Most people suck at using Microsoft Excel.

I'm not talking about formatting data/reports or writing formulas.

I'm talking about using Excel to analyze data and make an impact.

Here are 7 ways to stand out from the crowd:

1) Don't make PivotTables your hammer and every problem a nail.

PivotTables are like any other data analysis technique.

They have pros and cons.

Tables are good primarily at two things:

Looking up exact values
Comparing exact values

This alone is not enough for most analyses.

2) Use more charts.

Humans are visual creatures, and we can use this to analyze data.

The best use of PivotTables is to create PivotCharts.

For example, bar charts that use three or more columns of data.

It's way more powerful than a PivotTable.

3) Use line charts.

I can't stress this one enough.

The single most valuable data visualization in business analytics is a line chart.

Line charts allow you to see:

Trends
Variability
Cycles
Rate of change
Exceptions

Oh, and make sure to use line charts in your dashboards!

4) Learn data analysis fundamentals.

Microsoft Excel can be a potent tool - if you know how to analyze data.

Here are two fundamentals that 99% of Excel users don't know:

Distribution analysis
Correlation analysis

While this sounds scary, it isn't.

No fancy math is required.

5) Time to step up to PowerQuery.

It's a crying shame PowerQuery isn't more popular.

It's exceedingly powerful (pun intended) and allows you to automate many steps in your data analyses.

In 2025, however, PowerQuery is more critical than ever because of the following three words.

6) Python in Excel

Shortly, there will be two kinds of Excel users:

Those who use Python in Excel to have an impact at work using DIY data science.

Those that do not.

BTW - If you're the first kind of Excel user, you can make the most of AI by...

7) Use Copilot in Excel with Python

I'm going to be honest.

Vanilla Copilot in Excel isn't very impressive.

However, using the Copilot AI to generate Python code for DIY data science is a different story.

But you must have DIY data science skills to use Copliot, or you're playing with 🔥.

Free Excel Resources: https://t.me/excel_data