How to freeze column and row in excel

Freeze panes to lock rows and columns

To keep an area of a worksheet visible while you scroll to another area of the worksheet, go to the View tab, where you can Freeze Panes to lock specific rows and columns in place, or you can Split panes to create separate windows of the same worksheet.

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Freeze rows or columns

Freeze the first column

  • Select View Freeze Panes > Freeze First Column.

            The faint line that appears between Column A and B shows that the first column is frozen.

Freeze the first two columns

  1. Select the third column.

  2. Select View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes.

Freeze columns and rows

  1. Select the cell below the rows and to the right of the columns you want to keep visible when you scroll.

  2. Select View Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes.

Unfreeze rows or columns

  • On the View tab > Window > Unfreeze Panes.

    Unfreeze Panes

    Note: If you don’t see the View tab, it’s likely that you are using Excel Starter. Not all features are supported in Excel Starter.

Need more help?

You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community or get support in the Answers community.

See Also

Freeze panes to lock the first row or column in Excel 2016 for Mac

Split panes to lock rows or columns in separate worksheet areas

Overview of formulas in Excel

How to avoid broken formulas

Find and correct errors in formulas

Keyboard shortcuts in Excel

Excel functions (alphabetical)

Excel functions (by category)

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When you’re working with a lot of spreadsheet data on your laptop, keeping track of everything can be difficult. It’s one thing to compare one or two rows of information when dealing with a small subset of data, but when a dozen rows are involved, things get unwieldy. And we haven’t even started talking about columns yet. When your spreadsheets become unmanageable, there’s only one solution: freeze the rows and columns.

Freezing rows and columns in Excel makes navigating your spreadsheet much easier. When done correctly, the chosen panes are locked in place; this means those specific rows are always visible, no matter how far you scroll down. More often than not, you’ll only freeze a couple of rows or a column, but Excel doesn’t limit how many of either you can freeze, which can come in handy for larger sheets.

This how-to works with Microsoft Excel 2016 as well as later versions. However, the this method also works with Google Sheets, OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Ready to get to work? Here’s how to freeze rows and columns in Excel: 

  • More: How to put Windows 10 into Safe Mode
  • Here’s how to lock cells in Excel and how to recover a deleted or unsaved file in Excel
  • This is how to use VLOOKUP in Excel and add additional rows above or below in Excel

How to freeze a row in Excel

1. Select the row right below the row or rows you want to freeze. If you want to freeze columns, select the cell immediately to the right of the column you want to freeze. In this example, we want to freeze rows 1 to 5, so we’ve selected row 6.

Microsoft Excel How to Freeze and Unfreeze Columns

(Image credit: Future)

2. Go to the View tab. This is located at the very top, inbetween «Review» and «Add-ins.»

3. Select the Freeze Panes option and click «Freeze Panes.» This selection can be found in the same place where «New Window» and «Arrange All» are located.

Microsoft Excel How to Freeze and Unfreeze Columns

(Image credit: Future)

That’s all there is to it. As you can see in our example, the frozen rows will stay visible when you scroll down. You can tell where the rows were frozen by the green line dividing the frozen rows and the rows below them.

Microsoft Excel How to Freeze and Unfreeze Columns

(Image credit: Future)

If you want to unfreeze the rows, go back to the Freeze Panes command and choose «Unfreeze Panes».

Microsoft Excel How to Freeze and Unfreeze Columns

(Image credit: Future)

Note that under the Freeze Panes command, you can also choose «Freeze Top Row,» which will freeze the top row that’s visible (and any others above it) or «Freeze First Column,» which will keep the leftmost column visible when you scroll horizontally.

Besides allowing you to compare different rows in a long spreadsheet, the freeze panes feature lets you keep important information, such as table headings, always in view.

Need more Excel tricks? Check out our tutorials on How to Lock Cells in Excel and How to Use VLOOKUP in Excel.

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How to Freeze Cells in Excel? (with Examples)

Freezing cells in Excel means that when we move down to the data or move up the cells, it freezes the cells displayed on the window. To freeze cells in Excel, we must select those cells we want to freeze. Then, in the “View” tab in the windows section, click on “Freeze Panes” and again click on “Freeze Panes” from the drop-down list. As a result, this will freeze the selected cells. First, let us understand how to freeze rows and columns in Excel by a simple example.

You can download this Freeze Rows and Columns Excel Cell template here – Freeze Rows and Columns Excel Cell template

Table of contents
  • How to Freeze Cells in Excel? (with Examples)
    • Example #1
    • Example #2
    • Use of Rows & Column Freezing in Excel Cell
    • Things to Remember
    • Recommended Articles

Example #1

Freezing the Rows: Given below is a simple example of a calendar.

  1. We must first select the row which we need to freeze the cell by clicking on the number of the row.

    Lock rows Ex. 1

  2. Then, click on the “View” tab on the ribbon. Next, we must select the “Freeze Panes” command on the “View” tab.

    Lock rows Ex. 1.1

  3. The selected rows get frozen in their position, and a grey line denotes it. We can scroll down the entire worksheet and continue viewing the frozen rows at the top. As we can see in the snapshot below, the rows above the grey line are frozen and do not move after we scroll the worksheet.

    Lock rows Ex. 1.2

  4. We can repeat the same process for unfreezing the cells. Once we have frozen the cells, the same command is changed in the “View” tab. The “Freeze Panes” in the Excel command is now changed to the “Unfreeze Panes” command. By clicking on it, the frozen cells are unfrozen. This command unlocks all the rows and columns to scroll through the worksheet.

    Lock rows Ex. 1.3

The date is provided in the columns instead of the rows in this example.

lock Column Ex. 1

  • Step 1: We need to select the columns, which we need to freeze Excel cells by clicking on the alphabet of the column.

lock Column Ex. 1.1

  • Step 2: After selecting the columns, we need to click on the “View” tab on the ribbon. Then, we need to choose the “Freeze Panes” command on the “View” tab.

Freeze Cells in Excel 1.2

  • Step 3: The selected columns get frozen in their position, and a grey line denotes it. We can scroll the entire worksheet and continue viewing the frozen columns. As we can see in the snapshot below, the columns beside the grey line are frozen and do not move after we scroll the worksheet.

lock Column Ex. 1.3

For unfreezing the columns, we must use the same process as we did in the case of rows by using the “Unfreeze Panes” command from the “View” tab. In addition, there are two other commands in the “Freeze Panes” options: “Freeze Top Row” and “Freeze First Column.”

Freeze Cells in Excel Ex. 1.4

These commands are used only for freezing the top row and the first column, respectively. For example, the “Freeze Top Row” command freezes the row number “1,” and the “Freeze First Column” command freezes the column number A cell. It is to be noted that we can also freeze rows and columns together. In addition, It is not necessary to lock only the row or the column at a single instance.

Example #2

Let us take an example of the same.

  • Step 1: The sheet below shows the timesheet of a company. The columns contain the headers as “Day,” “Date,” “Regular Hours,” “Overtime Hours,” “Sick,” “Vacation,” and “Total.”

Freeze Cells in Excel Example 1

  • Step 2: We need to see columns “B” and row 7 throughout the worksheet. We have to select the cell above, besides which we need to freeze the columns and rows cells, respectively. In our example, we have to choose the cell number H4.

Locking Row Column Example 1-1

  • Step 3: After selecting the cell, we need to click on the “View” tab on the ribbon and select the “Freeze Panes” command on the “View” tab.

Example 1-2

  • Step 4: As we can see from the snapshot below, two grey lines denote the locking of cells.

Locking Row Column Example 1-3

Use of Rows & Column Freezing in Excel Cell

If we use the “Freeze Panes” command to freeze the columns and rows of Excel cells, they will remain displayed on the screen regardless of the magnification settings that we select or how we scroll through the cells. Let us take a practical example of the weekly attendance report of a class.

  • Step 1: Now, if we take a look at the snapshot below, the rows and columns display various pieces of information such as “Student name,” “Name of the days,” “Room,” etc. The topmost column shows the “logo to be placed here” and the “Weekly Attendance Report.”

Example 2

In this case, it becomes necessary to freeze certain Excel columns and rows of cells to understand the attendance of the reports. Otherwise, the report becomes vague and difficult to understand.

  • Step 2: We must select the cell at the F4 location as we need to freeze down the rows up to the subject code P1, T1, U1, E1, and columns up to the “Student Name.”

Locking Row Column Example 2-1

  • Step 3:  Once we select the cell, we must use the “Freeze Panes” command, freezing the cells at the position indicating a grey line.

Example 2-2

As a result, we can see that the rows and columns beside and above the selected cell have been frozen, as shown in the snapshots below.

Locking Row Column Example 2-3

Similarly, we can use the “Unfreeze Panes” command from the “View” tab to unlock the cells which we have frozen.

Hence, explaining the examples above, we used the freezing of rows and columns in Excel.

Things to Remember

  • When we press the “Ctrl+Home” Excel Shortcut keysAn Excel shortcut is a technique of performing a manual task in a quicker way.read more after giving the “Frozen Panes” command in a worksheet, instead of positioning the cell cursor in cell A1 as normal, Excel sets the cell cursor in the first unfrozen cell.
  • The “Freeze Panes” in the worksheet cell display consist of a feature for printing a spreadsheet known as “Print Titles.” When we use Print TitlesIn Excel, Print Titles is a feature that lets the users print specific row & column headings on every page of a multi-page report. You need to select “Print Titles” in the Page Layout Tab & enter the required details to perform the function. read more in a report, the columns and rows that we define as the titles are printed at the top and to the left of all data on each report page.
  • The shortcut keys that get random access to the “Freezing Panes” command are “Alt+W+F.”
  • In the case of freezing Excel rows and columns together, we must select the cell above, and the rows and columns need to be frozen. We do not have to select the entire row and column together for locking.

Recommended Articles

This article is a guide to Freeze Cells in Excel. We discuss how to freeze rows and columns using the “Freeze Panes” command in Excel with some examples and a downloadable Excel template. You may learn more about Excel from the following articles: –

  • Freeze Columns in Excel
  • How to Freeze Panes in Excel?
  • What does Split Panes in Excel Mean?
  • Hiding an Excel Column

I recently helped a friend with Excel, and when I asked him how the spreadsheet looked, he hesitated. Finally, he looked at me and said, “It’s overwhelming.” The data was OK, but he wanted to see the top row when he scrolled. The solution was to show him how to freeze rows and columns in Excel so that key headings or cells were always visible. I’ve outlined four scenarios and solution steps.

This was a good communication lesson for me. It reminded me that we all have different skill levels and vocabularies. For example, when you’re new, you’re probably not thinking in terms like “how to freeze panes in Excel.” You may not know what a pane is. It’s not describing your problem. My friend was thinking in terms of a “sticky header,” or “Excel floating header,” or “pinning rows.” I wasn’t thinking of any of those.

Let’s Start with Excel Panes

An Excel pane is a set of columns and rows defined by cells. You get to determine the size, shape, and location. For many people, it might be the top row. For others, it’s an inverted L-shape and contains the top row and first column. You’re the spreadsheet architect and can define your pane.

Regarding spreadsheets, you can “freeze panes” or “split panes.” Splitting panes is a bit more complex because you have separate windows of your data on the worksheet. So, for the sake of simplicity, this tutorial will cover freezing panes.

If your columns and rows aren’t in the orientation you want, you may want to learn how to transpose or switch columns and rows in Excel.

Why Lock Spreadsheet Cells?

A key benefit to locking or freezing cells is seeing the important information regardless of scrolling. The split pane data stays fixed. Your spreadsheet can contain panes with column headings, multiple rows, multiple columns, or both.

Otherwise, losing focus on a large worksheet is easy when you don’t have column headings or identifiers. I’ve had times where I’ve entered data only to see I was one cell off and produced Excel formula errors. By locking various sections, you have a consistent reference point. This also helps readability.

Typically, the cells you want to stay sticky are labels like headers. However, they could just as easily be an entire column, such as employee names.

Let’s go through four examples and keyboard shortcuts to freeze panes in Excel.

1 – How to Freeze the Top Row

This freeze row example is perhaps the most common because people like to lock the top row that contains headers, such as in the example below.

Another solution is to format the spreadsheet as an Excel table.

Locked header row.

Locking the Top Row with Headings
  1. Open your worksheet.
  2. Click the View tab on the ribbon.
  3. On the Freeze Panes button, click the small triangle ▼ (drop-down arrow) in the lower right corner. You should see a new menu with three options.

Freeze Panes button drop down with 3 Freeze Pane Options.

The Main Freeze Panes Options
  1. Click the menu option Freeze Top Row.
  2. Scroll down your sheet to ensure the first row stays locked at the top.

You should see a darker border under row 1.

Keyboard Shortcut – Lock Top Row

I like to do this shortcut slowly the first time to see the ALT key letter assignments as you type. I can see the keyboard assignments in the example below once I hit my Alt key. Some people prefer to add the Freeze Panes command to the Quick Access toolbar because they frequently use it.

Keyboard shortcut letters apper after hitting ALT

Keyboard Shortcut Letters

Alt + w + f + r

2 – How to Freeze the First Column

A similar scenario is when you want to freeze the leftmost column. I guess Microsoft researched this to determine the most common sub-menu options.

I find this option helpful when I have a spreadsheet with many columns and I need to fill in data without using an Excel data form.

Freezing the first Excel column.

Freeze the first column of Excel
  1. Open your Excel worksheet.
  2. Click the View tab on the ribbon.
  3. On the Freeze Panes button, click the small triangle ▼. You should see a new menu with your 3 options.
  4. Click the option Freeze First Column.
  5. Scroll across your sheet to make sure the left column stays fixed.

Keyboard Shortcut – Lock First Column

Alt + w + f + c

3 – How to Freeze the Top Row & First Column

Column 1 and row 1 are frozen.

Frozen pane area in red

This is my favorite option. If you look at Microsoft’s initial Freeze Panes options, there isn’t one for the top row and first column. Instead, we’ll use the generic option called Freeze Panes.

The subtext reads, “Keep rows and columns visible while the rest of the worksheet scrolls (based on current selection).” Some folks get confused as they think they have to highlight data to make a selection.

Instead, consider the selection of the first cell outside your fixed column and row. If I wanted to lock the top row and top column, that selection cell would be cell B2 or Nevada. Regardless of whether I scroll down or to the right, the first cell that disappears when I scroll is B2.

Freeze Pane Selection Cell.

The Freeze Pane Selection Cell is in green.
  1. Open your Excel spreadsheet.
  2. Click cell B2. (Your set cell.)
  3. Click the View tab on the ribbon.
  4. On the Freeze Panes button, click the small triangle ▼ in the lower right corner. You should see a dropdown menu with your 3 options.
  5. Click the option Freeze Panes.
  6. Scroll down your worksheet to make sure the first row stays at the top.
  7. Scroll across your sheet to make sure your first column stays locked on the left.

Keyboard Shortcut – Freeze Panes

Alt + w + f + f

4 – Freeze Multiple Columns or Rows

On occasion, I get some Excel worksheets where the author puts descriptive text above the data. My header isn’t in Row 1 but further down in Row 5. Or I want to lock multiple columns to the left. In the example below, I want to lock Columns A & B and Rows 1-5.

Freeze Pane with Multiple Columns & Rows.

Frozen columns A&B; Frozen rows 1-5

The process is the same, I just need to click the set cell that stops the fixed area. In this case, it would be cell C6 or “Regions Field.” The content above and to the left is frozen.

Everything in the red boxes would be locked. The downside is you may give up much of the screen real estate.

Why Freeze Panes May Not Work

There are some rules surrounding this feature. If you don’t follow these, freeze panes may not work.

Quick test: If you type Ctrl + Home and your cursor moves to cell A1, you haven’t locked anything.

  • If you dislike your settings, use the Unfreeze Panes command.
  • This feature won’t work on a protected worksheet or Page Layout View.
  • If you’re editing a value in the Formula bar, the View menu will be disabled.

If you need to see the same header on printed pages, Microsoft has instructions.

As you’ve seen, choosing what content to freeze is easy. You can freeze the top row, first column, both, or a subset of your data, depending on what you want to do with it. The flexibility is part of what makes Microsoft Excel such an excellent program for organizing and analyzing information from any field.


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  • Freezing the First Column or Row
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  • Freezing Multiple Columns or Rows
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This wikiHow teaches you how to freeze specific rows and columns in your Microsoft Excel worksheet. Freezing rows or columns ensures that certain cells remain visible as you scroll through the data. If you want to easily edit two parts of the spreadsheet at once, splitting your panes will make the task much easier.

  1. Image titled Freeze Cells in Excel Step 1

    1

    Click the View tab. It’s at the top of Excel. Frozen cells are rows or columns that remain visible while you scroll through a worksheet.[1]
    If you want column headers or row labels to remain visible as you work with large amounts of data, you’ll likely find it helpful to lock those cells into place.

    • Only whole rows or columns can be frozen. It is not possible to freeze individual cells.
  2. Image titled Freeze Cells in Excel Step 2

    2

    Click the Freeze Panes button. It’s in the «Window» section of the toolbar. A set of three freezing options will appear.

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  3. Image titled Freeze Cells in Excel Step 3

    3

    Click Freeze Top Row or Freeze First Column. If you want to keep the top row of cells in place as you scroll down through your data, select Freeze Top Row. To keep the first column in place as you scroll horizontally, select Freeze First Column.

  4. Image titled Freeze Cells in Excel Step 4

    4

    Unfreeze your cells. If you want to unlock the frozen cells, click the Freeze Panes menu again and select Unfreeze Panes.

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  1. Image titled Freeze Cells in Excel Step 5

    1

    Select the row or column after those you want to freeze. If the data you want to keep stationary takes up more than one row or column, click the column letter or row number after those you want to freeze. For example:

    • If you want to keep rows 1, 2, and 3 in place as you scroll down through your data, click row 4 to select it.
    • If you want columns A and B to remain still as you scroll sideways through your data, click column C to select it.
    • Frozen cells must connect to the top or left edge of the spreadsheet. It’s not possible to freeze rows or columns in the middle of the sheet.[2]
  2. Image titled Freeze Cells in Excel Step 6

    2

    Click the View tab. It’s at the top of Excel.

  3. Image titled Freeze Cells in Excel Step 7

    3

    Click the Freeze Panes button. It’s in the «Window» section of the toolbar. A set of three freezing options will appear.

  4. Image titled Freeze Cells in Excel Step 8

    4

    Click Freeze Panes on the menu. It’s at the top of the menu. This freezes the columns or rows before the one you selected.

  5. Image titled Freeze Cells in Excel Step 9

    5

    Unfreeze your cells. If you want to unlock the frozen cells, click the Freeze Panes menu again and select Unfreeze Panes.

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Add New Question

  • Question

    How do I freeze the top two rows?

    Community Answer

    Select the row directly under the rows you want to freeze (in this case, the third row). Go to View, Freeze Panes, and select «Freeze Panes.» Everything above the row you have selected will be frozen.

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wikiHow Video: How to Freeze Cells in Excel

About This Article

Article SummaryX

1. Click View.
2. Click Freeze Panes.
3. Select Freeze Top Row or Freeze First Column.

Did this summary help you?

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 171,421 times.

Is this article up to date?

1 Answer

answered Jun 6, 2012 at 13:59

Kyle's user avatar

KyleKyle

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8

  • I thought that it was only for one or the other, thanks :)

    Jun 6, 2012 at 14:20

  • Why is this so non-intuitive? This is one instance where Google sheets has a much better method.

    Mar 24, 2015 at 15:56

  • Thanks for that. It’s been 8 years since MS changed many features and added «ribbons» to Office and I still cannot get used to them.

    Dec 4, 2015 at 16:02

  • Note: This doesn’t work on Office for Mac, it only freezes Column A… Fallback is to use splits.

    Mar 11, 2016 at 17:07

  • I always gave up freezing both row and column thinking it’s just either side… until today I made a worthwhile effort to search. Thanks!

    Jun 27, 2017 at 7:47

Suppose we create a large table in excel spreadsheet and it lists large amount of data. There are headers in the first row, and if we want to drag the scroll bar to view the bottom of table, the headers are hidden due to it lists on the top. So, in this case if we want to see the headers all the time, we need to freeze the first row to make it fixed and always displays on the top even we drag the scrollbar. On the other side, sometimes we need to freeze more rows, or columns, or even freeze row and column simultaneously. To implement this, we need to know the way to freeze row and columns. This article will introduce different ways to freeze row and columns with examples for you, you can’t miss it.

Table of Contents

  • Method 1: How to Freeze the First Row in Excel Spreadsheet
  • Method 2: How to Freeze Multiple Rows in Excel Spreadsheet
  • Method 3: How to Freeze the First Column in Excel Spreadsheet
  • Method 4: How to Freeze Row and Column in Excel Spreadsheet
  • Method 5: How to Freeze Rows and Columns in Excel Spreadsheet

Method 1: How to Freeze the First Row in Excel Spreadsheet


In most daily work, freeze the first row in table is frequently needed due to in most tables the first row lists the headers. So, people always want to see the headers on top no matter whether they drag the scrollbar to the end or not. See example below:

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel1

Suppose it lists a long list of ID and names. Header ID and Name are listed on the top. Now let’s freeze the first row.

Step 1: Click View in the ribbon, then click Freeze Panes in Window group, then click the small triangle of Freeze Panes to load below three options, select the middle one ‘Freeze Top Row’.

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel2

Step 2: After above operating. The first top row is fixed and always displayed on the top. Try to drag the scrollbar. You can see the header row is stayed on the top.

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel3

Method 2: How to Freeze Multiple Rows in Excel Spreadsheet


If you want to freeze the first three rows in excel, you can just select the first cell in the fourth row, then freeze the rows above the selected cell. See details below.

Step 1: Click A4 in the table.

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel4

Step 2: Click View in the ribbon, then click Freeze Panes in Window group, then click the small triangle of Freeze Panes to load below three options, select the first one ‘Freeze Panes’.

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel5

Step 3: Try to drag the scrollbar. Verify that top three rows are fixed.

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel6

Method 3: How to Freeze the First Column in Excel Spreadsheet


See screenshot below:

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel7

Now let’s freeze the first column. The way is similar with freeze the first row.

Step 1: Click View in the ribbon, then click Freeze Panes in Window group, then click the small triangle of Freeze Panes to load below three options, select the middle one ‘Freeze First Column’.

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel8

Step 2: Verify if it works well.

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel9

Obviously, it works.

Method 4: How to Freeze Row and Column in Excel Spreadsheet


If you want to just freeze the first row and column, just click on B2. Then click View->Freeze Panes->Freeze Panes in Window group.

How to Lock or Freeze Row or Column in Excel10

Method 5: How to Freeze Rows and Columns in Excel Spreadsheet


If you want to freeze multiple rows and columns, refer to the description of Freeze Panes ‘Keep rows and column visible while the rest of the worksheet scrolls (based on current selection)’ we can know that we can select a cell to make it as the first cell outside of your fixed area. For example, if we want to freeze the top three rows and first two columns (row 4 is not fixed and column C is not fixed), we can click on C4, then repeat above steps to freeze panes.

With Excel it’s often quite convenient to freeze part of your spreadsheet and keep it visible at all time. Typically, freezing the top rows of left columns of your Excel spreadsheet allows you to scroll down but keep an eye on the headers.

This result can be achieved by freezing panes. Panes can be recognied by a grey vertical or horizontal line.

How to freeze panes in Excel

To freeze the 1st row, go in the «View» tab, click «Freeze Panes» and then «Freeze Top Row».

Freeze Top Row in Excel

To freeze the 1st column, go in the «View» tab, click «Freeze Panes» and then «Freeze First Column».

Freeze First Column in Excel

You can also freeze multiple rows, multiple columns, or a combination of any number of rows and columns. To do so:

  1. Select the first row that you don’t need to keep visible. For instance if you want to freeze columns A to D, select any cell in column E. If you want to freeze rows 1 to 3, select any cell in row 4. And if you want to freeze columns A to D AND rows 1 to 3, select cell E4.

  2. Go in the «View» tab, click «Freeze Panes» and then «Freeze Panes».

Freeze Panes in Excel

Note: when you freeze panes, the areas on the top or left of your spreadsheet are really frozen. If you scroll, they will always remain visible. If you would like to be able to scroll in the frozen area, what you need it is to Split panes, as explained below.

How to unfreeze panes in Excel

Go to the «View» tab, click «Freeze Panes» and then «Unfreeze Panes».

Unfreeze panes in Excel

How to split a worksheet in Excel

While freezing panes allows you to freeze an area located at the top or left of your spreadsheet, you may want a different behavior and be allowed to scroll within each of the separated parts of the worksheet.

For this you need not to freeze but to split your worksheet. It works exactly like freezing panes, but instead go to the «View» tab, and click «Split».

Unfreeze panes in Excel

The areas delimited are not frozen and you can scroll in each of them separately. Contrary to frozen panes, you can also drag and drop the pane to move it to a different row or column.

To unsplit, just click again on the «Split» button.

Just assume you are school teacher and have around 90 students in a class which is divided into various sections. Now, you have to collate their marks in every subject in an excel.

If you are using a 15-inch laptop to do this, then as soon as you go to the 25th row or later you lose the context of which column is for which subject. All of this happens because your header or first row is not fixed and keeps changing as you scroll down. But don’t worry we are here to help you out. 🙂

In this post we are going to help you on how to freeze rows or columns in excel. Freeing in excel will turn some cells (rows and / or columns) to be stagnant and these cells would not change if you move left or right or scroll up or down. There are various ways to freeze cells in excel.

how to freeze rows in excel

We have listed all the methods below, if you do not want to go through the entire post then you may directly click on the type of excel freeze option you are looking for:

  • Freeze First Row
  • Freeze First Column
  • Freeze Panes
    1. Freeze Multiple Rows
    2. Freeze Multiple Columns
    3. Freeze Rows & Columns at same time

Along with helping you on how to freeze in excel, we will also help you to unfreeze and troubleshooting issues that you might encounter:

  • Unfreeze Panes
  • Freeze panes versus Splitting Panes
  • Freeze Pane is Disabled

Freeze First Row

This feature could be used to freeze a particular row or header that you would need to refer every time while working on excel. In this option only the top row will freeze.

  • Open the sheet where in you want to freeze any row / header, as an example we would like to freeze the top row highlighted in yellow

Freeze Top Row In Excel

  • Now, navigate to the “View” tab in the Excel Ribbon as shown in above image
  • Click on the “Freeze Panes” button

Freeze Top Row Option in Excel

  • Select “Freeze Top Row” option

Frozen Top Row

  • If you would like to freeze any other row, then scroll down and make that row appear as first in your sheet and then repeat Step 2 to 4.

That’s it. You are all set now. As seen in above image you can now scroll to any corner of the page and you would see that the top row remains intact all the time without any change.

Please note that this option works as long as first row in excel is the one that you really want to freeze. If you have scrolled in the middle of the sheet and Row 30 is appearing as first row, then this option would freeze Row 30 and not Row 1.

Additionally, if you are geek and would like to do it directly using a keyboard shortcut, then please press “Alt + W” followed by “F” and then “R”. Please note that this is not an in-built shortcut, rather it’s the same thing from keyboard as we do from mouse.

Freeze First Column

This feature could be used to freeze a particular column that you would need to refer while working on excel. In this option only the first column will freeze.

  • Open the sheet where in you want to freeze the column, as an example we would like to freeze the column A – Product

Sample to Freeze First Column

  • Now, navigate to the “View” tab in the Excel Ribbon as shown in above image
  • Click on the “Freeze Panes” button

Freeze First Column Option

  • Select “Freeze First Column” option

Frozen First Column in Excel

  • If you would like to freeze any other column, then move right or left and make that column appear as first in your sheet and then repeat Step 2 to 4.

That’s it. You are all set now. As seen in above image you can now move to most right corner of the page and you would see that the first column sticks there. Please note that this option works as long as first column in excel is the one that you really want to freeze. If you have shifted right in the middle of the sheet and Column M is appearing as first row, then this option would freeze Column M and not Column A.

If you would like to do it directly using a keyboard shortcut, then please press “Alt + W” followed by “F” and then “C”. Please note that this is not an in-built shortcut, rather it’s the same thing from keyboard as we do from mouse.

Freeze Panes

This feature could be used to freeze multiple rows, columns or both at the same time. However, this could be done only for the consecutive rows or columns.

Freeze Panes – Multiple Rows

  • Open the sheet where in you want to freeze the multiple rows, keep the first row on top and click after the last row till where you want to freeze, as an example we would like to freeze from Row 1 to Row 13 so we will click on Row 14

Example to Freeze Panes

  • Now, navigate to the “View” tab in the Excel Ribbon as shown in above image
  • Click on the “Freeze Panes” button

Option to Freeze Panes - Multiple Rows

  • Select “Freeze Panes” option

Frozen Multiple Top Rows

That’s it. You are all set now. As seen in above image you can now scroll down and Row 1 to Row 13 will be kept intact without any changes. You can select the range of rows from middle as well like – Row 13 to Row 30, however to do so you will have to ensure that you scroll up and keep Row 13 as your first row in the sheet and repeat the steps listed above. However, be careful as doing so some of your rows (i.e. the ones before Row 13) will be hidden.

Freeze Panes – Multiple Columns

  • Open the sheet where in you want to freeze the multiple columns, keep the first column to the left and click next to the last column till where you want to freeze, as an example we would like to freeze from Column A to E, so we will click on Column F

Example for Freeze Panes - Multiple Columns

  • Now, navigate to the “View” tab in the Excel Ribbon as shown in above image
  • Click on the “Freeze Panes” button

11

  • Select “Freeze Panes” option

Frozen Multiple Columns

That’s it. You are all set now. As seen in above image you can now move towards right and Column A to E will be kept intact without any changes. You can select the range of columns from middle as well like – Column F to Column L, however to do so you will have to ensure that you move to the left and keep Column F as your first column in the sheet and repeat the steps listed above. However, be careful as doing so some of your columns (i.e. the ones before Column E) will be hidden.

Freeze Panes – Multiple Rows and Columns both

If you have followed the post till now, then you would have already figured out how this has to be done. Yes, you are right we are going to club both the above listed approaches here. Follow us below:

  • Open the sheet where in you want to freeze the multiple rows and columns, keep the first row on top and first column to the left then click next to the cell of the last column and row till where you want to freeze, as an example we would like to freeze from Row 1 to 13 and Column A to E, so we will click on Cell F14

Example Freeze Panes - Multiple Rows and Columns both

  • Now, navigate to the “View” tab in the Excel Ribbon as shown in above image
  • Click on the “Freeze Panes” button

Option to Freeze Panes - Multiple Rows and Columns both

  • Select “Freeze Panes” option

Frozen Panes - Multiple Rows and Columns both

That’s it. You are all set now. As seen in above image you can now scroll down and Row 1 to 13 will remain intact and likewise you can move towards right and Column A to E will be kept intact without any changes. You can select the range of columns from middle as well like – Row 17 to 27 and Column F to L, however to do so you will have to ensure that you scroll up and keep Row 17 as your first row and keep Column F as your first column in the sheet and repeat the steps listed above. Be careful here as rows before Row 17 and columns before column F will be hidden.

Unfreeze Panes:

If you have frozen the wrong rows and columns, then you could easily undo it by using “Unfreeze Panes” option. This would remove all the frozen rows and or columns in your excel. This will also work if you have received the sheet from someone else and you are not able to see all the rows and columns despite of removing all filters and unhiding rows columns. To unfreeze panes –

  • Open the sheet wherein you want to unfreeze rows and or columns
  • Now, navigate to the “View” tab in the Excel Ribbon
  • Click on the “Freeze Panes” button

Unfreeze Panes

  • Select “Unfreeze Panes” option as shown above

Output after unfreeze panes

With this all the rows and or columns would unfreeze, as shown in above image. Please note that you would not see the “Unfreeze Panes” option if there are not any frozen rows columns. This option would be available only and only when there is some row and or column frozen already.

If you would like to unfreeze panes it directly using a keyboard shortcut, then please press “Alt + W” followed by “F” and then again “F”. Please note that this is not an in-built shortcut, rather it’s the same thing from keyboard as we do from mouse.

Freeze panes versus Splitting Panes:

Excel also provides you an excellent option to Split Panes which divides the window into different panes that each pane scrolls separately. This option is present in Excel Ribbon, View tab next to Freeze Option.

Split Panes

So as visible in the above image after using split option the content of same sheet is visible in 4 separate panes and all panes have their different scroll options.

We personally trust and use Freeze option much than Split, as Freeze allows you to limit the data movement by freezing it rather than adding multiple views of same data wherein you easily get distracted and confused while data entry.

Is Freeze Pane option disabled?

If you have come across a case wherein the Freeze Pane option is disabled in your sheet, then it must be due to one of the following reasons:

  • The most common reason of Freeze Panes option disablement is that your sheet must have been opened in “Page Layout” mode (as shown in below image)

Page Layout

In order to correct it simply navigate to “View Tab” in the excel ribbon and select “Normal” or “Page Break” view.

  • The “Freeze Panes” option could also be disabled if you excel has been protected for windows. You would need to unprotect it to enable the freeze option.

So, this was all about how to freeze rows and columns in Excel. Hope you enjoyed our tutorial. Please feel free to share your feedback and queries. Keep Exceling 🙂

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