Excel (officially Microsoft Excel) is a commonly-used spreadsheet tool, and is available as part of the popular Microsoft Office suite of software. Though not as focused on data analysis as other tools in this guide, Excel is nevertheless a common entry point for working with data because of its familiarity.

Microsoft Office requires a paid subscription, but Kenyon provides access to Excel through its Virtual Computers. Information on accessing these computers can be found below.

Open Source MS Excel alternatives

Two primary MS Office alternatives exist, both building off of a project called OpenOffice.org which was discontinued in 2011. Development of LibreOffice has been more active, though both offer similar functionality and are available for multiple operating systems.