Home > Data > Sample > Sample Data Excel Sample Data This page has Microsoft Excel sample datasets that you can download, to use for testing, Excel training and demos, and other learning activities.

Why Use Sample Data in Excel?

This page has Microsoft Excel sample datasets that you can use for testing, Excel training and demos, and other learning activities. The sample file contents are described in the sections below, so you can decide which dataset will be the best match for what you need.

You can see a screen shot of each dataset, and a list of the columns it contains, with a brief description. Then, to get started, you can download sample Excel file with data for your training sessions.

Here are 3 ways to get sample Excel data:

1. Copy & Paste: Copy the table with office supply sales sample data, from this page, then paste into your Excel workbook.
2. Download: Get sample data files in Excel format, in the sections below
3. Create: See how to use Excel formulas to create your own random data.

Note: You many not resell this sample data, in whole or in part, or include it in paid products.

Why do people download my sample data workbooks, to use in Excel?

Here are a few of the reasons that people have shared with me, as to why they like using these datasets, with dummy data for Excel:

• Quick way to get interesting data for Excel training class exercises
• No privacy concerns about using real data from your employer or your client's company
• Useful for testing macros and manual processes - you might discover problems that didn't occur with original test data
• Handy data to share when helping with Excel forum questions.
  • Send people to this page, so they can download the sample data, and recreate their problem or error there.
  • It's easier to help with troubleshooting when you both have the same data
• Easy to prepare class demos for sum and count formulas, lookup functions, pivot tables, summary reports, and other Excel skills training
  • Tip: Check the Key Excel Skills page, for training topic ideas.

Sample Data Files

In the sections below, there are brief descriptions of the sample data files.

Each section has a download link, or a link to an instruction page where you can get details about the data, and download the sample file.

1) Office Supply Sales Data

The first set of sample data on this page is sales data for an imaginary office supply company, and each row represents one sales order. There are formulas in one column - Total.

Each row in the Excel dummy data shows the following fields:

• Order Date: first column shows when the order was placed,
• Region: geographical area in which the sale was made
• Rep: sales representative's name
• Item: name of the item sold
• Units: number of units sold
• UnitCost: cost of one unit
• Total: total cost of the order - Units x UnitCost

To get this sample data:

-- Copy and paste the data from the Office Supply Sales Table, further down on this page

-- OR, click this link to download the Excel file: Office Supply Sales sample data workbook.
-----The zipped file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

2) Food Sales Data

This sample file has food sales data, from a fictional food company.

• There are 9 columns of data, including 1 column with a calculation.
• There are 244 rows of data in the food sales table.

For details on this data, and to download the zipped Excel file, go to the Food Sales Sample Data page.

3) Workplace Safety Data

This sample file has fake workplace safety report data.

• There are 14 columns of data, including 3 columns with a calculation.
• There are 514 rows of data in the workplace safety report table.

Each row shows the following fields:

• Date: Date of safety incident
• Injury Location: location on body where injury occurred
• Gender: employee gender
• Age Group: employee age group (18-24, 25-34, 35-49, 50+)
• Incident Type: Type of safety incident, e.g. Burn, Fall, Vehicle
• Days Lost: number of days employee off work
• Plant: manufacturing location were incident occurred
• Report Type: Type of safety report filed - First Aid, Lost Time, Medical Claim, Near Miss
• Shift: work shift when incident occurred - Afternoon, Day, Night
• Department: work department where incident occurred
• Incident Cost: total cost of safety incident
• WkDay: 3-letter code for day of the week (calculation, based on Date)
• Month: month number (calculation, based on Date)
• Year: year number (calculation, based on Date)

Workplace Safety: Click here to get the workplace safety data file. The zipped Excel file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

Note: This screen shot shows the first 6 columns in the Workplace Safety dataset table. There are 8 additional columns in the dataset, as described above.

Safety Data Analysis: See an example of how this workplace safety data can be used, on the Pivot Table Conditional Formatting Weekend Dates page. There are 3 pivot tables, showing incidents over 3 years. In each pivot table, the weekend dates are highlighted for easier comparison.

4) Work Orders Data

This sample file has work orders data for an imaginary service company.

• There are 22 columns of data, including 9 columns with a calculation.
• There are 1000 rows of data in the work orders table.

Each row shows these 13 manual entry fields:

• WO: unique work order ID
• District: geographic area where work will be done
• LeadTech: head technician at the work location
• Service: type of work to be done - Assess, Deliver, Install, Repair, Replace
• Rush: is this a rush job? Yes or blank
• ReqDate: date the work order was entered in system
• WokDate: date the work was completed
• Techs: number of technicians required
• WtyLbr: is labor under warranty? Yes or blank
• WtyParts: are parts under warranty? Yes or blank
• LbrHrs: for completed work orders - number of hours labour
• PartsCost: cost of parts required to complete the work
• Payment: type of payment customer will use - Account, C.O.D, Credit, P.O., Warranty

Each row shows these 9 calculated fields:

• Wait: WorkDate - ReqDate
• LbrRate: hourly rate lookup, based on number of technicians
• LbrCost: LbrRate x LbrHrs
• LbrFee: labor cost, if not under warranty
• PartsFee: parts cost, if not under warranty
• TotalCost: LbrCost + PartsCost
• TotalFee: LbrFee +PartsFee
• ReqDay: 3-letter weekday name, based on ReqDate
• WorkDay: 3-letter weekday name, based on WorkDate

Work Orders: Click here to get the work orders data file. The zipped Excel file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

Note: This screen shot shows the first 8 columns in the Work Orders dataset table. There are 14 additional columns in the dataset, as described above.

5) Hockey Players Data

This sample file has data from the 2018 Olympic Hockey teams, from Canada and the USA.

• There are 15 columns of data, including 4 columns with calculations.
• There are 96 rows of data in the hockey player table.

For details on this data, and to download the sample file, go to the hockey player data analysis page.

5a) Hockey Player Data Analysis

This sample file has the same data as the file above -- 2018 Olympic Hockey teams, from Canada and the USA. In addition to the data, this file includes several pivot tables that I added for hockey player data analysis.

For details on this data, and to download the sample file, go to the hockey player data analysis page.

6) Winter Athletes Data

This sample Excel spreadsheet file has athlete data from the 2010 Winter Olympics, in Vancouver Canada.

• There are 6 columns of data, with no calculations in the table.
• There are 2606 rows of data in the athletes table.

Each row shows these 6 manual entry fields, with information about the Olympic participants:

• Name: athlete's full name - LAST First
• Sport: sport(s) athlete will participate in
• Nationality: country athlete competes for
• Age: athlete's age in years
• Wt kg: athlete's weight in kilograms
• Ht: athlete's height in centimetres

Winter Athletes: Click here to get the winter athletes data file. The zipped Excel file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

Note: This screen shot shows all 6 columns in the Winter Athletes dataset table.

7) Football Players Data

This sample file has data for professional football players in the USA, for two teams, in two different years - 2010 and 2022.

In January 2010, I watched a playoff game between the New Orleans Saints and the Arizona Cardinals. It was interesting that the players' numbers closely correlated with their physical size. So, I found the player rosters online, and got that data into Excel, for analysis. You can read about it in my Contextures blog post, and see the game summary on the ESPN website.

Now I've added data for the 2022 team rosters, so you can compare years, teams, and/or player types!

• Player heights were entered as text values, in feet-inches, e.g. 6-1. In Excel, I used formulas to convert those text values to real numbers.
• Full names were listed, so I used formulas in two columns, to calculate each player's first and last name
• For 2022 players, I used team rosters as of Aug 5, 2022
  • New Orleans team roster and Arizona team roster

In the Excel workbook, there is a player table with:

• There are 16 columns of data, including 6 columns with a calculation.
• There are 306 rows of data in the players table.

Each row shows these 10 manual entry fields:

• Year: Roster Year
• Team: Team city name
• Name: Player's full name
• No.: Player number, worn on jersey
• Pos: Player's position code , e.g. QB (Quarterback)
• Ht: Player's height in text, feet-inches, e.g. 5-10
• Wt: Player's weight in pounds
• Age: Player's age in years
• Exp: Player's years of experience (or R for rookie)
• College: Name of college that player attended

Each row shows the following 6 calculated fields:

• FirstName: Player's first (given) name
• LastName: Player's last (family) name
• Ft: Number of feet in player's text height
• In: Number of inches in player's text height
• Inches: Player's height in total inches
• NumGrp: Number group for player's jersey number (groups of 10)

Football Players: Click here to get the Football Player data file. The zipped Excel file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

Note: This screen shot shows the first 9 columns in the Football Player dataset table. There are 7 additional columns in the dataset, as described above.

8) Food Nutrients Data

This sample Excel spreadsheet file has food nutrition data, based on data found in a Health Canada information booklet.

• There are 8 columns of data, with no calculations in the table.
• There are 1094 rows of data in the Food Nutrients table.

Each row shows these 8 manual entry fields, with information about the food items:

• Category: main food category that food item belongs to
• Food Item: name of food item, and brief description of size
• Measure: serving measurement, such as fraction of whole item, or metric quantity
• Calories: calories based on serving size
• Protein: grams of protein in serving size
• Fat: grams of total fat in serving size
• Carbs: grams of carbohydrate in serving size
• Fibre: grams of fibre in serving size

Suggested Use

Use this data to demonstrate lookup formulas, such as VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, INDEX and MATCH. Also, show how to create dependent drop down lists, for category and food item. See the Excel Daily Calorie Counter page for an example.

Get Food Nutrients Data File

Food Nutrients: Click here to get the food nutrients data file. The zipped Excel file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

Note: This screen shot shows all 8 columns in the Food Nutrients dataset table.

9) Insurance Policies

This sample file has fake commercial property insurance policy data.

• There are 10 columns of data, with no calculations.
• There are 500 rows of data in the insurance policy table.
• Names in the header row are one word, with no spaces
• Data is in named Excel table, with data filters in heading row

Each row shows the following fields:

• Policy: Policy number, entered as text
• Expiry: date that policy expires
• Location: location type - Urban or Rural
• State: name of state where property is located
• Region: geographic region where property is located
• InsuredValue: property value
• Construction: Construction type of property, e.g. frame or masonry
• BusinessType: Business use type for property, e.g. farming or retail
• Earth: Is earthquake coverage included? Y or N
• Flood: Is flood coverage included? Y or N

Click here to get the insurance policy data file. The zipped Excel file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

Download Sample Data

• 1) Office Supply Sales: To get the sample office supply sales data in an Excel file, click this link: Office Supply Sales sample data workbook. The zipped file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.
• 1a) Office Supply Table: In the section below, there is a list with the Office Supply data, that you can copy and paste into your Excel file.

Note: The other sample file download links are in the dataset sections, above. Check each section for its sample file download link.

1a) Office Supply Sales Table

For your convenience, here are the quick steps to copy the data from the table below, and paste into your Excel worksheet:

• Click at the end of the text heading above the table
• Scroll down to the end of the sample data table
• Press Shift, and click at the end of the last number in the table, to select all the data
• On the keyboard, press Ctrl + C to copy the data
• Paste it into an Excel workbook (Ctrl+V), for use in your own tests.

Download: You can also get the sample office supply sales data in an Excel file -- click this link: Office Supply Sales sample data workbook. The zipped file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros.

Sample Data

OrderDate	Region	Rep	Item	Units	UnitCost	Total
1/6/2020	East	Jones	Pencil	95	1.99	189.05
1/23/2020	Central	Kivell	Binder	50	19.99	999.50
2/9/2020	Central	Jardine	Pencil	36	4.99	179.64
2/26/2020	Central	Gill	Pen	27	19.99	539.73
3/15/2020	West	Sorvino	Pencil	56	2.99	167.44
4/1/2020	East	Jones	Binder	60	4.99	299.40
4/18/2020	Central	Andrews	Pencil	75	1.99	149.25
5/5/2020	Central	Jardine	Pencil	90	4.99	449.10
5/22/2020	West	Thompson	Pencil	32	1.99	63.68
6/8/2020	East	Jones	Binder	60	8.99	539.40
6/25/2020	Central	Morgan	Pencil	90	4.99	449.10
7/12/2020	East	Howard	Binder	29	1.99	57.71
7/29/2020	East	Parent	Binder	81	19.99	1,619.19
8/15/2020	East	Jones	Pencil	35	4.99	174.65
9/1/2020	Central	Smith	Desk	2	125.00	250.00
9/18/2020	East	Jones	Pen Set	16	15.99	255.84
10/5/2020	Central	Morgan	Binder	28	8.99	251.72
10/22/2020	East	Jones	Pen	64	8.99	575.36
11/8/2020	East	Parent	Pen	15	19.99	299.85
11/25/2020	Central	Kivell	Pen Set	96	4.99	479.04
12/12/2020	Central	Smith	Pencil	67	1.29	86.43
12/29/2020	East	Parent	Pen Set	74	15.99	1,183.26
1/15/2021	Central	Gill	Binder	46	8.99	413.54
2/1/2021	Central	Smith	Binder	87	15.00	1,305.00
2/18/2021	East	Jones	Binder	4	4.99	19.96
3/7/2021	West	Sorvino	Binder	7	19.99	139.93
3/24/2021	Central	Jardine	Pen Set	50	4.99	249.50
4/10/2021	Central	Andrews	Pencil	66	1.99	131.34
4/27/2021	East	Howard	Pen	96	4.99	479.04
5/14/2021	Central	Gill	Pencil	53	1.29	68.37
5/31/2021	Central	Gill	Binder	80	8.99	719.20
6/17/2021	Central	Kivell	Desk	5	125.00	625.00
7/4/2021	East	Jones	Pen Set	62	4.99	309.38
7/21/2021	Central	Morgan	Pen Set	55	12.49	686.95
8/7/2021	Central	Kivell	Pen Set	42	23.95	1,005.90
8/24/2021	West	Sorvino	Desk	3	275.00	825.00
9/10/2021	Central	Gill	Pencil	7	1.29	9.03
9/27/2021	West	Sorvino	Pen	76	1.99	151.24
10/14/2021	West	Thompson	Binder	57	19.99	1,139.43
10/31/2021	Central	Andrews	Pencil	14	1.29	18.06
11/17/2021	Central	Jardine	Binder	11	4.99	54.89
12/4/2021	Central	Jardine	Binder	94	19.99	1,879.06
12/21/2021	Central	Andrews	Binder	28	4.99	139.72

Create Your Own Test Data

If you need to create sample test data in Excel, the RANDBETWEEN function can help you get the job done quickly.

This video shows how to use the RANDBETWEEN function to quickly create test data with month headings, customer numbers, and random numbers. You'll also see how change the formulas to static values.

There are written steps on the Excel RAND and RANDBETWEEN Functions page.

Video: Create an Excel Table

After you copy the Office Supply Sales sample data from the table above, and paste it into Excel, you can format the data as a named Excel table. This will make it easier to sort and filter the data.

Watch this short video to see the steps, and there are written instructions on the Creating an Excel Table page.

Excel Training

For video-based lessons on working with Excel data, I recommend these highly-rated courses, offered by Mynda Treacy, at her website, My Online Training Hub.

-- Excel Power Query Course

-- Excel Power Pivot Course

-- Excel Dashboard Course

-- Excel Expert Course

NOTE: These are affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission if you purchase a product through these links.

Related Links

Here are a few of my Contextures tutorials on working with data in Excel, organizing it in tables, and summarizing the data in pivot tables.

-- Excel Tables

-- Pivot Tables

-- Data Entry Tips