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Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

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    Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    Hello everyone!

    I have been wondering for a long time why there are no books or training courses on Excel directly from Microsoft?

    I know there are a lot of Excel experts who know everything possible and also countless books and seminars, but no one really knows everything and knows the full potential of Excel and everyone learns and discovers something new every now and then.

    But those who develop Excel should actually know everything and know what is possible where and how and know every trick, don't they?

    That's why I'm surprised that Microsoft doesn't produce a kind of Excel encyclopedia, where really everything is taught in techniques / tricks / tips.

    I know on the Microsoft Website there are some fundamental Excel-Spreadsheets, but nothing really in depth.

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    Re: Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    ROFLOL !! You must be a dinosaur like me. This has been a pet peeve of mine since the late 1970s.

    To answer your question, IMHO: because there is no profit in it.

    Be that as it may, before the advent of "personal computers", computer and software developers provided tons of books about their products because (a) customers demanded it, and (b) no one else saw any profit in it. I still remember my self-motivated intro to IBM 360 programming: several bookshelves of IBM-written manuals that covered every aspect of the IBM 360 computer.

    But the PC industry was born of hackers -- not criminal hackers ("crackers"), but ad hoc developers who got together in clubs and conventions to refine their skills and products.

    (Historical note: "Hacking" was once an honorable ability; a skill to be proud of. OTOH, a "hacker" (in the good sense) often lacked the discipline to develop reliable and maintainable products, much less take the time to doccument them.)

    Then, an independent magazine and book industry developed around them.

    By the time real companies evolved from the primordial soup and, later, established leaders in the computer industry jumped into the fray ("IBM legitimatized the PC" -- hah!), there was no point in trying to replace this informal documentation industry.

    And all of this became magnified exponentially with the advent of the "internet" (i.e. WWW) and so-called social media. Our children don't read books -- well, except for fantasies like "Harry Potter". And they don't have the judgment to distinguish qualified sources of information from "neo-hacks", which are individuals who know how to type or record, but really little more, IMHO.

    (But give them credit for creating -- ad hoc, of course -- an entire lexicon of "TLAs", which should have been called MLAs from the get-go.)

    ----

    You wrote: ``those who develop Excel should actually know everything and know what is possible where and how and know every trick, don't they?``

    ROFLOL !! Ah, no!

    -----

    PS.... Thanks to the moderators for moving this thread to a more appropriate subforum.
    Last edited by curiouscat408; 01-25-2022 at 04:13 PM.

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    Re: Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    Thanks for the reply...

    Actually I´m no dinosaur...I was born in ´86 and I´m working wiht Excel more intense since 3 years...
    I´ve some real books about Excel and visit some seminars to get more knowledge about it, but this question came up to me some months ago.
    I´ve realized, that one Expert had here a new trick, then another Expert again a different trick and here and there and so on...

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    Re: Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    I don't use books. I am probably a dinosaur, but I am not a Luddite!

    I have learnt almost EVERYTHING I know by being here. I have a OneNote notebook on my PC (it's on OneDrive, so I can access it from any device), and in it I have compiled all the tricks I've learnt over the years. I have then used them to solve other problems.

    It's a great way to collate what is relevant to you. I keep URLs of great online tutorials as well.
    Last edited by AliGW; 01-21-2022 at 08:49 AM.
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    Re: Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    Would you share some of the Tutorial-Links :-)

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    Re: Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    No, and here's why:

    1. They are all personal to my needs.
    2. I have no idea which ones would be helpful to you.
    3. There are too many - it would take me a long time to go through my OneNote, collate them and present them to you here.

    Sorry, but it's too onerous a task to undertake. However, I'm 20 years older than you: if you start collating your own set of hints and tricks NOW, then by the time you are my age, you will have something twice the size of my collection.

    And please don't ask me to share the OneNote file - again, it's entirely personal and would not be in any fit state to share with another!!!

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    Re: Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    here you go:

    http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtop...de902576efae31

    Only one is missing:

    https://www.snb-vba.eu/index_en.html

    The best you can say of MS-programming: they are cybernatically speaking 'loosely coupled systems'.
    Last edited by snb; 01-22-2022 at 11:38 AM.



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    Re: Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    At times I'd really wish they'd make an optional advanced 2022 version of Clippy for Excel, where you in plain text can explain your problem or even a mockup excel sheet you type in what you're trying to do or "The way you are doing this is inefficient, you can now do "XXXX" instead much faster or use macro "YYYY".

    Excel is everything I love and everything I hate. While the approach of "get things when you're ready" works, it also impedes a lot of things. It is a thrill to discover, but often times I find that I am spending more time looking for a solution, than actually working on whatever I am working on.

    And of course it gives the...OMG, why didn't I know this 2 years ago so I didn't waste so many hours.

    So yeah, would be nice if Microsoft would make more material for EXCEL.

    But that is life.
    Last edited by FrankJor; 01-23-2022 at 06:28 AM.

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    Re: Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    If MS reveals its gem, excel becomes lifeless and boring. As with Bitcoin, the mining is left for users to dig deep down.

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    Re: Why are there no Excel Books / Seminars directly from Microsoft

    When it comes to learning Excel "secrets," Google is your friend.
    Alan עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי


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