Excel Nuances (Video) (Course Id 2618)

• Who is this course for?
  Anyone needing Continuing Professional Education (CPE), including CPAs, and  accountants. 

• What is this course about or what problem does this course solve?
  It demystifies Excel’s built-in safety nets and nuanced behaviors—such as recovering unsaved workbooks, understanding AutoRecover and autosave features via OneDrive, and configuring recovery settings—to help prevent data loss and reduce frustration when handling unsaved files. 

• How can the knowledge from this course be used?
  Participants can use it to recover unsaved or lost workbooks effectively, tweak Excel recovery settings, and better navigate autosave mechanisms—keeping work intact and improving confidence in Excel workflows.

• Why is this course important to a CPA, Accountant, or IRS Enrolled Agent?
  Managing and safeguarding work in Excel is critical in professional accounting tasks. Knowing how to prevent data loss and recover unsaved work boosts operational efficiency and reduces stress for these professionals.

• When is this course relevant or timely?
  Released in 2025 with a revision date of August 11, 2025, it's highly current—covering features and behaviors applicable to the latest Excel versions, including Microsoft 365 and year-based perpetual license versions.

• How is a course like this consumed or used?
  It's delivered as a NASBA QAS Self-Study Video format (includes 3 pages, 6 review questions, 10 final exam questions, and a 70% passing score requirement). Participants watch demonstrations (both PowerPoint steps and live Excel), use provided handouts and workbook examples, and must complete the final exam within one year to earn credit. 

In this presentation, author and Excel expert David H. Ringstrom, CPA, will demystify some of Excel’s built-in safety nets and nuanced behaviors that can make or break your workflow. You'll learn how to recover unsaved workbooks, make sense of the AutoRecover feature, and understand where OneDrive fits into Excel’s autosave ecosystem. David walks you through how to tweak recovery settings to minimize data loss and shares practical advice for navigating Excel’s sometimes-unpredictable handling of unsaved files. Whether you’ve ever closed a workbook too soon or been baffled by recovery prompts, this session equips you with strategies to keep your work intact and your confidence high.

David is the author of “Microsoft Excel 365 for Dummies”, “Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures”, and has written or co-authored six other books. He demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Excel for Microsoft 365. David draws your attention to any differences in Excel 2021, 2019 or 2016 during the presentation and in his detailed handouts. The handouts include an Excel workbook with most of the examples he uses during his demonstrations. Most features and functions work in Excel for Mac as well but expect differences.

Excel for Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that receives periodic feature updates. Conversely, perpetually licensed versions have year numbers in their names and do not receive any feature updates.

Video - NASBA QAS - NASBA Registry - 2618

Course Learning Objectives

• Recall the section of the Excel Options dialog box where the AutoRecover setting resides that controls how often Excel creates a back-up copy of your workbooks.
• Recall the menu in Excel where the Table feature resides.
• Identify the location of the PivotTable command within Excel's ribbon menu interface.

Chapter 1 - Excel Nuances

Chapter 1 Review Questions

Key Terms