What is the best way to learn the ins and outs of Microsoft Office programs?

scottalanmiller

RoguePacket

General thought of the MOS cert is a good way to differentiate those who say "I know Microsoft Office", and the ones who can actually use Excel pivot tables, outlines in PPT, mult-level page numbering it Word, and generally using macros.

@LadyJane said:

What is a MOUS certification?

Microsoft’s map for the intermediate, expert, and master level—

@scottalanmiller said:

@Katie said:

@scottalanmiller What is the purpose of that over a singular certification? I mean - is there a point to a "beginner" Excel cert? Or is it like the A+ certs?

There is a cert path for "normal" people and an extra, higher cert for people who are seriously hard core into the applications.

Good thing about going through the material is being exposed to the names of the features. Makes googling/searching for their particulars easier.

Microsoft tends to have tons of free stuff on their site...but can be difficult to find. MS IT Academy is a low cost option fairly widely available—

http://www.microsoft.com/education/itacademy/

As always, try a local library for books. Technical books in my area libraries get overlooked. Having a foundation of the MS Office programs from even a version or two old MS Office (2010/2013 vs 365) books ought be better than most users.

scottalanmiller

I could see a lot of larger organizations using MOS certified people as internal trainers or doing application deskside support.

Dominica

I second the Lynda training.

RoguePacket

Lynda.com is great. Huge recommendation is to have two monitors—one for Lynda.com, and the other for the application of interest. Mobile app is helpful for the soft skills modules.

To keep current, keep an eye on modules with "Tips" or "New Features" in the title.

They have many companies & universities as clients, and a few delivery models for those scenarios.

scottalanmiller

Lynda works well on iPhone or iPad too.