Freeze a column or row in Excel while viewing a document

Getting or compiling a table in Excel and viewing it, many people experience inconvenience, because a document can consist of so many columns and rows that it is quite difficult to correlate the contents of a cell with its name. Either one or the other is hidden from view. We will now tell you how to avoid this.

How to freeze a row in Excel on scrolling

Let’s start with how to fix the table header in an Excel document, which inevitably disappears when the reader scrolls through the text:

1. If you downloaded the document sent to you, then at the top click “Allow Editing” (highlighted in yellow). If you create a table yourself, then fill it in first.
   
2. Click on any of the segments.
3. At the top, find the “View” section and click “Freeze Areas”.
   
4. From the suggestion, stop at “Freeze the top line”.

This will prevent the header from “running away” when viewing multi-page and voluminous files. But sometimes such a measure is not enough, and for convenience you need to keep a few more lines before your eyes (for example, for verification). Let’s see how to freeze any row in Excel so that it does not hide when scrolling:

Click on one of the segments located under the line that needs to be fixed (note: not the line itself, but what is under it – the program must clearly understand the restrictions that you impose on it).

1. Open “View” – “Freeze Areas” again.
2. Select Freeze Selected Areas from the list.
   

This will keep the top line in sight. In the old Excel 2003 and 2000, instead of “View”, you need to open a Window, and then find the necessary options there. They can be displayed in the top menu by right-clicking and selecting the appropriate setting.

How to freeze a column in Excel

The same problem happens with columns, since the document in Excel scrolls not only up and down, but also to the sides.

How to freeze the desired column in Excel:

1. Select any of the table segments (it doesn’t matter which one).
2. Open the “View” again and the menu responsible for fixing the elements.
3. Select Freeze First Column.
   

If you need to achieve immobility of several columns, then:

1. Click on the lowest segment to the right of the column you are interested in (but not the one that falls into the fixation sphere).
2. Select Freeze Regions.

There is no limit here: you can block any number of cells for scrolling. Now you know how to capture important information: try flipping through the document to make sure everything is done correctly.

How to freeze row and column at the same time

You can keep in sight all the key names of the table, both horizontally and vertically – for this you need to fix the whole area in Excel:

1. Mentally outline the top and left border of your table, which you want to leave in the field of view (you can also highlight it with color – this will be discussed below).
2. At the very top, select a segment outside of this area, below the row to be frozen and to the right of the column to be frozen.
3. Open View and select Freeze Areas.
4. Roll the mouse wheel and make sure that the information does not disappear.

How to remove a docked area in Excel

If attached elements bother you, you can free them at any time:

1. Open “View”.
2. Click Unpin.
   

After that, the table will behave as usual, hiding cells when reading.

The described settings will be useful to everyone who draws up reports, fills out multi-page product cards, works with personal data of staff, etc. For convenience, before fixing, the necessary lines / columns can be highlighted in color:

1. Select whatever you want to paint.
2. In the “Home” section, find “Conditional Formatting” – “Create Rule”.
   
3. Now you will be prompted to write a formula, type in the following: = $ C4> 6. Here C4 is the “address” of the cell, and 6 is the number of selected cells in the column. Of course, both numbers and letters will change for you, here they just serve as an illustrative example.
4. Click “Format” – “Fill” and specify any color you like.
5. Apply the rule.
   

Do not forget about the “$” sign in any case – it is needed in order to color the line. The rest of the signs can be placed depending on the goals. Try also the formulas: = $ C4 <6 or = $ C4 = 6. The color presets have a standard palette and a “Others” tab, where there are many different shades.

Now you will definitely not get confused about which areas you need to pin, and it will also be more convenient for you to keep track of the names of the table. Tell us in the comments if you use commit in Excel and in what cases? Have you had any difficulties or software glitches when trying to apply it?