Download FREE courseware handouts. These documents are ideal for teachers, students and anyone wanting to learn more about their Microsoft Office programs. Each handout covers a specific topic and is illustrated with full-colour screenshots. Many have accompanying sample files. The files are not restricted in any way so you can print copies or read them on-screen.
Get my Free Courseware here.

Are you looking for Microsoft Office training for yourself, your colleagues or your staff? If you like what you see here, you can get personal training from me. Find out more at the Training page.

Do you need someone to build an Access database or an application in Excel? Or perhaps you're just looking for help and advice. I might be able to help. Find out about my consultancy services at the Consultancy page.

Happy New Year (Who He?)

[9 January 2013]

If you are a regular visitor to this site you will be used to seeing a picture of a handsome bearded fellow dressed in a blue check shirt (his favourite!) up there at the top of the page. He was maybe around 50 years old, carrying a little too much weight and losing his hair. It has been replaced by a portrait of an older gentleman, smartly dressed with shirt and tie, also bearded but greyer and thinner on top, could be the other chap's father. The year turned and I decided it was time for a change. Of course they are both me. I can't remember when the first picture was taken but it has been there a while and I thought it was time for people to see me as I really am, now in my 60s but still alive (just) and still working (unfortunately). One day, and it happens to us all, I looked in the mirror and saw my father looking back at me. He is slowly being replaced by my grandfather. But, apart from the aches and pains, growing old isn't so bad and I plan to be here for quite a while. If you want a reminder of the younger (less handsome) me, point your mouse at my picture. Happy New Year!

Learn About What-if Analysis with Excel

[13 November 2012]

What-if analysis is an important part of business management and planning. Excel has some excellent tools to help you forecast what might happen if circumstances change and help you predict what effect this might have on your business. My latest video tutorial Excel's Business Tools - What-if Analysis uses the simple example of a cash loan to demonstrate some of these tools. It makes use of Excel's PMT Function to calculate repayments on a loan, then shows how you can use the Goal Seek tool to manipulate variables such as the amount borrowed, repayment period and interest rate to arrive at a desired result. You will see how to use Data Tables to display a large number of calculations employing one or two variables and finally use Conditional Formatting to present the results in an easily understandable way. I've also included a new PDF handout to accompany the video, illustrated with colour screenshots, describing the tools used.

You can find this tutorial and all my other Excel videos in my Excel Video Tips section.

New Pop-up Calendar Videos

[26 September 2012]

Many people are reluctant to get to grips with VBA and in particular VBA UserForms because they think it's going to be difficult, or maybe they just don't know where to start. My Pop-up Calendar for Excel tutorial is a great place to start. Not only do I take you through all the tasks step-by-step but I explain what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how everything works. Now I have added a set of three videos demonstrating all the steps in the tutorial. You can find them in my new VBA Video Tips section. Follow the tutorial and you will learn how to build a useful VBA UserForm. You'll write some VBA code and finally create an Excel Add-In so that you can distribute your work safely and easily to your colleagues.

New Pop-up Calendar Tutorial

[18 September 2012]

When Excel 2010 came along Microsoft dropped support for the mscal.ocx ActiveX calendar control that was at the heart of my popular Pop-up Calendar tutorial. Fortunately they replaced it with the similar MonthView control and I have finally got around to writing a completely revised and updated version of the tutorial for Excel 2007 and Excel 2010. Although the basic coding has not changed much the interface of the newer versions of Excel is sufficiently different from those that went before (remember Excel 2003 anyone?) that a complete rewrite of the tutorial was required. If you need to update your Pop-up Calendar, or if you are new to VBA and want a fun and useful project to get you started, take a look at my new Pop-up Calendar for Excel tutorial. If you are still using Excel 2003 (or earler) the original tutorial is still available - you'll find a link to it on the new tutorial page.

I have expanded this edition of the tutorial to include instructions for creating a Pop-up Calendar Add-In for Excel 2007/2010, and if you are too busy (I was going to add "too stupid" but one shouldn't insult one's customers) or just can't be bothered to build one for yourself then fear not, I have created ready-made files you can download.

I plan to add an accompanying video tutorial to accompany the Pop-up Calendar project so you can see just how easy this stuff is. After all, as I frequently tell my students, if I can do this it must be easy as I'm pretty stupid as anyone who knows me will confirm.

As always... watch this space. Or better still, subscribe to my news feed at www.fontstuff.com/rss/rss.xml

New Video Tips

[4 September 2012]

I've been experimenting with video tutorials for a while and I've finally got around to publishing some of my work. Starting with Excel I have published the first collection of videos on my new Excel Video Tips page. I'm hoping to provide something for everyone so you'll hopefully find something of interest there. Many of the examples are those I use when training so, if you have attended one of my classes and need some revision, or want to see the way I teach, you should take a look. The first upload includes a two-part introduction to creating spreadsheets, a three-part guide to the basics of Pivot Tables, and an in-depth look at using functions to get sense out of your business data.

My videos are hosted on YouTube so you can view them on my web site or visit YouTube and check out my YouTube Video Tips Channel for all my latest uploads. All are recorded at high resolution so they look great on your desktop, laptop or tablet PC. You can even view them on your Smartphone using the browser or the YouTube app.

The videos all have a sound commentary (by me!) and I realise that you might not have an audio facility on your computer or might be hearing-impaired, or maybe you just don't like my English accent. So I also plan to add complementary Viewlets where this is applicable. A Viewlet is a step-by-step animation, compiled from screenshots, which is viewed as a movie but contains text annotations. You might like to watch the video, then work through the exercise yourself at your own pace using the Viewlet as a guide.

Work is still at an early stage and I still have much to do on the video pages here so there are going to be some changes in the next couple of weeks. I've got lots of ideas for topics and will be working on some Access videos too. So, watch this space!

Pip pip!

2013 Martin Green. All rights reserved.