Best Free Office 365 Resources & Tutorials

There are plenty of professionals who are eager to learn Office 365 but hesitate because of the perceived up-front costs. Courses for individual Microsoft Office programs are usually short, lasting only a day or two, and cost around a few hundred dollars. Attending enough courses to master all Office 365 programs would take less than a month. For those wishing to become certified in Microsoft Office or Office 365, certification exams cost $100 per exam per Microsoft program. However, a surprising amount of free resources are available to help beginners get the hang of this exciting program. 

Read on to learn more about the different types of free resources and tutorials available to help you learn Office 365. 

What is Office 365?

Office 365 (also known as Microsoft 365) is a cloud-based subscription service that includes Microsoft Office’s suite of programs along with other online services such as free cloud storage and web hosting. Since Office 365 functions with the cloud, users always have access to their documents so long as they have an internet connection. The service is compatible with PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones.

Microsoft Office is a popular suite of productivity programs that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. These programs are used worldwide by businesses across industries for their ease of use, accessibility, and collaboration features. The programs offer a variety of functions, such as word processing, spreadsheet creation, promotional material design, and team management. Office 365 combines these valuable programs into a single service that offers the advantages of online document sharing. Microsoft Office cloud services include Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange.

Read more about what Office 365 is and why you should learn it. 

What Can You Do with Office 365?

Office 365 gives users full access to Microsoft Office’s suite of programs. These include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. These programs allow users to create professional documents and reports, spreadsheets and databases, presentations, emails, and promotional materials. Office 365 also provides Microsoft Office cloud services, including Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange. Businesses worldwide use these programs for workplace productivity, team collaboration, and management. 

Office 365’s collaboration tools allow teammates to edit documents simultaneously in real-time online. Teammates can use the Teams app to text chat with one another and ask questions without leaving their computers. Documents can also be assigned to teammates as tasks and linked in their virtual calendar or Microsoft Planner, making them easily accessible and trackable in their workflow. Documents are shared easily with a link without downloading or emailing files. Office 365 is an essential business asset for facilitating collaboration within and across departments. 

As an online service, Office 365 offers several advantages. Users can access Office 365 from any device without needing the program installed. This enables users to work anywhere they like and prevents them from being chained to any singular device. Files and documents can also be stored online without taking up computer storage. Updates are applied automatically to the software without users needing to download them manually. The online features of Office 365 go a long way toward improving accessibility and usability.

Office 365 Free Trial

If you’re eager to learn Office 365, one of the best resources is the Microsoft website, where you can download an Office 365 free trial. Microsoft Office programs have been around for decades and are constantly updated with new features. There’s no better way to learn than to get your hands on the latest version so you can access everything the suite provides.

Office 365 also has built-in help features. In addition to an index and a contents list you may be used to in other programs, each of Office 365’s programs has a “Tell me what you want to do” window. Here, you can type the task you are attempting, such as “create a chart” or “apply a template.” You will then be given a list of topics and helpful articles related to your task. If you find yourself struggling with how to use the various programs, the programs themselves have built-in tools to aid you. 

Free Tutorials & Other Resources

Microsoft offers free online tutorials on Office 365. These include training videos, templates, quickstarts, cheat sheets, and productivity tips, among other resources. They also provide guides specifically aimed at collaborative teams, small businesses, and various industries. All of Microsoft’s resources are designed to get you up and running quickly with their programs. 

Should the official Microsoft website not have the resources you need, a number of websites, from Coursera and Udemy and beyond, offer free guidance. Courses on these sites tend to be under two hours and feature comprehensive Word overviews for beginner learners and task-specific guides. They also have courses featuring tips and tips for increasing productivity. 

Noble Desktop Resources

Noble Desktop offers tutorials in two of Office 365’s main programs, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. In the Top 10 Beginner Excel Tricks You Need to Know, you’ll learn the fundamentals of Excel as well as productivity tricks within the program. In the PowerPoint Presentation Design seminar, you’ll learn how to make professional and eye-catching presentations within the program. These seminars are perfect for introducing you to Excel and PowerPoint and just scratch the surface of the many things you can do with Office 365. 

Noble Desktop also features Office 365 learning hubs.These hubs are designed to guide students interested in learning Office 365 on how and where to find the best training materials for their needs, including paid, free, or other resources.

Learn Office 365 with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers in-person and live online training in Office 365. Courses include training in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook. You can choose between individual classes of various skill levels or bootcamps, which offer in-depth, comprehensive learning. When it comes to becoming an expert in a new skill, bootcamps are a fast and affordable alternative to college. Noble Desktop’s classes are small, taught by expert instructors, and include free retake options.

The Excel Bootcamp guides students from beginner to expert techniques. You’ll learn functions, formulas, Pivot Tables, macros, and additional expert tips and tricks. By the end of the course, you’ll be a true Excel master. The PowerPoint Bootcamp is a similar course that provides complete mastery of the program. You’ll start with the basics of customizing images, shapes, text, and animation before moving on to advanced techniques such as template creation, importing charts from Excel, and inserting multimedia. By the end of the course, you’ll be a wizard at creating professional and visually stunning presentations and slideshows.

If you like the idea of the comprehensive learning offered by bootcamps and are looking for further training in Office 365, NYIM is an affiliate school of Noble Desktop. It provides a Complete Microsoft Office Bootcamp that covers the four major programs – Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook.

Key Insights

• Learning Office 365 does not have to be expensive.
• The official Microsoft website offers free trials and resources on Office 365.
• The many programs within Office 365 include built-in help features.
• Free online tutorials can be found through Coursera, Udemy, and other websites.
• Noble Desktop offers free Office 365 learning hubs