Easily Freeze Titles in Microsoft Excel
by Avantix Learning Team | Updated:October 30, 2019
Applies to: Microsoft® Excel® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 365 (Windows)
As many Excel worksheets can become quite large, it can be useful to freeze row and column headings so that they are locked in place when you scroll through your worksheet. In Excel, you can freeze both row headings and column headings or just one. This does not affect the cells that will print.
The column headings or titles can be one row or multiple rows at the top of the worksheet. The row headings (which appear on the left) can be one or more columns on the left of the data.
Freezing column and/or row headings
To freeze column and/or row headings:
- Scroll down until the top row or rows that you want to freeze are displayed at the top of the worksheet.
- Scroll to the right until the left column or columns that you want to freeze are displayed on the left of the worksheet.
- Click below the row you want to freeze and to the right of the column you want to freeze. For example, if you want to freeze row 6 and column A, click in B7. If you want to freeze row 2 but do not want to freeze any columns, click in A3.
- Click the View tab in the Ribbon and then click Freeze Panes.
- In the drop-down menu, select Freeze Panes. The column and row headings will now be locked into place.
Below is the Freeze Panes drop-down menu:
In the sample below, we wanted to freeze row 1 and no columns, so we clicked in A2 and then chose Freeze Panes:
Unfreezing column and/or row headings
To unfreeze column and/or row headings:
- Click anywhere in the worksheet.
- Click the View tab in the Ribbon and then click Freeze Panes.
- In the drop-down menu, select Unfreeze Panes.
Freezing column headings by creating a table
If you change a data set or list into a table, Excel will automatically freeze the header row (column headings) so that when you scroll down, the header row will always be locked in place at the top of the table.
To create a table:
- Click in the data set or list.
- Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon and then click Table in the Tables group
- If the selected range contains data that you want to display as table headers, select the My table has headers check box. Table headers display default names if you do not select the My table has headers check box. Ideally, your table should always have headers.
- Click OK.
Below is the Create Table dialog box:
When you scroll down in the table, the column headings should be locked at the top of the table automatically.
Subscribe to get more articles like this one
Did you find this article helpful? If you would like to receive new articles, join our email list.
Recommended Microsoft Excel training
Microsoft Excel: Intermediate / Advanced
Microsoft Excel: Data Analysis with Functions, Dashboards and What-If Analysis Tools
Microsoft Excel: Introduction to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
Our instructor-led classroom training courses are delivered at our downtown Toronto location at 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1801 (Toronto Star Building), Toronto, Ontario, Canada (some courses may also be delivered at an alternate downtown Toronto location). Contact us if you’d like to arrange custom training at your office on a date that’s convenient for you.
To request this page in an alternate format, contact us.
Copyright 2020 Avantix® Learning Inc.
You may also like
How to Delete a Pivot Table in Excel
A pivot table can be deleted in an Excel workbook in several ways. You can delete a pivot table, convert a pivot table to values or clear data and customizations from a pivot table to reset it. When a pivot table is created from source data in a workbook,
How to Change Commas to Decimal Points and Vice Versa in Excel (5 Ways)
Depending on your country or region, Excel may display decimal points or dots instead of commas for larger numbers. The decimal point (.) or comma (,) is used as the group separator in different regions in the world. You can change commas to decimal points or dots or vice versa in your Excel workbook temporarily or permanently.
How to Group by Month and Year in a Pivot Table in Excel
You can group by month, year or other date period in a pivot table in Excel. One option is to group by date periods in a pivot table using the Grouping feature. Alternatively, you can also create calculations in source data to extract the month name and the year from a date field and use the fields in your pivot table.
Avantix Learning | 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1801 (Toronto Star Building), Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5E 1W7 | info@avantixlearning.ca
