Microsoft Excel

Avantages

Excel is very useful tool for researchers like me. It is the most user friendly spreadsheet I ever had. Because the values in the spreadsheet can be manipulated mathematically with the help of basic and number of complex arithmetic operations. Therefore, it is very helpful to you if you work with a lot of data and numbers. So you can save your time, if you master this software. There are very many advantages of this software. Ability to express the information graphically is one of most useful option to researchers like me. It is very important to explain your data in bar charts, pie charts, pivot charts, line graphs... etc. and it is easy to draw these graphs using excel.

Inconvénients

It is time consuming to add data to excel manually, specially when i have a large number of data. When I use copy and paste or cut and paste options, it seems to be confusing me sometimes. When I try to undo, it won't help. Maybe it is my personal error, but it happens to me many times. The other thing is while I using different versions, sometimes I can't find some tools at the same place where it was in the previous version.

Avantages

Microsoft Excel is a powerful program. As a teacher, I deal with a lot of student data. Excel allows me to organize this data and set up formulas that break down the numbers for me. Some of the Excel sheets I have created set up basics for me like individual student averages, median scores, etc. It also allows conditional formatting, that automatically assigns selected color choices based on the data. For instance, I have my gradebook set up that scores that fall below 60% automatically change to a red color background. This allows me to easily see the data overview as I look at my different classes. Microsoft Excel has allowed me to analyze data more effectively as a teacher keep all of my scores in one convenient location.

Inconvénients

The setup of an Excel sheet can be a little confusing at times. It takes some time practice to get everything in the right spot and looking the way you want it to look. Part of the reason for this is because there are so many options with Excel. It can be a little overwhelming for someone who is not a power user. But once you figure out what you want to do, it is easy enough to use the help features and set up the sheet as you would like it to be.

Avantages

Excel is a product that we frequently joke about being a “black hole of possibilities.” I’ve found that if I ever think “wouldn’t it be great if you could do XYZ in excel” that it’s probably something that CAN be done. You just have to go through the process of searching and finding out how to do it. We use Excel constantly and so much of our day to day tasks are done within Excel because it’s just the best way to keep track or to analyze data. I don’t know what we would do without such a product at our disposal.

Inconvénients

I don’t know if it can actually be labeled as a con, but when using Excel outside of just needing a few columns here or there or to do basic calculations, it can be difficult to just figure out how to accomplish a needed function. It really is necessary to devote significant time to delving into the functions within the product and to become knowledgeable about the product and it’s many possible functions.

Avantages

For basic tasks this product is intuitive and very easy to use. Easy to learn formulas and simple mathematical equations can turn this basic product into a very powerful tool. You can quickly and easily find the sum or difference between two values. You can find duplicates values in a column or row. You can color code cells, columns, or rows. Excel includes most of the basic text formatting features that Word contains as well. Learning vlookup has changed my life. Learning Pivot Tables has also been a great help.

Inconvénients

There can be a learning curve for some of the more advanced features, such as Pivot Tables or VLookup; having someone around who can help you get started can be very helpful. You have to consider the cost when compared to similar, free products such as Google Sheets. Google Sheets does is not quite as robust but it is free and contains most of the basic functionality as Excel.

Avantages

The plain raw power of Excel is simply overwhelming. It is a tool which is universally used in all departments and that is for a good reason. From making simple calculations to creating amazing dashboards with multimedia content and tens, if not hundreds, of complex calculations happening at the same time in the background. Excel is the ultimate power tool. It's library of functions is exhaustive, and even if it doesn't offer a certain function - it allows you to create it yourself. My favorite thing about Excel is VBA. VBA allows you to insert ActiveX controls into your forms, create custom functions and write macros to automate your manual labor and save your precious time. Excel never ceases to amaze me with it's sheer amount of functionality.

Inconvénients

Excel having an overwhelming amount of tools is also it's biggest con, as the learning curve is so high and steep - it might discourage some people from diving deeper and discovering it's wonders. Since it's been around for so long, some of it's older features like open database connectivity wizard is outdated and looks straight out of 1999. VBA user interface is also old and since it's such a big part of Excel workflow - it'd be nice to have a better UI.