Enhance your career by mastering Microsoft Office applications, a suite that provides essential tools for a wide range of businesses. Learn to create word documents, build databases, design promotional material, and more to become employable in positions such as a technical writer, among others.
Many people would like to become better at using Microsoft Office applications but feel apprehensive about the perceived costs of taking courses for comprehensive training. While access to Microsoft Office does have a cost if an individual doesn’t have free institutional licensing, there can also be high costs for courses for enhancing skills with many Office programs. However, free or low-cost resources are available for beginners who would like to improve on knowledge with those applications to fortify their career ambitions.
Various free resources and tutorials are available to help you learn Microsoft Office.
What is Microsoft Office?
Microsoft Office is an essential tool for working environments across a spectrum of businesses. Its software bundle provides various functions for word processing, building databases, creating spreadsheets, or designing promotional material. Working with Microsoft Office suite applications provides skills for gaining employment as, for example, a technical writer for composing, editing, saving, and printing documents. Microsoft Office offers a variety of applications that include Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel for use on PCs or Macs, as well as the cloud, through a subscription to Microsoft 365.
Microsoft Office is the most widely used software application around the world. Microsoft Office allows users to manage email accounts, calendars, and 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. Several online learning providers can learn skills in Microsoft Office for basic knowledge and certifications with training in various applications.
Read more about what Microsoft Office is and why you should learn it.
What Can You Do with Microsoft Office?
Microsoft Office provides features and tools that allow users to organize tasks ranging from creating presentations with PowerPoint, analyzing and visualizing data using Excel, communicating through email with Outlook, or composing documents using Word. These are only a few examples of the programs that have made Office an essential tool for professionals worldwide.
Microsoft PowerPoint has become the industry-standard for designing presentations, allowing users to customize their 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, macros, and other techniques, including calculations, essential functions, charts, formatting, and printing.
Outlook can handle email functions as well as managing calendars, organizing contact lists, managing junk email, configuring calendar settings, or creating 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 that help users compose, edit, and produce material in a variety of document formats. Through training, students will learn shortcuts, tips, and techniques for optimizing professional or personal use of Word. Training includes lessons in formatting techniques, creating hyperlinks, setting bookmarks, or inserting images, video, and audio.
In-Depth Review of the Cost
Microsoft Office is available through Microsoft 365, a subscription version of Office that provides the same core desktop applications along with additional apps and online services for secure cloud storage, communications, and collaboration. Microsoft 365 is available through several methods, including individual applications, suites, channels, and licensing for professional, educational, or personal use at work, school, or home. Options for purchasing Microsoft 365 include:
- Eligible education institutions provide students and educators with Office 365 Education at no cost. Office 365 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams, which can facilitate live online training.
- Microsoft 365 Personal is available for $6.99 monthly or $69.99 a year.
- Microsoft 365 Family costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic costs $6 per user monthly for an annual subscription that auto-renews.
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard costs $12.50 per user a month for an annual subscription.
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium costs $22 per user a month for an annual subscription.
- Microsoft 365 Apps for Business costs $8.25 per user a month for an annual subscription.
