or search and click the symbol you want to use. This lets you add practically any type of unusual character to your documents. Word lets you type practically anything you want, regardless of the limitation of the keys on your keyboard.

Making a Word Document Pretty and Organized

Finally, you can use outlines to organize your text and quickly move chunks of text within a document just by rearranging an outline heading. By learning these advanced features of Word, you can make each document display text in the most appealing way possible.

What you will learn

• Learn the fundamentals of one of the most crucial software applications in the modern workplace
• Acquire the skills and learn the tools you will need to adjust margins, spacing, layout, and design of any Word document
• Learn how to work on multiple projects at once and become faster and more efficient in a variety of Microsoft Word tasks
• Explore the many ways to modify the appearance of your documents in order to suit your individual needs

How you will benefit

• Gain the confidence you need to make the most of this indispensable software application
• Learn how to make the perfect layout for useful documents of any occasion - resumes, invitations, letters, articles, training materials, and much more
• Save time and avoid frustration by familiarizing yourself with the wide variety of tools at your disposal in Word 2016
• Become more proficient and efficient at one of the most widely used software programs in history

Wallace Wang

Wallace Wang is the author of over 40 computer books including "Microsoft Office 2019 For Dummies." In addition to writing computer books, he has also co-authored "Breaking Into Acting for Dummies" and ghost written several books about investing in real estate, day trading stocks, and becoming an entrepreneur. Some of his past jobs have included teaching computer science courses at the University of Zimbabwe, performing stand-up comedy, and appearing on a weekly radio show.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC or Chromebook. Macs are not compatible.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 11 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Microsoft Word Online
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Master the basic skills you need for Windows 11, the new operating system from Microsoft, which offers a more robust, more powerful, and unique computing experience. In this course, you will gain the foundation you need to start using Windows 11.

Welcome to Windows 11

Learning to use your PC well starts with learning to use Windows. In this first lesson, we'll start with the basics that every computer user must know in order to use a computer with minimal frustration. If you've been working in "frustration and aggravation" mode for a while, this lesson will take care of that. We'll start by talking about what Windows 11 is and why you want to learn it. Then, we'll get right into the most important skills and terminology that allow you to control what you see on your screen at all times. And that's important, because the first step to using anything that's in your computer is getting it on the screen where you can see it!

Use the Start Menu and Apps

In this lesson, we'll explore the revised Start Menu and Apps in Windows 11. You'll see how to use and customize the Start Menu, and we'll explore the Windows Store. You'll also see how to use the new widgets feature of Windows 11, which gives you access to quick and easy information, such as weather, traffic, sports, and news.

Personalizing Your Windows Desktop

In today's lesson, you'll have fun personalizing your computer by choosing your own desktop pictures, themes, and sound scheme. Along the way, you'll learn about the important Control Panel window in Windows 11 and tips for using dialog boxes and those occasional mysterious dimmed options that do nothing when you click them. The skills you learn in this lesson will go a long way to helping you gain complete control of your computer.

Working With Text and Files

No matter how you intend to use your computer, there'll be times when there's some typing involved. It might be for writing email messages, memos, or letters, or it might be for taking notes in a course, or for chatting with others in a website. Whatever the reason, today's lesson will teach you all the tricks for making typing (and editing) quick and easy. And you'll also discover how to save your work in files and folders, so it'll always be there when you need it!

Exploring Your System

Everything that's in your computer is stored on its hard drive. The hard drive is like a filing cabinet containing files organized into folders. Finding things you've saved in the past is a matter of opening the filing cabinet, so to speak, and then locating the correct folder. You'll use the File Explorer program to accomplish this. And in this lesson, you'll learn how it all works, so you can start gaining complete mastery of your own files and folders.

Using OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft To Do

In this lesson, you'll explore three Windows 11 features: OneDrive, Teams, and To Do. OneDrive is a cloud storage solution that lets you store files and folders both on your PC as well as the Microsoft cloud. Using OneDrive, you can save your data to Microsoft servers and access that data across multiple devices. Teams is communication software that is built into Windows 11. Using Teams, you can chat with friends, family, and co-workers and even host video and audio calls. Finally, you'll take a look at Microsoft To Do—an app that helps you keep track of to do tasks and lists. All of these features are designed to make your life easier!

Manage and Edit Your Photos

In this lesson, we'll have some fun with photos. Today, you'll learn how to organize your photos and view them using Windows 11's Photos App. You'll also see how to view individual photos, draw and rotate, and auto-enhance your shots. And, you'll learn about the Photos App editing tools for adjusting brightness and contrast, straightening crooked pictures, correcting red eye, and cropping.

Using Edge

The Internet is home to popular websites like Facebook, Amazon, Google, ed2go, and many others. Many of you have seen references to .com sites in ads and elsewhere. If you don't have a lot of computer experience, you might find it difficult to get to the many things you hear about on the web. But not after this lesson! In this lesson, you'll learn how to use Edge, the program that provides access to all of those popular websites.

Managing Files and Folders

Managing files and folders is one of those computer skills that every computer user needs to know. In many work and school environments, people just assume you know how to manage files, and they rarely provide any details on how to accomplish things like copying, moving, or renaming files and folders. Today's lesson will explain how to do those very things that others assume you already know how to do.

More Fun With File Management

In this lesson, you'll expand your file management skills by learning how to delete and recover files. You'll learn how to select multiple files to work with, so you don't always have to manage your files one at a time. And we'll discuss how to copy files to and from removable media like flash drives, CDs, and DVDs.

Protect Your Valuable Files!

Your computer is an investment of money, and the pictures and other files you store on your computer are an investment of time. You might even have some photos or other files that are so precious the thought of losing them causes you anxiety. What you need to do is protect those files. And that's just what this chapter is all about—how to use the tools and techniques that are built right into Windows to help you protect your valuable time and files!

Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts

In our final lesson, you'll learn some more techniques for protecting your computer, including using resources for free protection from viruses and spyware. You'll learn how to remove programs you no longer want or need. You'll learn how to copy and paste text and create screenshots. And you'll discover some great timesaving tips and shortcuts, as well as resources for helping yourself so that you don't have to be so dependent on others.

What you will learn

• Find your way around Windows 11 with the desktop, Start menu, and system settings
• Understand how to customize features and personalize your desktop
• Discover how File Explorer can help you manage files and learn to create basic text documents using WordPad
• Comprehend how to protect your files and update Windows 11

How you will benefit

• Gain confidence in your use of the Windows 11 operating system for personal and business use
• Learn how to use your PC effectively, starting with Windows
• Experience reduced frustration and setbacks by learning to operate your computer properly
• Become a more independent computer user

Curt Simmons

Curt Simmons, B.A., M.Ed, is a best-selling author, trainer, and multi-media expert. He holds degrees in English and communication studies and has more than 10 years of experience teaching English and writing in the classroom. Additionally, Simmons has authored numerous books on a wide variety of technology topics and has been a technical editor for numerous other titles.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2016 (not included in enrollment).
• Note that the "Starter Version" and "Web App" versions of Microsoft Excel will not work with the full version of Excel taught in this course.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Harness the power of Excel and become a master user of this powerful program. This hands-on course will provide skills using charts, graphs, PivotTables, Slicers, Sparklines, AutoFilter, macros, and other advanced Microsoft Excel 2016 functions.

Excel Charts and Graphs

In your first lesson, you will discover why Excel 2016 is such a powerful charting tool. To you, a workbook's numbers might tell an interesting story; to others, that story may not be obvious. You will learn how to choose the right chart for your story and then how to create, format, and edit your chart.

More Excel Charts

This lesson continues exploring Excel's charting options—this time looking at the lesser-known options that are available to you. Even though they may not be well-known, these options can add tremendous value to your worksheets in the right situations.

AutoFilter and Sorting

Working with data in Excel can be quite easy when you know about the tools that are available in a table format. One of these great tools is the Auto Filter command. This lesson will teach you how to use Auto Filter to limit your table information to just the records you want.

Goal Seeking

Learn how to use Solver to solve a complex problem based on the criteria and constraints that you provide it. You'll also explore in detail how to create all three types of Sparklines, as well as formatting options for each and gain the skills to create dashboard-like mini charts sure to make you the envy of your office.

PivotTables

Find out how to use macros to turn boring, repetitive, time-consuming tasks into automated Excel functions. Then, receive a quick overview of all the categories of functions and the different methods you can use to create them.

Advanced PivotTables

Just like charting, Excel's PivotTables are too big a topic to fit into one lesson. This lesson takes a tour through some of Excel's more advanced techniques, like the PivotTable filtering tool Slicer. You will also learn how a PivotTable can serve as your source for the PivotChart.

Solver

Have you ever worked with a financial model in Excel and wondered how you could speculate different outcomes by changing different input amounts? The Excel Solver can do just that. In this lesson, you will learn how to use Solver to solve a complex problem based on criteria and constraints.

Sparklines

There's nothing more exciting than learning how to master a new feature in Excel. This lesson focuses on creating three types of Sparklines, as well as formatting options for each. By the end of the lesson, you will have the skills to create dashboard-style mini charts.

Macros

In this lesson, you will find out how to use macros to turn repetitive and often time-consuming tasks into automated Excel functions. You will also learn how to record a macro that performs a task in seconds with the click of a button.

Introduction to Functions

If you have used Excel for a while, you know there are hundreds of functions at your disposal. The last three lessons of this course will cover how and why you would use these functions. This lesson introduces creating various functions with the Text category.

Math/Trig Functions

Next to learning how to create macros, most students want to learn as much as they can about Excel functions. This lesson covers on more complex functions of the "Math & Trig" category, focusing on the SUMIF and COUNTIF functions in particular.

VLOOKUP, INDEX, and MATCH Functions

Since functions are such an integral part of using Excel, your final lesson will cover advanced features. In this lesson, you will learn how to use the VLOOKUP, INDEX, and MATCH functions.

What you will learn

• Master charting, PivotTables, Slicers, Sparklines, and other advanced features of Microsoft Excel 2016
• Learn to create useful and eye-catching charts
• Discover how to manipulate data with the push of a button
• Add the time-saving functions of advanced Excel users to your repertoire

How you will benefit

• Take your Excel 2016 skills to an expert level and become a more productive member of your organization
• Gain indispensable skills that will be useful in any organization that relies on numbers-based reporting
• Learn to fully harness the power of Microsoft Excel 2016 and use all of its capabilities to save time and money

Chad Wambolt

Chad Wambolt has spent his entire professional career in the finance field, working for both private and publicly-held companies with sales ranging from $500 million to $3 billion. He is a graduate of Boise State University, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in accounting. Through the course of his career, Wambolt became an expert user of Microsoft Excel. Since 1997, he has taught Excel to students of varying skill levels and helped organizations streamline internal processes.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
• Microsoft Word 2016 (not included in enrollment).
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Master the advanced features of Microsoft Word 2016 and create truly professional looking documents. This hands-on course will help you learn how to create an index, build a list of figures, design a table of contents, do desktop publishing, perform a mail merge, and use timesaving shortcuts.

Shortcuts and Time-Savers in Word 2016

Humanity has come a long way since the days of the typewriter. What used to take hours can now be done in seconds with Microsoft Word 2016. And the less time you spend typing, the more time you can spend being creative and having fun. In this lesson, you'll learn shortcuts in Word that can help you create documents faster and more accurately than ever before. Not only will these shortcuts save you time, but they'll help you create letters and reports more easily than you might have thought possible.

Text and Paragraph Formatting Methods

What you write is half of communication. The other half is getting people to read what you write. One way to make your writing more appealing is to make it look presentable with formatting. Of course, formatting text is easy, but applying different types of formatting over and over again can get tedious. That's why, in this lesson, you'll learn a fast and easy way to format chunks of text quickly and consistently using something called styles. You'll find out what a style is, how to apply it, and more important, how to create and save your own styles to use in any document. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to make any document look presentable with just the click of your mouse.

Templates

If you've ever baked cookies, or even just watched someone else do it, you know how difficult it can be to make all the cookies in a batch look exactly alike. Some turn out big, some small, some gooey, and some burned! However, if you use a cookie cutter, you can make identically shaped cookies every time. That's the same principle you'll learn in this lesson; instead of using a cookie cutter, though, you'll use something called a template. A template stores the formatting of a document so that you can apply it to another document. Templates let you format entire documents as easily as formatting a single word. Word offers lots of convenient templates stored right on your computer or available over the Internet, and you'll also find out how you can create your own.

Graphics: Part 1

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so what better way to spice up your documents than by adding pictures? In this lesson, you'll learn how to add your own digital photographs to a document so that you can show everyone your vacation pictures, family holidays, or just interesting sights you've captured with your own camera. In addition to adding your own photos, you can also add clip art from Word's massive library of free graphics. And you'll find out how to resize, rotate, and style your pictures, as well as wrap your document text around them. By the end of this lesson, you'll see why Word documents are about much more than words!

Graphics: Part 2, and Columns

Digital photographs and clip art are just the beginning of what you can do with graphics in Word. In this lesson, you'll discover how to add a variety of informational graphics, including charts, graphs, and WordArt, which allow you to display text as a graphic image. Not only will you learn how to add these graphics, but you'll also find out how to edit them when your data changes. You'll finish off the lesson by seeing how Word allows you to format documents with multiple columns—a handy skill for creating newsletters and publications!

Sections and Notes

Do you often create long documents? If so, you'll appreciate this lesson, which shows you how to divide a large document into parts called sections. Sections allow you to format part of a document a certain way without that formatting affecting the rest of your text. For example, you may want headers and footers to appear on some pages but not others. Sections make this easy! You'll also spend some time inserting footnotes and endnotes in a document. If you need to write research papers or other academic content, Word makes it a snap to add and format these previously pesky notes!

Tables

If you've ever seen a spreadsheet, you know how rows and columns let you organize numbers and text on the screen. Well, tables do the same thing in Word. In this lesson, you'll see how to create tables of all different sizes right in a Word document! The lesson will cover how to modify tables, too. And don't think Excel users get to have all the fun—you can even enter formulas to perform calculations in your tables, sort them, and style them for a customized look. Your data has never looked so appealing!

Envelopes and Odd-Size Pages

You probably print most of your documents on standard letter-size paper. While this is great for ordinary letters or business reports, sometimes you may want to get creative with your paper sizes. But then there's the trouble of printing. In this lesson, you'll see how you can define the dimensions of the paper you're using, so Word will print everything correctly. You'll also learn how to print names and addresses directly on envelopes of any size. After this lesson, you won't feel confined to boring 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper anymore!

Desktop Publishing: Part 1

As you've probably already figured out, Word can do more than write letters. It also functions as a simple desktop publishing program for creating greeting cards, calendars, or newsletters. In this lesson, you'll find out how text boxes are the key to simple desktop publishing and see how other elements come into play in customized documents. Along the way, you'll look at business cards and greeting cards to get a feel for how desktop publishing works. If you've always wanted to create a document that combines text and graphics in an artistic or visually appealing way, you'll find out how to do that and much more.

Desktop Publishing: Part 2

With the basics down, it's time to take your desktop publishing skills to the next level. In this lesson, you'll discover the magic of linked text boxes that give you the power to move your text anywhere you want on the page and keep it flowing. You'll see how to create, position, resize, and group text boxes so you have total control over your text.

Merging Data with Documents

Have you ever received one of those "personalized" letters from a company in the mail? You can be sure that nobody typed the entire sales letter from scratch. Instead, the company used a form letter and something called mail merging. In this lesson, you'll learn how to store long lists of names and addresses that you can use over and over again in a form letter. Just create a document once, leave blanks for inserting information such as names and addresses, and let Word personalize each letter for you. Now you, too, can create personalized letters for business or personal use, such as sending out holiday greetings to family members and friends.

Final Touches

Look in most books, and you'll find the table of contents at the beginning and an index in the back. Often, these are the last components added to a document, since they need to have accurate titles and page numbers. But Word takes a lot of the tedious work out of creating these components. In this final lesson, you'll see how you can use Styles to make creating the table of contents a snap, and then explore how to tag index terms so Word knows what page they're on, even if they move later. Word can also help you keep track of any figures, such as charts, illustrations, or graphs, in your document. By letting Word worry about the details, you can create an accurate table of contents, index, or list of figures with very little extra effort on your part. These finishing touches will make your most important documents shine!

What you will learn

• Learn how shortcut keys, macros, and the AutoCorrect feature can save you time
• Discover fast ways to format text in a document
• Find out how to insert graphic images, including clip art and photos, into your documents
• Add charts, SmartArt, and WordArt to a document, and divide any document into columns
• Practice dividing a long document into sections and using footnotes and endnotes
• Get acquainted with some of Word's desktop publishing features, such as using text boxes, layering, and aligning objects
• Learn how to link text boxes, and position them in a document to create brochures and newsletters
• Use mail merging to quickly and easily personalize form documents

How you will benefit

• Master the more advanced features of Microsoft Word
• Learn how to use Word more effectively and take advantage of all its many features so you can get your work done more quickly and more easily

Wallace Wang

Wallace Wang is the author of over 40 computer books including "Microsoft Office 2019 For Dummies." In addition to writing computer books, he has also co-authored "Breaking Into Acting for Dummies" and ghost written several books about investing in real estate, day trading stocks, and becoming an entrepreneur. Some of his past jobs have included teaching computer science courses at the University of Zimbabwe, performing stand-up comedy, and appearing on a weekly radio show.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 10 or later.
• Mac: macOS 12 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Microsoft Excel 365 for Windows or Microsoft Excel for Mac. Excel 365 Online can be used to study the features it includes, but you will not be able to practice certain skills. For the best experience, use Excel 365 for Windows or Word for Mac to complete this course. If that software isn't available, some exercises can be completed using Excel 365 Online in a web browser on Windows, MacOS, or ChromeOS.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Getting to Know Excel

This lesson introduces the fundamentals of Excel, including navigating its interface, understanding workbooks and worksheets, and mastering basic data entry. You'll learn how to input labels, numeric data, and fractions, move efficiently within a worksheet, and save your work in various formats, ensuring your files are well-organized and accessible.

Modifying a Worksheet's Structure

In this lesson, you'll explore how to modify the structure of a worksheet by selecting, moving, and copying data. Topics include inserting and deleting rows, columns, and cells, merging cells, and using shortcuts to streamline tasks. These skills will enable you to organize and manipulate data effectively.

Using Formulas and Functions

This lesson focuses on creating and using formulas and functions to perform calculations in Excel. You'll learn about simple formulas, essential aggregate functions like SUM and AVERAGE, and time-saving tools like AutoFill and Flash Fill. These techniques will help you automate calculations and save time.

Formatting Cells and Their Content

Learn how to format cells, rows, and columns to enhance the readability and appearance of your data. This lesson covers text alignment, cell borders, fill colors, number formatting, and custom cell styles. These formatting techniques will give your spreadsheets a polished and professional look.

Formatting and Printing a Worksheet

This lesson covers preparing your worksheet for presentation and printing. Topics include modifying page setup, applying headers and footers, using themes, and printing to PDF or other formats. You'll learn to optimize your worksheets for both digital and physical distribution.

Referring to Cells, Ranges, and Formulas

In this lesson, you'll explore cell references, including relative, absolute, and mixed references, and learn to name ranges for clarity and ease of use. You'll also practice resolving formula errors and using tools to display and troubleshoot formulas effectively.

Using Multiple Sheets and Workbooks

This lesson focuses on managing and linking data across multiple sheets and workbooks. You'll learn to add, delete, and group sheets, reference data across worksheets, and link content to other applications, expanding your ability to manage complex projects.

Working with Tables

This lesson introduces Excel tables, showing you how to create, format, and manage table data. You'll explore sorting, filtering, adding totals, and using table styles to make your data more organized and interactive.

Charting Data

This lesson teaches you to visualize data with charts. You'll create and modify various chart types, format chart elements, and apply styles to make your data presentations clear and impactful. Topics include pie charts, bar charts, and advanced chart customizations.

Using Aggregate, Statistical, and Financial Functions

This lesson explores several types of powerful functions. We start with a review of aggregate functions, and then turn our attention to statistical functions like AVERAGE and standard deviation, as well as financial functions such as PMT and PV to calculate loan values and payments.

Creating Business Forms

This lesson explores using Excel to create professional business forms, including calendars, invoices, and purchase orders. You'll learn to design layouts, apply formatting, and incorporate formulas to create functional and visually appealing forms.

Working with Templates

In the final lesson, you'll learn to create and use templates to save time and ensure consistency across projects. Topics include using Excel's built-in templates, designing custom templates, and creating chart templates for reuse. This lesson helps streamline your workflow and maintain professional standards.

What you will learn

• Create and edit worksheets with text and labels
• Modify the structure of a worksheet
• Construct formulas and functions for data calculation and analysis
• Format cells, cell content, and worksheets
• Share data between worksheets, workbooks, and other applications
• Organize data with tables and learn important keyboard shortcuts
• Create and format charts for visual data summarization
• Utilize templates for efficient workbook creation
• How to create worksheets, charts, and graphs, as well as parse data with Flash Fill
• Methods for sorting and analyzing automating often repeated tasks

How you will benefit

• Leverage your Excel 365 knowledge to become a more productive member of your organization
• Gain indispensable skills that will be useful for numbers-based reporting
• Develop skills that can be used to simplify your life of calculating and displaying numbers both personally and professionally
• Understand efficient data organization, customizable data presentation, and enhanced data visualization to make it easier to understand and interpret data
• Create professional looking worksheets and time saving templates that you can customize as needed
• Demonstrate skills to help you efficiently organize, analyze, and present data for professional and personal needs

Chad Wambolt

Chad Wambolt has spent his entire professional career in the finance field, working for both private and publicly-held companies with sales ranging from $500 million to $3 billion. He is a graduate of Boise State University, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in accounting. Through the course of his career, Wambolt became an expert user of Microsoft Excel. Since 1997, he has taught Excel to students of varying skill levels and helped organizations streamline internal processes.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
• Microsoft Word 2016 (not included in enrollment).
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Microsoft Word is used in nearly every modern workplace. In this course, you will master all the basics of this powerful word-processing program, including how to type and edit text, and how to format, spell check, and print documents. You will also learn dozens of different ways to modify the appearance and content of your documents and how to catch errors with Word's spell and grammar checker. After completing the course, you will be able to use Word confidently at home or on the job.

Getting Started

In this introductory lesson, you will learn how to use the different parts of Word 2016's user interface, how to look at your document from different types of views, how to zoom in and out to magnify or shrink your text, and how to change the margins of individual paragraphs.

Typing and Navigation

The whole purpose of Word is to let you create and edit text. This lesson introduces the basics of moving the insertion point and deleting text. By knowing the pros and cons of navigating through a document with the keyboard and mouse, you can use both to help you work faster in Word.

File Management

In this lesson, you will learn how to save the documents you create in Word. You will also learn how to rename, copy, and even delete any files you have created, so you will always be in complete control of all the files you create.

Editing Text

After you've typed some text in a Word document, you may need to edit that text. This lesson focuses on editing text. The easiest way to edit text is to delete it, but a more sophisticated way to edit text is to copy text and paste a duplicate of that text in another location.

Working With Multiple Documents

Most people use Word to view and edit a single document at a time, but Word actually lets you open and view two or more documents at the same time. This lesson will teach you how to open, switch between, and view multiple documents.

Text Formatting and Alignment

Once you know how to add, delete, copy, and move text, the next step to modifying your document is to change the physical appearance of your text. You can make text appear in different colors or background highlighting, change text size and alignment, and even modify fonts.

Printing

Most people use Word to print letters and reports. In this lesson, you will learn about the different ways you can print a document, such as portrait orientation or landscape orientation. With Word's ability to print on different types of paper sizes and orientation, you can create more than just typical documents.

Margins, Tabs, and Page Numbering

By knowing how to set and use margins, you can modify an entire document or just a single page. By using tabs, you can modify how individual paragraphs look on a page. Finally, you will also learn how to add page numbers to the top or bottom of a page to keep track of page order.

Paragraph Formatting

Word provides ways to change the appearance of a paragraph's first line, line spacing within a paragraph, and line spacing between paragraphs. In addition, Word lets you create bullet and number lists, so you can display short bits of information in a visual manner.

Language Tools

For important documents, you may even need to collaborate with others. To keep track of all the changes multiple authors may make to a single document, Word offers a Track Changes feature, so you can see exactly what and who changed the document.

Customizing Word

With Word, you can press different types of keystrokes or search and click the symbol you want to use. This lets you add practically any type of unusual character to your documents. Word lets you type practically anything you want, regardless of the limitation of the keys on your keyboard.

Making a Word Document Pretty and Organized

Finally, you can use outlines to organize your text and quickly move chunks of text within a document just by rearranging an outline heading. By learning these advanced features of Word, you can make each document display text in the most appealing way possible.

What you will learn

• Learn the fundamentals of one of the most crucial software applications in the modern workplace
• Acquire the skills and learn the tools you will need to adjust margins, spacing, layout, and design of any Word document
• Learn how to work on multiple projects at once and become faster and more efficient in a variety of Microsoft Word tasks
• Explore the many ways to modify the appearance of your documents in order to suit your individual needs

How you will benefit

• Gain the confidence you need to make the most of this indispensable software application
• Learn how to make the perfect layout for useful documents of any occasion - resumes, invitations, letters, articles, training materials, and much more
• Save time and avoid frustration by familiarizing yourself with the wide variety of tools at your disposal in Word 2016
• Become more proficient and efficient at one of the most widely used software programs in history

Wallace Wang

Wallace Wang is the author of over 40 computer books including "Microsoft Office 2019 For Dummies." In addition to writing computer books, he has also co-authored "Breaking Into Acting for Dummies" and ghost written several books about investing in real estate, day trading stocks, and becoming an entrepreneur. Some of his past jobs have included teaching computer science courses at the University of Zimbabwe, performing stand-up comedy, and appearing on a weekly radio show.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC or Chromebook. Macs are not compatible.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 11 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Microsoft Word Online
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Master the basic skills you need for Windows 11, the new operating system from Microsoft, which offers a more robust, more powerful, and unique computing experience. In this course, you will gain the foundation you need to start using Windows 11.

Welcome to Windows 11

Learning to use your PC well starts with learning to use Windows. In this first lesson, we'll start with the basics that every computer user must know in order to use a computer with minimal frustration. If you've been working in "frustration and aggravation" mode for a while, this lesson will take care of that. We'll start by talking about what Windows 11 is and why you want to learn it. Then, we'll get right into the most important skills and terminology that allow you to control what you see on your screen at all times. And that's important, because the first step to using anything that's in your computer is getting it on the screen where you can see it!

Use the Start Menu and Apps

In this lesson, we'll explore the revised Start Menu and Apps in Windows 11. You'll see how to use and customize the Start Menu, and we'll explore the Windows Store. You'll also see how to use the new widgets feature of Windows 11, which gives you access to quick and easy information, such as weather, traffic, sports, and news.

Personalizing Your Windows Desktop

In today's lesson, you'll have fun personalizing your computer by choosing your own desktop pictures, themes, and sound scheme. Along the way, you'll learn about the important Control Panel window in Windows 11 and tips for using dialog boxes and those occasional mysterious dimmed options that do nothing when you click them. The skills you learn in this lesson will go a long way to helping you gain complete control of your computer.

Working With Text and Files

No matter how you intend to use your computer, there'll be times when there's some typing involved. It might be for writing email messages, memos, or letters, or it might be for taking notes in a course, or for chatting with others in a website. Whatever the reason, today's lesson will teach you all the tricks for making typing (and editing) quick and easy. And you'll also discover how to save your work in files and folders, so it'll always be there when you need it!

Exploring Your System

Everything that's in your computer is stored on its hard drive. The hard drive is like a filing cabinet containing files organized into folders. Finding things you've saved in the past is a matter of opening the filing cabinet, so to speak, and then locating the correct folder. You'll use the File Explorer program to accomplish this. And in this lesson, you'll learn how it all works, so you can start gaining complete mastery of your own files and folders.

Using OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft To Do

In this lesson, you'll explore three Windows 11 features: OneDrive, Teams, and To Do. OneDrive is a cloud storage solution that lets you store files and folders both on your PC as well as the Microsoft cloud. Using OneDrive, you can save your data to Microsoft servers and access that data across multiple devices. Teams is communication software that is built into Windows 11. Using Teams, you can chat with friends, family, and co-workers and even host video and audio calls. Finally, you'll take a look at Microsoft To Do—an app that helps you keep track of to do tasks and lists. All of these features are designed to make your life easier!

Manage and Edit Your Photos

In this lesson, we'll have some fun with photos. Today, you'll learn how to organize your photos and view them using Windows 11's Photos App. You'll also see how to view individual photos, draw and rotate, and auto-enhance your shots. And, you'll learn about the Photos App editing tools for adjusting brightness and contrast, straightening crooked pictures, correcting red eye, and cropping.

Using Edge

The Internet is home to popular websites like Facebook, Amazon, Google, ed2go, and many others. Many of you have seen references to .com sites in ads and elsewhere. If you don't have a lot of computer experience, you might find it difficult to get to the many things you hear about on the web. But not after this lesson! In this lesson, you'll learn how to use Edge, the program that provides access to all of those popular websites.

Managing Files and Folders

Managing files and folders is one of those computer skills that every computer user needs to know. In many work and school environments, people just assume you know how to manage files, and they rarely provide any details on how to accomplish things like copying, moving, or renaming files and folders. Today's lesson will explain how to do those very things that others assume you already know how to do.

More Fun With File Management

In this lesson, you'll expand your file management skills by learning how to delete and recover files. You'll learn how to select multiple files to work with, so you don't always have to manage your files one at a time. And we'll discuss how to copy files to and from removable media like flash drives, CDs, and DVDs.

Protect Your Valuable Files!

Your computer is an investment of money, and the pictures and other files you store on your computer are an investment of time. You might even have some photos or other files that are so precious the thought of losing them causes you anxiety. What you need to do is protect those files. And that's just what this chapter is all about—how to use the tools and techniques that are built right into Windows to help you protect your valuable time and files!

Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts

In our final lesson, you'll learn some more techniques for protecting your computer, including using resources for free protection from viruses and spyware. You'll learn how to remove programs you no longer want or need. You'll learn how to copy and paste text and create screenshots. And you'll discover some great timesaving tips and shortcuts, as well as resources for helping yourself so that you don't have to be so dependent on others.

What you will learn

• Find your way around Windows 11 with the desktop, Start menu, and system settings
• Understand how to customize features and personalize your desktop
• Discover how File Explorer can help you manage files and learn to create basic text documents using WordPad
• Comprehend how to protect your files and update Windows 11

How you will benefit

• Gain confidence in your use of the Windows 11 operating system for personal and business use
• Learn how to use your PC effectively, starting with Windows
• Experience reduced frustration and setbacks by learning to operate your computer properly
• Become a more independent computer user

Curt Simmons

Curt Simmons, B.A., M.Ed, is a best-selling author, trainer, and multi-media expert. He holds degrees in English and communication studies and has more than 10 years of experience teaching English and writing in the classroom. Additionally, Simmons has authored numerous books on a wide variety of technology topics and has been a technical editor for numerous other titles.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2016 (not included in enrollment).
• Note that the "Starter Version" and "Web App" versions of Microsoft Excel will not work with the full version of Excel taught in this course.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Harness the power of Excel and become a master user of this powerful program. This hands-on course will provide skills using charts, graphs, PivotTables, Slicers, Sparklines, AutoFilter, macros, and other advanced Microsoft Excel 2016 functions.

Excel Charts and Graphs

In your first lesson, you will discover why Excel 2016 is such a powerful charting tool. To you, a workbook's numbers might tell an interesting story; to others, that story may not be obvious. You will learn how to choose the right chart for your story and then how to create, format, and edit your chart.

More Excel Charts

This lesson continues exploring Excel's charting options—this time looking at the lesser-known options that are available to you. Even though they may not be well-known, these options can add tremendous value to your worksheets in the right situations.

AutoFilter and Sorting

Working with data in Excel can be quite easy when you know about the tools that are available in a table format. One of these great tools is the Auto Filter command. This lesson will teach you how to use Auto Filter to limit your table information to just the records you want.

Goal Seeking

Learn how to use Solver to solve a complex problem based on the criteria and constraints that you provide it. You'll also explore in detail how to create all three types of Sparklines, as well as formatting options for each and gain the skills to create dashboard-like mini charts sure to make you the envy of your office.

PivotTables

Find out how to use macros to turn boring, repetitive, time-consuming tasks into automated Excel functions. Then, receive a quick overview of all the categories of functions and the different methods you can use to create them.

Advanced PivotTables

Just like charting, Excel's PivotTables are too big a topic to fit into one lesson. This lesson takes a tour through some of Excel's more advanced techniques, like the PivotTable filtering tool Slicer. You will also learn how a PivotTable can serve as your source for the PivotChart.

Solver

Have you ever worked with a financial model in Excel and wondered how you could speculate different outcomes by changing different input amounts? The Excel Solver can do just that. In this lesson, you will learn how to use Solver to solve a complex problem based on criteria and constraints.

Sparklines

There's nothing more exciting than learning how to master a new feature in Excel. This lesson focuses on creating three types of Sparklines, as well as formatting options for each. By the end of the lesson, you will have the skills to create dashboard-style mini charts.

Macros

In this lesson, you will find out how to use macros to turn repetitive and often time-consuming tasks into automated Excel functions. You will also learn how to record a macro that performs a task in seconds with the click of a button.

Introduction to Functions

If you have used Excel for a while, you know there are hundreds of functions at your disposal. The last three lessons of this course will cover how and why you would use these functions. This lesson introduces creating various functions with the Text category.

Math/Trig Functions

Next to learning how to create macros, most students want to learn as much as they can about Excel functions. This lesson covers on more complex functions of the "Math & Trig" category, focusing on the SUMIF and COUNTIF functions in particular.

VLOOKUP, INDEX, and MATCH Functions

Since functions are such an integral part of using Excel, your final lesson will cover advanced features. In this lesson, you will learn how to use the VLOOKUP, INDEX, and MATCH functions.

What you will learn

• Master charting, PivotTables, Slicers, Sparklines, and other advanced features of Microsoft Excel 2016
• Learn to create useful and eye-catching charts
• Discover how to manipulate data with the push of a button
• Add the time-saving functions of advanced Excel users to your repertoire

How you will benefit

• Take your Excel 2016 skills to an expert level and become a more productive member of your organization
• Gain indispensable skills that will be useful in any organization that relies on numbers-based reporting
• Learn to fully harness the power of Microsoft Excel 2016 and use all of its capabilities to save time and money

Chad Wambolt

Chad Wambolt has spent his entire professional career in the finance field, working for both private and publicly-held companies with sales ranging from $500 million to $3 billion. He is a graduate of Boise State University, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in accounting. Through the course of his career, Wambolt became an expert user of Microsoft Excel. Since 1997, he has taught Excel to students of varying skill levels and helped organizations streamline internal processes.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
• Microsoft Word 2016 (not included in enrollment).
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Master the advanced features of Microsoft Word 2016 and create truly professional looking documents. This hands-on course will help you learn how to create an index, build a list of figures, design a table of contents, do desktop publishing, perform a mail merge, and use timesaving shortcuts.

Shortcuts and Time-Savers in Word 2016

Humanity has come a long way since the days of the typewriter. What used to take hours can now be done in seconds with Microsoft Word 2016. And the less time you spend typing, the more time you can spend being creative and having fun. In this lesson, you'll learn shortcuts in Word that can help you create documents faster and more accurately than ever before. Not only will these shortcuts save you time, but they'll help you create letters and reports more easily than you might have thought possible.

Text and Paragraph Formatting Methods

What you write is half of communication. The other half is getting people to read what you write. One way to make your writing more appealing is to make it look presentable with formatting. Of course, formatting text is easy, but applying different types of formatting over and over again can get tedious. That's why, in this lesson, you'll learn a fast and easy way to format chunks of text quickly and consistently using something called styles. You'll find out what a style is, how to apply it, and more important, how to create and save your own styles to use in any document. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to make any document look presentable with just the click of your mouse.

Templates

If you've ever baked cookies, or even just watched someone else do it, you know how difficult it can be to make all the cookies in a batch look exactly alike. Some turn out big, some small, some gooey, and some burned! However, if you use a cookie cutter, you can make identically shaped cookies every time. That's the same principle you'll learn in this lesson; instead of using a cookie cutter, though, you'll use something called a template. A template stores the formatting of a document so that you can apply it to another document. Templates let you format entire documents as easily as formatting a single word. Word offers lots of convenient templates stored right on your computer or available over the Internet, and you'll also find out how you can create your own.

Graphics: Part 1

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so what better way to spice up your documents than by adding pictures? In this lesson, you'll learn how to add your own digital photographs to a document so that you can show everyone your vacation pictures, family holidays, or just interesting sights you've captured with your own camera. In addition to adding your own photos, you can also add clip art from Word's massive library of free graphics. And you'll find out how to resize, rotate, and style your pictures, as well as wrap your document text around them. By the end of this lesson, you'll see why Word documents are about much more than words!

Graphics: Part 2, and Columns

Digital photographs and clip art are just the beginning of what you can do with graphics in Word. In this lesson, you'll discover how to add a variety of informational graphics, including charts, graphs, and WordArt, which allow you to display text as a graphic image. Not only will you learn how to add these graphics, but you'll also find out how to edit them when your data changes. You'll finish off the lesson by seeing how Word allows you to format documents with multiple columns—a handy skill for creating newsletters and publications!

Sections and Notes

Do you often create long documents? If so, you'll appreciate this lesson, which shows you how to divide a large document into parts called sections. Sections allow you to format part of a document a certain way without that formatting affecting the rest of your text. For example, you may want headers and footers to appear on some pages but not others. Sections make this easy! You'll also spend some time inserting footnotes and endnotes in a document. If you need to write research papers or other academic content, Word makes it a snap to add and format these previously pesky notes!

Tables

If you've ever seen a spreadsheet, you know how rows and columns let you organize numbers and text on the screen. Well, tables do the same thing in Word. In this lesson, you'll see how to create tables of all different sizes right in a Word document! The lesson will cover how to modify tables, too. And don't think Excel users get to have all the fun—you can even enter formulas to perform calculations in your tables, sort them, and style them for a customized look. Your data has never looked so appealing!

Envelopes and Odd-Size Pages

You probably print most of your documents on standard letter-size paper. While this is great for ordinary letters or business reports, sometimes you may want to get creative with your paper sizes. But then there's the trouble of printing. In this lesson, you'll see how you can define the dimensions of the paper you're using, so Word will print everything correctly. You'll also learn how to print names and addresses directly on envelopes of any size. After this lesson, you won't feel confined to boring 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper anymore!

Desktop Publishing: Part 1

As you've probably already figured out, Word can do more than write letters. It also functions as a simple desktop publishing program for creating greeting cards, calendars, or newsletters. In this lesson, you'll find out how text boxes are the key to simple desktop publishing and see how other elements come into play in customized documents. Along the way, you'll look at business cards and greeting cards to get a feel for how desktop publishing works. If you've always wanted to create a document that combines text and graphics in an artistic or visually appealing way, you'll find out how to do that and much more.

Desktop Publishing: Part 2

With the basics down, it's time to take your desktop publishing skills to the next level. In this lesson, you'll discover the magic of linked text boxes that give you the power to move your text anywhere you want on the page and keep it flowing. You'll see how to create, position, resize, and group text boxes so you have total control over your text.

Merging Data with Documents

Have you ever received one of those "personalized" letters from a company in the mail? You can be sure that nobody typed the entire sales letter from scratch. Instead, the company used a form letter and something called mail merging. In this lesson, you'll learn how to store long lists of names and addresses that you can use over and over again in a form letter. Just create a document once, leave blanks for inserting information such as names and addresses, and let Word personalize each letter for you. Now you, too, can create personalized letters for business or personal use, such as sending out holiday greetings to family members and friends.

Final Touches

Look in most books, and you'll find the table of contents at the beginning and an index in the back. Often, these are the last components added to a document, since they need to have accurate titles and page numbers. But Word takes a lot of the tedious work out of creating these components. In this final lesson, you'll see how you can use Styles to make creating the table of contents a snap, and then explore how to tag index terms so Word knows what page they're on, even if they move later. Word can also help you keep track of any figures, such as charts, illustrations, or graphs, in your document. By letting Word worry about the details, you can create an accurate table of contents, index, or list of figures with very little extra effort on your part. These finishing touches will make your most important documents shine!

What you will learn

• Learn how shortcut keys, macros, and the AutoCorrect feature can save you time
• Discover fast ways to format text in a document
• Find out how to insert graphic images, including clip art and photos, into your documents
• Add charts, SmartArt, and WordArt to a document, and divide any document into columns
• Practice dividing a long document into sections and using footnotes and endnotes
• Get acquainted with some of Word's desktop publishing features, such as using text boxes, layering, and aligning objects
• Learn how to link text boxes, and position them in a document to create brochures and newsletters
• Use mail merging to quickly and easily personalize form documents

How you will benefit

• Master the more advanced features of Microsoft Word
• Learn how to use Word more effectively and take advantage of all its many features so you can get your work done more quickly and more easily

Wallace Wang

Wallace Wang is the author of over 40 computer books including "Microsoft Office 2019 For Dummies." In addition to writing computer books, he has also co-authored "Breaking Into Acting for Dummies" and ghost written several books about investing in real estate, day trading stocks, and becoming an entrepreneur. Some of his past jobs have included teaching computer science courses at the University of Zimbabwe, performing stand-up comedy, and appearing on a weekly radio show.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 10 or later.
• Mac: macOS 12 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Microsoft Excel 365 for Windows or Microsoft Excel for Mac. Excel 365 Online can be used to study the features it includes, but you will not be able to practice certain skills. For the best experience, use Excel 365 for Windows or Word for Mac to complete this course. If that software isn't available, some exercises can be completed using Excel 365 Online in a web browser on Windows, MacOS, or ChromeOS.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Getting to Know Excel

This lesson introduces the fundamentals of Excel, including navigating its interface, understanding workbooks and worksheets, and mastering basic data entry. You'll learn how to input labels, numeric data, and fractions, move efficiently within a worksheet, and save your work in various formats, ensuring your files are well-organized and accessible.

Modifying a Worksheet's Structure

In this lesson, you'll explore how to modify the structure of a worksheet by selecting, moving, and copying data. Topics include inserting and deleting rows, columns, and cells, merging cells, and using shortcuts to streamline tasks. These skills will enable you to organize and manipulate data effectively.

Using Formulas and Functions

This lesson focuses on creating and using formulas and functions to perform calculations in Excel. You'll learn about simple formulas, essential aggregate functions like SUM and AVERAGE, and time-saving tools like AutoFill and Flash Fill. These techniques will help you automate calculations and save time.

Formatting Cells and Their Content

Learn how to format cells, rows, and columns to enhance the readability and appearance of your data. This lesson covers text alignment, cell borders, fill colors, number formatting, and custom cell styles. These formatting techniques will give your spreadsheets a polished and professional look.

Formatting and Printing a Worksheet

This lesson covers preparing your worksheet for presentation and printing. Topics include modifying page setup, applying headers and footers, using themes, and printing to PDF or other formats. You'll learn to optimize your worksheets for both digital and physical distribution.

Referring to Cells, Ranges, and Formulas

In this lesson, you'll explore cell references, including relative, absolute, and mixed references, and learn to name ranges for clarity and ease of use. You'll also practice resolving formula errors and using tools to display and troubleshoot formulas effectively.

Using Multiple Sheets and Workbooks

This lesson focuses on managing and linking data across multiple sheets and workbooks. You'll learn to add, delete, and group sheets, reference data across worksheets, and link content to other applications, expanding your ability to manage complex projects.

Working with Tables

This lesson introduces Excel tables, showing you how to create, format, and manage table data. You'll explore sorting, filtering, adding totals, and using table styles to make your data more organized and interactive.

Charting Data

This lesson teaches you to visualize data with charts. You'll create and modify various chart types, format chart elements, and apply styles to make your data presentations clear and impactful. Topics include pie charts, bar charts, and advanced chart customizations.

Using Aggregate, Statistical, and Financial Functions

This lesson explores several types of powerful functions. We start with a review of aggregate functions, and then turn our attention to statistical functions like AVERAGE and standard deviation, as well as financial functions such as PMT and PV to calculate loan values and payments.

Creating Business Forms

This lesson explores using Excel to create professional business forms, including calendars, invoices, and purchase orders. You'll learn to design layouts, apply formatting, and incorporate formulas to create functional and visually appealing forms.

Working with Templates

In the final lesson, you'll learn to create and use templates to save time and ensure consistency across projects. Topics include using Excel's built-in templates, designing custom templates, and creating chart templates for reuse. This lesson helps streamline your workflow and maintain professional standards.

What you will learn

• Create and edit worksheets with text and labels
• Modify the structure of a worksheet
• Construct formulas and functions for data calculation and analysis
• Format cells, cell content, and worksheets
• Share data between worksheets, workbooks, and other applications
• Organize data with tables and learn important keyboard shortcuts
• Create and format charts for visual data summarization
• Utilize templates for efficient workbook creation
• How to create worksheets, charts, and graphs, as well as parse data with Flash Fill
• Methods for sorting and analyzing automating often repeated tasks

How you will benefit

• Leverage your Excel 365 knowledge to become a more productive member of your organization
• Gain indispensable skills that will be useful for numbers-based reporting
• Develop skills that can be used to simplify your life of calculating and displaying numbers both personally and professionally
• Understand efficient data organization, customizable data presentation, and enhanced data visualization to make it easier to understand and interpret data
• Create professional looking worksheets and time saving templates that you can customize as needed
• Demonstrate skills to help you efficiently organize, analyze, and present data for professional and personal needs

Chad Wambolt

Chad Wambolt has spent his entire professional career in the finance field, working for both private and publicly-held companies with sales ranging from $500 million to $3 billion. He is a graduate of Boise State University, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in accounting. Through the course of his career, Wambolt became an expert user of Microsoft Excel. Since 1997, he has taught Excel to students of varying skill levels and helped organizations streamline internal processes.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC. It is not suitable for Macs.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
• Microsoft Word 2016 (not included in enrollment).
• Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Microsoft Word is used in nearly every modern workplace. In this course, you will master all the basics of this powerful word-processing program, including how to type and edit text, and how to format, spell check, and print documents. You will also learn dozens of different ways to modify the appearance and content of your documents and how to catch errors with Word's spell and grammar checker. After completing the course, you will be able to use Word confidently at home or on the job.

Getting Started

In this introductory lesson, you will learn how to use the different parts of Word 2016's user interface, how to look at your document from different types of views, how to zoom in and out to magnify or shrink your text, and how to change the margins of individual paragraphs.

Typing and Navigation

The whole purpose of Word is to let you create and edit text. This lesson introduces the basics of moving the insertion point and deleting text. By knowing the pros and cons of navigating through a document with the keyboard and mouse, you can use both to help you work faster in Word.

File Management

In this lesson, you will learn how to save the documents you create in Word. You will also learn how to rename, copy, and even delete any files you have created, so you will always be in complete control of all the files you create.

Editing Text

After you've typed some text in a Word document, you may need to edit that text. This lesson focuses on editing text. The easiest way to edit text is to delete it, but a more sophisticated way to edit text is to copy text and paste a duplicate of that text in another location.

Working With Multiple Documents

Most people use Word to view and edit a single document at a time, but Word actually lets you open and view two or more documents at the same time. This lesson will teach you how to open, switch between, and view multiple documents.

Text Formatting and Alignment

Once you know how to add, delete, copy, and move text, the next step to modifying your document is to change the physical appearance of your text. You can make text appear in different colors or background highlighting, change text size and alignment, and even modify fonts.

Printing

Most people use Word to print letters and reports. In this lesson, you will learn about the different ways you can print a document, such as portrait orientation or landscape orientation. With Word's ability to print on different types of paper sizes and orientation, you can create more than just typical documents.

Margins, Tabs, and Page Numbering

By knowing how to set and use margins, you can modify an entire document or just a single page. By using tabs, you can modify how individual paragraphs look on a page. Finally, you will also learn how to add page numbers to the top or bottom of a page to keep track of page order.

Paragraph Formatting

Word provides ways to change the appearance of a paragraph's first line, line spacing within a paragraph, and line spacing between paragraphs. In addition, Word lets you create bullet and number lists, so you can display short bits of information in a visual manner.

Language Tools

For important documents, you may even need to collaborate with others. To keep track of all the changes multiple authors may make to a single document, Word offers a Track Changes feature, so you can see exactly what and who changed the document.

Customizing Word

With Word, you can press different types of keystrokes or search and click the symbol you want to use. This lets you add practically any type of unusual character to your documents. Word lets you type practically anything you want, regardless of the limitation of the keys on your keyboard.

Making a Word Document Pretty and Organized

Finally, you can use outlines to organize your text and quickly move chunks of text within a document just by rearranging an outline heading. By learning these advanced features of Word, you can make each document display text in the most appealing way possible.

What you will learn

• Learn the fundamentals of one of the most crucial software applications in the modern workplace
• Acquire the skills and learn the tools you will need to adjust margins, spacing, layout, and design of any Word document
• Learn how to work on multiple projects at once and become faster and more efficient in a variety of Microsoft Word tasks
• Explore the many ways to modify the appearance of your documents in order to suit your individual needs

How you will benefit

• Gain the confidence you need to make the most of this indispensable software application
• Learn how to make the perfect layout for useful documents of any occasion - resumes, invitations, letters, articles, training materials, and much more
• Save time and avoid frustration by familiarizing yourself with the wide variety of tools at your disposal in Word 2016
• Become more proficient and efficient at one of the most widely used software programs in history

Wallace Wang

Wallace Wang is the author of over 40 computer books including "Microsoft Office 2019 For Dummies." In addition to writing computer books, he has also co-authored "Breaking Into Acting for Dummies" and ghost written several books about investing in real estate, day trading stocks, and becoming an entrepreneur. Some of his past jobs have included teaching computer science courses at the University of Zimbabwe, performing stand-up comedy, and appearing on a weekly radio show.

Hardware Requirements:

• This course must be taken on a PC or Chromebook. Macs are not compatible.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 11 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Microsoft Word Online
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Master the basic skills you need for Windows 11, the new operating system from Microsoft, which offers a more robust, more powerful, and unique computing experience. In this course, you will gain the foundation you need to start using Windows 11.

Welcome to Windows 11

Learning to use your PC well starts with learning to use Windows. In this first lesson, we'll start with the basics that every computer user must know in order to use a computer with minimal frustration. If you've been working in "frustration and aggravation" mode for a while, this lesson will take care of that. We'll start by talking about what Windows 11 is and why you want to learn it. Then, we'll get right into the most important skills and terminology that allow you to control what you see on your screen at all times. And that's important, because the first step to using anything that's in your computer is getting it on the screen where you can see it!

Use the Start Menu and Apps

In this lesson, we'll explore the revised Start Menu and Apps in Windows 11. You'll see how to use and customize the Start Menu, and we'll explore the Windows Store. You'll also see how to use the new widgets feature of Windows 11, which gives you access to quick and easy information, such as weather, traffic, sports, and news.

Personalizing Your Windows Desktop

In today's lesson, you'll have fun personalizing your computer by choosing your own desktop pictures, themes, and sound scheme. Along the way, you'll learn about the important Control Panel window in Windows 11 and tips for using dialog boxes and those occasional mysterious dimmed options that do nothing when you click them. The skills you learn in this lesson will go a long way to helping you gain complete control of your computer.

Working With Text and Files

No matter how you intend to use your computer, there'll be times when there's some typing involved. It might be for writing email messages, memos, or letters, or it might be for taking notes in a course, or for chatting with others in a website. Whatever the reason, today's lesson will teach you all the tricks for making typing (and editing) quick and easy. And you'll also discover how to save your work in files and folders, so it'll always be there when you need it!

Exploring Your System

Everything that's in your computer is stored on its hard drive. The hard drive is like a filing cabinet containing files organized into folders. Finding things you've saved in the past is a matter of opening the filing cabinet, so to speak, and then locating the correct folder. You'll use the File Explorer program to accomplish this. And in this lesson, you'll learn how it all works, so you can start gaining complete mastery of your own files and folders.

Using OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft To Do

In this lesson, you'll explore three Windows 11 features: OneDrive, Teams, and To Do. OneDrive is a cloud storage solution that lets you store files and folders both on your PC as well as the Microsoft cloud. Using OneDrive, you can save your data to Microsoft servers and access that data across multiple devices. Teams is communication software that is built into Windows 11. Using Teams, you can chat with friends, family, and co-workers and even host video and audio calls. Finally, you'll take a look at Microsoft To Do—an app that helps you keep track of to do tasks and lists. All of these features are designed to make your life easier!

Manage and Edit Your Photos

In this lesson, we'll have some fun with photos. Today, you'll learn how to organize your photos and view them using Windows 11's Photos App. You'll also see how to view individual photos, draw and rotate, and auto-enhance your shots. And, you'll learn about the Photos App editing tools for adjusting brightness and contrast, straightening crooked pictures, correcting red eye, and cropping.

Using Edge

The Internet is home to popular websites like Facebook, Amazon, Google, ed2go, and many others. Many of you have seen references to .com sites in ads and elsewhere. If you don't have a lot of computer experience, you might find it difficult to get to the many things you hear about on the web. But not after this lesson! In this lesson, you'll learn how to use Edge, the program that provides access to all of those popular websites.

Managing Files and Folders

Managing files and folders is one of those computer skills that every computer user needs to know. In many work and school environments, people just assume you know how to manage files, and they rarely provide any details on how to accomplish things like copying, moving, or renaming files and folders. Today's lesson will explain how to do those very things that others assume you already know how to do.

More Fun With File Management

In this lesson, you'll expand your file management skills by learning how to delete and recover files. You'll learn how to select multiple files to work with, so you don't always have to manage your files one at a time. And we'll discuss how to copy files to and from removable media like flash drives, CDs, and DVDs.

Protect Your Valuable Files!

Your computer is an investment of money, and the pictures and other files you store on your computer are an investment of time. You might even have some photos or other files that are so precious the thought of losing them causes you anxiety. What you need to do is protect those files. And that's just what this chapter is all about—how to use the tools and techniques that are built right into Windows to help you protect your valuable time and files!

Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts

In our final lesson, you'll learn some more techniques for protecting your computer, including using resources for free protection from viruses and spyware. You'll learn how to remove programs you no longer want or need. You'll learn how to copy and paste text and create screenshots. And you'll discover some great timesaving tips and shortcuts, as well as resources for helping yourself so that you don't have to be so dependent on others.

What you will learn

• Find your way around Windows 11 with the desktop, Start menu, and system settings
• Understand how to customize features and personalize your desktop
• Discover how File Explorer can help you manage files and learn to create basic text documents using WordPad
• Comprehend how to protect your files and update Windows 11

How you will benefit

• Gain confidence in your use of the Windows 11 operating system for personal and business use
• Learn how to use your PC effectively, starting with Windows
• Experience reduced frustration and setbacks by learning to operate your computer properly
• Become a more independent computer user

Curt Simmons

Curt Simmons, B.A., M.Ed, is a best-selling author, trainer, and multi-media expert. He holds degrees in English and communication studies and has more than 10 years of experience teaching English and writing in the classroom. Additionally, Simmons has authored numerous books on a wide variety of technology topics and has been a technical editor for numerous other titles.