Excel and Word for the Web Jump Start
Do three everyday office jobs in the free Excel and Word for the web, on real Microsoft 365 screens: a budget that totals itself and flags overspending, your top customers from a raw sales export, and a one-page client update made from rough meeting notes.
Excel and Word for the Web Jump Start is a free, hands-on AI course for small business owners and office staff who keep budgets on a calculator, add up exports by hand or fix fonts in every update: 3 short modules (about 39 minutes in all) where you do each step yourself in a safe practice copy of Excel and Word, which checks your work. No coding, no cost, and you can start without signing up.
Who it’s for: Small business owners and office staff who keep budgets on a calculator, add up exports by hand or fix fonts in every update. A free Microsoft account and a browser; nothing to install.
Why this course
A monthly budget check is often receipts, a calculator and an email with one sum wrong. A sales question means an hour of adding up an export, and a client update means half an hour of fixing fonts. Excel and Word for the web are free with a Microsoft account, save as you work and can be shared as one link.
This jump start follows three made-up small businesses: a bakery's budget, an office-supply shop's Q3 sales and an IT firm's client update. Every practice screen is a real Excel or Word for the web screen, captured in Microsoft 365.
What you’ll build
- Module 1: A workbook called "Bakery budget, October": five budget lines formatted as an Excel table, a Difference column (=C2-B2) that fills itself down, a Total Row, a red highlight on every line that went over budget and Currency formatting.
- Module 2: A workbook called "Q3 sales export": the 12 orders on Sheet1 with the duplicate removed, and a PivotTable on Sheet2 with one row per customer, sorted biggest first and formatted as currency.
- Module 3: A Word document called "Client update, Harbor Accounting": a Title, three Heading 1 sections (Summary, What we did, Next steps), a bulleted list of the work done, a 3-column next-steps table with a dark header row, and a comment on one due date.
- Module 1 · Excel · Beginner · ~15 min
Excel for the Web: Your First Budget Spreadsheet
Tom (made up) owns a small bakery. Each month his bookkeeper asks, "Where did we go over budget?" Tom answers by adding up receipts on a calculator, writing the totals on paper and typing them into an email, and he usually gets one sum wrong.
- Module 2 · Excel · Beginner · ~12 min
Excel for the Web: Find Your Top Customers in a Sales Export
Lena (made up) runs sales at a small office-supply shop. On Friday the owner asks, "Who were our top customers last quarter?" The only source is the export from the sales system: 12 orders, one line each, and one order that is in it twice.
- Module 3 · Word · Beginner · ~12 min
Word for the Web: Turn Meeting Notes into a Client Update
Dana (made up) is an account manager at Northgate IT, a small IT services firm. After every monthly check-in she owes the client an update, and her notes come out of the meeting as one long list of plain lines.
Prerequisites
- For the practice: a web browser. Each module runs in a copy of the real tool’s screens, so you need no account and no sign-up to start module 1.
- To do it for real: a free Microsoft account. Each module says which one it uses.
Time to complete
About 39 minutes of hands-on practice across 3 modules (64 steps in all). Modules take 12 to 15 minutes each, so you can do one in a sitting and come back for the next.
Take it with you
Excel for the web budget cheat sheet: the settings and words from this course on one printable page. Read it online · Download the PDF
Glossary
Conditional formatting Pivot table Heading styles Comments (in a document)
- Excel PivotTable and Word client update cheat sheet · Modules 2 and 3 on one printable page.
Questions about this course
Is Excel and Word for the Web Jump Start free?
Yes. All 3 modules of Excel and Word for the Web Jump Start are free, and you can start module 1 without signing up.
How long does Excel and Word for the Web Jump Start take?
About 39 minutes of hands-on practice across 3 modules, beginner. Each module takes 12 to 15 minutes, so you can do one at a time.
Which tools will I practice in?
Excel and Word. You practice in a copy of each tool's real screens that checks every step, so nothing touches your real accounts, and no coding is needed.
Who is Excel and Word for the Web Jump Start for?
Small business owners and office staff who keep budgets on a calculator, add up exports by hand or fix fonts in every update. A free Microsoft account and a browser; nothing to install.
Where do I start?
Start with module 1, Excel for the Web: Your First Budget Spreadsheet. The modules are in order, so each one builds on the last.
Is Excel for the web free?
Yes, with a free Microsoft account at microsoft365.com. It covers the tables, formulas, conditional formatting, PivotTables and sharing used in this course; some advanced desktop features are missing.
Do I need Copilot for the Word module?
No. The Word module does everything by hand with styles, bullets, a table and a comment, which works in free Word for the web. Word may offer Copilot the first time you open a document; you can click Not now.
What do I need before I start Excel and Word for the Web Jump Start?
Only a web browser for the practice: it runs in a copy of each tool's screens, so you need no account and no sign-up to start module 1. To repeat a module in your own tools afterwards, the modules list a free Microsoft account.
What will I build in Excel and Word for the Web Jump Start?
A finished result in 3 of the 3 modules, for example: A workbook called "Bakery budget, October": five budget lines formatted as an Excel table, a Difference column (=C2-B2) that fills itself down, a Total Row, a red highlight on every line that went over budget and Currency formatting; A workbook called "Q3 sales export": the 12 orders on Sheet1 with the duplicate removed, and a PivotTable on Sheet2 with one row per customer, sorted biggest first and formatted as currency; A Word document called "Client update, Harbor Accounting": a Title, three Heading 1 sections (Summary, What we did, Next steps), a bulleted list of the work done, a 3-column next-steps table with a dark header row, and a comment on one due date.