How to Freeze Selected Rows in Excel? [Step by Step Guides]

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When working with large data sets in Microsoft Excel, it can be helpful to freeze certain rows so that they remain visible while you scroll through the rest of the sheet. This can be especially useful if your data has headers or labels you need to reference while working with the data. 

In this article, we’ll show you how to freeze Excel rows, so they remain visible while you scroll.

Contents

How to Freeze the First Row in Excel?

To keep an area of your spreadsheet visible while you scroll, you can freeze panes in Excel. For example, you might freeze the first row so you can always see the labels for the columns.

To freeze the first row in Excel, select the row below the one you wish to freeze. 

  • Then, click the View tab on the ribbon 
  • and click Freeze Panes in the Window group. 
  • Finally, select Freeze Top Row from the drop-down menu. 

The first row will now be frozen in place, allowing you to scroll through the rest of the worksheet without losing sight of your column headers.

How to Freeze Multiple Rows in Excel?

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To freeze multiple rows in Excel, you must first select the row below the point where you want the split to appear. Then, go to the View tab on the ribbon and click Freeze Panes. From the drop-down menu, choose Freeze Panes. This will split the worksheet into two panes, with the selected row appearing at the top of the bottom pane. Here we share the screen with an example.

1. Select the rows you wish to freeze. Here we select the 3rd row because we want to freeze 1 and 2 rows.

2. Click the “View” tab on the Excel ribbon.

3. Click the “Freeze Panes” button in the “Window” group.

4. Select the “Freeze Panes” option.

In the result, you can see that rows 1 and 2 are frozen above the 18th row. This will freeze the selected rows, allowing you to scroll through the rest of the spreadsheet without losing sight of the data in those rows. You can also use the keyboard shortcut: Alt + W + F.

How to Unfreeze Rows?

To unfreeze rows in a spreadsheet, first select the row or rows below the frozen row or rows. Then, click the View tab on the ribbon. In the Window group, click the Freeze Panes button and select Unfreeze Panes from the drop-down menu.

Conclusion

Freezing the selected rows in excel is a very useful feature and can be easily done using the Freeze Selection command. So, if you want to keep specific rows visible while scrolling through a large Excel spreadsheet, you can freeze those rows. Freezing rows is especially helpful when your spreadsheet contains column headers, so you can always see the information associated with each column.