Working with data- intensive Excel tables means having to frequently scroll the table on the screen, which is very tedious in the long run, but not a real problem: thanks to functions like? Find? or? Go to page ?, both accessible also by keyboard shortcut, you can jump relatively quickly to the specific entries. Much more problematic is that, by default, the first few rows and columns disappear from view when scrolling the table down or to the right, thus making important elements such as row and column headings no longer visible, thus unnecessarily complicating work with spreadsheets..
The Microsoft program, however, comes with the solution included: you can fix the rows and columns . In this way, these elements always remain visible no matter what part of the table is in focus. Here we show you how to activate this function in Excel sheets.
The disappearance of the screen of certain fields becomes a problem especially when a row of headings has been created that allows the user to know what type of information each column contains. For this reason, it is often convenient to fix the first row in Excel so that the headings always appear above the columns , regardless of how far down the table has been scrolled. Just a few clicks to do it:
The first step is to go to the tab? View ? (View) on the ribbon and then select from the menu? Freeze panels ? (Freeze Panels) option? Freeze top row ? (Freeze Top Row)..
With this setting, Excel will freeze the row and you can now scroll the sheet as much as you want without losing sight of the headings, even if the table contains several hundred entries , as in the following example:
Instead of the first row, you can also freeze columns in Excel. Depending on the type of table, the columns may also contain relevant information that needs to be kept visible when scrolling to the right to ensure the readability of the spreadsheet. To immobilize her, instead of the option? Freeze top row ?, select? Freeze first column ? (Freeze First Column):
In some cases it can be very useful to fix not just one row, but several at a time: for example, when the values of the rows next to the first are also important for the readability of the table. Excel also offers a solution for these cases, that is, a function to fix more than one row. The steps to do this are not very different from the instructions for setting the headings.
First, select the row that is under the last row that you want to freeze . If, for example, you want to fix rows 1 to 5, select row 6. It is not necessary to select the entire row either, just select a single cell with the left mouse button , as seen in the screenshot screen below:
Then, follow a path similar to the one described above: in the? View? Tab, display the menu? Freeze panels? and select the option with the same name ? Freeze panels ? (Freeze Panels):
After doing so, when you scroll your Excel sheet down, the range of frozen rows will always appear at the top of the screen:
In the same way, you can also pin multiple columns at the same time. To do this, select the column to the right of the last column you want to fix : if, for example, you want to freeze columns A and B, mark column C with the cursor. As with row selection, simply mark a single cell , preferably the corresponding cell in row 1, otherwise rows will also be set automatically. Once the check is set, click (as to select a range of cells) on? Freeze panels ?:
In the previous sections we have shown how to freeze rows and columns in Excel, both individually and collectively. However, there may also come a time when you want to undo the freeze , or you may have reached a spreadsheet with frozen rows or columns that you don't need. Also in these cases you can undo the configuration that fixes the fields . The steps to follow to achieve this are the following: