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Foundations: spreadsheets, data literacy and first SQL · Novice · Lesson 7 of 99 · 8 min video, then about 5 hours of practice
Lookups, conditional aggregation and pivot tables
After this you can combine two tables with XLOOKUP, summarise by conditions with SUMIFS and COUNTIFS, and build a pivot table whose totals you have reconciled with the raw data.
Why it matters
Lookups are the spreadsheet version of a SQL join, conditional aggregation is the spreadsheet version of GROUP BY with WHERE, and pivot tables are the fastest way to explore a table and the thing stakeholders ask for most. Learning them here makes SQL feel familiar later. Focus on failure modes: XLOOKUP returns the first match silently when a key is duplicated, and pivots quietly drop rows whose row field is blank. Always check one pivot total against a SUMIFS on the raw data before you trust it.
How to use this resource
A clear beginner walk-through of XLOOKUP, including exact matches and the not-found argument. Pair it with the pivot table video listed below.