How to Freeze A Row in Excel: A Practical Guide

Learn to how to freeze a row in excel (or even more than 2 rows) using this practical how-to guide.

When you are working with lots of data on your laptop or monitor, it is helpful to know how to freeze a row in Excel. After all, it is often difficult to compare one or more rows with others that you are working on at the bottom of the document. Excel’s freeze pane feature solves this problem. How? You can lock specific rows of data so that they are always visible to you as you scroll through the Excel sheet.

You may or may not know this, but a single Excel worksheet can contain as many as 1,048,576 rows. This program is well known for its ability to create vast databases of information, but how much of that information can you see on your computer screen? The answer, of course, depends upon the size of your computer screen. Even massive screens cannot contain every row of a large spreadsheet. Thankfully, Excel has an available feature allowing users the ability to freeze a row. In this article, we will teach you everything you need to know about how to freeze a row (or multiple rows) in Microsoft Excel.

how to freeze a row in excel

What Does It Mean to Know How to Freeze A Row in Excel?

Freezing a row within a worksheet will keep that row present at the top of your page while allowing you to scroll through the rest of the spreadsheet. Freezing a row is particularly helpful when you have several data points to consider.

How to Freeze a Row in Excel

Whether you are brand new to Excel or you have some experience, you will find out how to freeze a row in Excel below. Below, we will discuss different scenarios in which freezing a row could be useful and give examples of how to accomplish your desired results.

A few important things to remember when freezing rows in Excel:

  • Freezing rows is not limited to large spreadsheets
  • It is easy to unfreeze previously frozen rows
  • A row must be on screen to freeze it

Keep Your Headers at the Top of Your Worksheet

It is common practice for the top row in a worksheet to be a header row.

The header row contains information about the data found in the cells below each label. When you are working on a large spreadsheet, it is beneficial to keep your headers at the top of your worksheet while you scroll further down into the data.

To keep your headers at the top of your worksheet, you will need to freeze the top row. Keeping your headers at the top of the page will reduce the amount of time you spend scrolling and maximize your workflow.

To freeze the top row of your worksheet, scroll to the top of your spreadsheet. Scrolling to the top of your spreadsheet ensures that your header row is visible on your screen. In the Ribbon at the top of your screen select the “View” tab. In this tab, there are several available options.

To freeze your headers at the top of your worksheet, first ensure that your spreadsheet is in “Normal” view. You can find this setting in the first section of the “View” tab. If your worksheet is in any view other than simply click on “Normal” to select this view.

After you have made sure that your worksheet is in the “Normal” view, you will find the “Window” section in the “View” tab. In the “Window” group you will see a drop-down arrow labeled as “Freeze Panes.” Click the drop-down arrow to open the menu and select “Freeze Top Row.” You should find this as the second option in the drop-down menu.

With all of these steps completed, you will be able to scroll up and down your worksheet without disrupting the position of your header row.

Freezing More Than One Row in Excel

There are times when you might have more than one row at the top of your worksheet that you want to keep visible while scrolling. Excel makes it very simple to freeze more than one row.

To freeze more than one row you will begin by placing your cursor in the row below the lowest row you want to freeze. For example, if you are trying to freeze the first four rows of your worksheet, place your cursor in the fifth row.

After you have placed your cursor appropriately, click on the “View” tab. Once again you will click on the drop-down arrow beside the “Freeze Panes” icon. To freeze multiple rows, you will select “Freeze Panes.” This option should be the first option in the drop-down menu.

When you freeze a row, a dark line will appear underneath the bottom-most frozen row. This line will show you where your frozen rows end, and your non-frozen rows begin. You can now confidently scroll up and down your worksheet while keeping your first few rows in sight.

Unfreezing Rows

When you are finished scrolling through your worksheet’s data, you may want to unfreeze the rows you have previously frozen. Unfreezing rows is just as simple as freezing them. First, select the “View” tab. Next, click the drop-down arrow on the “Freeze Pane” icon. Click “Unfreeze Panes” to return your worksheet to normal.

Freezing Rows Vs. Splitting Panes

Excel offers a second option for keeping specific rows in view while scrolling through the rest of your worksheet. This option is known as the “Split Pane” feature. When you use the “Split Pane” feature of Excel,  your screen will split into two or four. You can scroll through each of these panes independently from one another.

In contrast to freezing rows, split panes do not hold a particular set of rows at the top of your worksheet. This flexibility can be useful in some situations, but remember, you cannot freeze a row while splitting panes.

Split panes can be useful in some situations, but they will not always keep your headers in place at the top of your page. To ensure you can view your first rows without scrolling back and forth, choose to freeze rows instead of splitting panes.

Although being able to freeze the first row (or first several rows) is quite handy. It is important to realize that you can only freeze rows from the top down. You cannot freeze rows from the bottom up or freeze a row independently in the middle of the worksheet.

Freezing a Row in Excel: Life Hack

Freezing or unfreezing worksheet sheets commonly includes different mouse clicks, however, I’ll demonstrate to you an approach to complete this assignment with a solitary keystroke. For the uninitiated, solidifying sheets enable you to secure sections or lines that you determine along with the left-hand or potentially top of Excel’s worksheet zone. As you look to one side or down, the solidified segments or lines stay set up so you can generally see worksheet headings or the underlying segments. When you never again need the lines or segments secured, you thus can unfreeze them. 

Commercial 

To do this errand in Excel 2007 and later, first snap on the worksheet position you wish to solidify. Next, go to the View tab, click on Freeze Panes, and afterward make a determination from the submenu, for example, Freeze Panes.

To open the lines or segments, explore to the View tab, pick Freeze Panes, and afterward Unfreeze Panes. It’s somewhat more straightforward in Excel 2003: pick Window, and afterward Freeze Panes or Window, and afterward Unfreeze Panes, individually. 

In any case, you streamline this procedure down to a basic keystroke of your decision in Excel 2007 and later. Select Commands Not in the Ribbon, and after that look down the subsequent rundown until you discover Freeze Sheet Panes. Either double tap on this direction or snap once on it and snap Add to add it to your Quick Access Toolbar. On the off chance that you as often as possible stop and unfreeze sheet sheets, utilize the bolts on the right-hand side to move the Freeze Sheet Panes order with the goal that it’s the main direction on the rundown. Snap OK to close the Excel Options exchange box. 

When you’ve put the direction on your Quick Access Toolbar, you would now be able to press the Alt key to uncover the numeric easy route for the Freeze Sheet Panes order. In the event that you made it the primary order on the rundown, you would now be able to squeeze Alt-1 to stop or unfreeze sheet sheets. You should at present position your cursor as before when solidifying sheets, however, you can sidestep exploring through the View tab and the subsequent Freeze Panes submenu. 

How to Freeze a Row in Excel: Final Review

Learning how to freeze a row in Excel develops a useful skill to have. Keeping the first row visible while scrolling through your entire worksheet is practical. Frozen header rows can save you time and frustration, especially when dealing with large spreadsheets. Regardless of the size of your worksheet, the process of freezing rows is simple and will make your work easier.If you want to know how to freeze cells in Excel so rows and columns stay visible, we have a tutorial for that here.

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