Learn Microsoft Office

A Comprehensive Guide to Start Learning Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is a bundled software suite developed by the Microsoft Corporation. Office provides services and applications that allow people to perform everyday or high-level tasks at home, in the workplace, or for running a business.

Develop your proficiency in the world's most widely used desktop software, Microsoft Office, to boost your professional career or personal productivity. Learn advanced functions in Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and more and explore the myriad of career opportunities that these skills can unlock.

Key Insights

  • Microsoft Office is a staple tool in many work environments, providing a variety of functions from word processing and creating spreadsheets to designing promotional material.
  • A proficiency in Microsoft Office skills is a foundational requirement for many careers, particularly in finance, business, technology, and education sectors.
  • Skilled Microsoft Office users can secure positions such as a Business Analyst, which could yield an average salary of around $82,000 a year in the United States.
  • Noble Desktop offers in-person and live online Microsoft Office courses, providing hands-on training from expert instructors.
  • Alternative learning options include on-demand Microsoft Office training and free resources such as online tutorials and seminars.
  • While Microsoft Office is the industry standard for many office functions, alternatives like Google Docs, Apple's Pages, and Google Sheets provide similar functionalities and may be more cost-effective for some users.

Microsoft Office is the most widely used desktop software on the planet. If you’re ready to learn more about working with a variety of Office applications, you can find information below to learn about the benefits of advanced functions for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel features. You will find information about online learning focused on basic functions, certifications, or handling advanced features for the various Microsoft Office applications.

What is Microsoft Office?

Microsoft Office is an essential tool for working environments across a wide range of businesses. Its software bundles provide a variety of functions, from word processing, building databases, and creating spreadsheets to designing promotional material. Working with Microsoft Office suite applications provides skills for gaining employment with composing, editing, saving, or printing documents. Microsoft Office offers a variety of applications that include Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel for use on both PCs and Macs, as well as the cloud though using Microsoft 365. 

Microsoft Office is the most widely used software application throughout the world. Microsoft Office allows users to manage email accounts, calendars, or to-do lists. Microsoft Office will enable users to get work done remotely or onsite through chats, calls, hosting meetings, or sharing documents in the cloud. Microsoft Office knowledge can be enhanced through several online education providers to improve skills for certifications from training in various applications.

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What Can You Do with Microsoft Office?

Microsoft Office provides features and tools that allow users to organize tasks such as creating presentations with PowerPoint, analyzing and visualizing data using Excel, communicating through email with Outlook, or composing documents using Word. These are just a few examples of the programs and features that have made Office an essential tool for professionals worldwide.

Microsoft PowerPoint has become the industry standard for creating presentations that allow users to customize projects by designing layouts, creating tables and charts, modifying text, or inserting images, shapes, animations, and layered objects. Excel allows users to create formulas, PivotTables, and macros, along with other techniques for calculations, essential functions, charts, formatting, and printing. Outlook can handle email functions, manage calendars, organize contact lists, or create appointments and meetings.

Finally, Microsoft Word is the most widely used word-processing application worldwide and likely the most used software application. Word offers a trove of features waiting to be unlocked to help users compose, edit, and produce documents in a variety of formats. Through training, students will learn shortcuts, tips, and techniques for optimizing professional or personal use of Word. Training includes lessons for learning formatting techniques, creating hyperlinks, setting bookmarks, or inserting images, videos, and audio.

Careers that Use Microsoft Office

While possessing knowledge of Microsoft Office by itself may not be enough for establishing a career, skills with several Office applications along with experience in a specific profession could be combined for career opportunities.

Training in Microsoft Office can help with getting work in finance, business, technology, and education, as well as countless other industries. Knowledge is a vital element for any computer-related job. Microsoft Office is simply how professionals communicate and operate around the world. Skills with Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook, OneNote, and Excel provide everyday tools for getting work done everywhere. Learning Office provides valuable skills for anyone working in any office or corporate setting and is an important element for computer literacy.

Microsoft Office is one of the core skills needed for securing employment by coordinating functions that are essential for any working environment. Skills with Microsoft Office, including Excel and Access, could help with finding work, for example, as a Business Analyst, which could bring in a salary of around $82,000 a year on average in the United States.

Why Learn Microsoft Office?

Microsoft Office not only serves as a staple in workplaces worldwide but also helps with essential household functions, including logging bills or collecting recipes. Microsoft Office offers applications like Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook, OneNote, and Excel for tasks involving word processing, presentations, email communications, note-taking, or data analysis. Anyone from a corporate office to a freelance agency to an academic institution uses the Microsoft Office suite for everything from basic workplace organizing to producing design functions. This means that training in Microsoft Office applications can deliver the skills required for designing, creating, saving, printing, or uploading documents to maintain an efficient working environment.

Microsoft Office is a suite of software applications designed to handle a variety of office functions, including creating documents, building databases, organizing spreadsheets, and developing promotional materials. This includes Microsoft Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheet functions, including charts and graphs, Access for creating and maintaining databases, and PowerPoint for creating professional-looking presentations. Training in Microsoft Office can provide you with the core skills needed to help with finding the right job.

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How to Learn Microsoft Office

Learning to optimize Microsoft Office applications can improve your skills with tools used in the workplace. With this in mind, learning through in-person or live online Microsoft Office courses could enhance your opportunities for advancement in your desired field. Noble Desktop provides training from expert instructors in real-time, who offer guidance and feedback for students eager to improve skills with innovative tools like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint that many take for granted due to familiarity from everyday use. These courses include in-person classroom training that allows participants to interact with instructors or other students, which is a benefit that can extend beyond the classroom. There are also live online Microsoft classes that provide essentially the same level of education you would get from sitting inside a classroom without having to leave the comforts of home.

Noble Desktop provides other options for learning Microsoft Office applications, including opportunities for on-demand learning. Unlike live online courses, on-demand classes allow students to learn at their own pace and on their own time, avoiding the stress of conflict with work or other commitments. The option for on-demand Microsoft Office training provides beginning or advanced students with courses from a variety of education providers, including Noble Desktop and others. Classes range from Udemy’s Ultimate Microsoft Office to Excel, Word, PowerPoint & Access, which provides comprehensive training in the Microsoft Office business suites. Another option is Skillshare’s Microsoft PowerPoint: Presentation Design and Animation Masterclass course, which trains students on how to use PowerPoint for creating presentations with advanced design and animation.

While many people would love the opportunity to understand Microsoft Office applications, busy work schedules, and other obligations may not allow for the privilege of enrolling in a course. However, there is an option for individuals interested in picking up new skills with Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office tools. Noble Desktop offers free tutorials, YouTube instructional videos, seminars, and blog posts. Interested individuals can find training options that fit their chosen time, including the free Excel Classes Online or a PowerPoint Presentation Design seminar. Noble Desktop also offers an Excel YouTube channel with more than 70 short video clips or previously recorded training lectures for courses like PowerPoint Design.

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Free Introductory Microsoft Office Course Online 

Noble Desktop offers free classes if you don’t feel ready to handle a fully loaded Microsoft Office training course. This includes a free online Excel course and a free online PowerPoint Presentation Design seminar. The Excel class offers advice on techniques for helping users save time using the spreadsheet application for day-to-day work, school, or home activities. The PowerPoint class provides help for creating appealing presentations.

You can also find other education providers that offer free online Microsoft Office training. Udemy offers a group of Microsoft Office courses that fit whatever an individual is looking for regarding basic lessons for a variety of Office desktop software applications. Coursera trains students in Office features and interfaces that include how to perform basic tasks for Word, PowerPoint, or Excel.

You can also find a basic introduction to Microsoft Office applications through online training with video tutorials from YouTube channels or other video outlets.

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Level of Difficulty, Prerequisites, & Cost 

Many people may not have considered improving their skills with Microsoft Office and may not realize the potential available through gaining in-depth knowledge of its various applications. While there will be a certain degree of difficulty with learning new skills, people using Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint regularly should make them more comfortable learning some of the more complicated functions. Learning more about Microsoft Office applications will depend on a person’s goals. Are you working in an office or collecting data? Are you trying to create a presentation? Depending on the task, training in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint might be the right move.

Because many people may be complacent about using Microsoft Office, learning how to apply an application’s higher functions might strike them as unnecessary. However, a deeper understanding and knowledge of Office tools could help with basic tasks such as writing documents, analyzing data, or creating appealing presentations. Additionally, a strong foundation in math can help people understand and learn Excel formulas or shortcuts more effectively using spreadsheet software. Therefore, becoming more proficient with advanced Excel functions for collecting data could help a person more efficiently crunch numbers or gather information for their organization.

People may also benefit from becoming familiar with Microsoft 365 and other Microsoft applications like PowerPoint or Access. PowerPoint allows users to create engaging, professional-looking presentations, and Access provides a valuable tool for data management, especially when paired with Excel.

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How Does Learning Microsoft Office Compare to Other Applications?

Microsoft Office is considered the industry-standard tool for composing workplace documents, designing presentations, or organizing spreadsheets. Due to this, most people working with Office software like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint will usually stick with those and other Microsoft programs simply because of the convenience of integrating among Office applications. However, the cost of licensing Microsoft Office may be prohibitive for many people. Considering this, there are alternatives to many Microsoft programs that are either free or less expensive, usually compatible with Office applications.

For example, Google Docs is an online word processing tool that is a popular alternative to Microsoft Word and is available free as part of the web-based Google Docs Editors suite. Among Google Docs’ most significant assets are that it allows for seamless document sharing, a convenient benefit in any working environment that relies on collaboration for rapid turnaround in producing content. Google Docs also provides Smart Compose, which helps avoid spelling and grammatical errors with text.

Another alternative to Microsoft Word would be Apple's Pages, a word processing application included with most Apple devices. Because Pages is readily available on iPhones, iPads, and Macs, people can write from anywhere, composing documents, designing illustrations, or collaborating with co-workers or friends in real-time. With Pages, users can customize fonts, personalize text styles, or add graphics. Plus, Pages documents can be saved as Word files, or Word documents can be imported into and edited within Pages.

Those interested in finding a spreadsheet other than Microsoft Excel have an option with Google Sheets, an online spreadsheet program that, like Google Docs, is free as part of Google Docs Editors. Like Excel, Google Sheets has features for calculations and formulas. Google Sheets also allows for more robust collaboration if permission is granted by a document’s owner that permits reading and editing by others, providing convenience in the workplace with several users being able to work on the same content simultaneously. Another alternative to Excel would be Smartsheet, best described as a work project software presented in a spreadsheet format. Smartsheet facilitates consistency, collaboration, accessibility, and integration for managing workplace projects.

Finally, if a person is looking for a presentation tool comparable to Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides is another free program available through Google Docs Editors. Google Slides allows users to create, edit, and present online presentations in real-time using any number of devices and collaborate with associates to design and develop those presentations. With Google Slides, users can also edit PowerPoint presentations online without needing to convert them and add Slides features such as comments, action items, and Smart Compose.

How to Decide the Best Way to Learn Microsoft Office

Developing knowledge with Microsoft Office programs can open paths for working in several industries or enhance possibilities at a current position. While possessing skills in a variety of Office tools cannot by itself provide the foundation for a career, deeper knowledge in everyday tools such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint can provide strong support for any professional skill set. There are several options available for learning Microsoft Office’s assortment of software applications. Noble Desktop offers live online Microsoft Office courses that train individuals in how to use tools like Excel for analyzing and visualizing data, Word for word processing and editing documents, and PowerPoint for creating professional-looking presentations. For example, Noble Desktop offers the Microsoft Excel Bootcamp that provides in-depth education for using this spreadsheet software with lessons on functions, formulas, and PivotTables.

Noble Desktop offers a variety of options for training that include in-person courses, live online classes and bootcamps, online courses tailored to high school students, as well as corporate training for companies to sharpen skills among their staff. While using Microsoft Office tools may be something that many people are familiar with, building on that familiarity and comfort could lead to enhancing professional opportunities or personal activities such as posting on social media.

Learn Microsoft Office with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

If you’re looking to enhance your skills in using Microsoft Office, Noble Desktop has courses that provide training for a better understanding of Office applications. This includes in-person classes available in New York City and live online courses in various timeframes and costs.

Noble Desktop offers in-person and live online Microsoft Office classes that provide hands-on training from expert instructors. Courses offered include Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Project, and Outlook training available inside a classroom or through virtual learning.

Microsoft Office courses include the Excel Bootcamp, training on functions, formulas, PivotTables, and macros, along with time-saving techniques. Excel courses offer training from the fundamental level up through advanced classes available in various durations, with tuition ranging from $229 to $549.


Students can also enroll in the PowerPoint Bootcamp to learn how to design everything from slides for multimedia presentations to customizing text or using images, shapes, animation, layered objects, and creating tables and charts. Noble Desktop also offers the PowerPoint Level I course that teaches individuals fundamentals, such as how to apply images and SmartArt or insert tables and graphs for designing professional-looking presentations.

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