Freeze Panes in Microsoft Excel

While scrolling, if you want to freeze rows so they stay at the top and/or columns so they stay at the left, all you need to do is freeze panes.

To freeze panes, hit Window Freeze Panes.

The rule of thumb is this:

• Any rows above your cursor will freeze when you freeze panes
• Any columns to the left of your cursor will freeze when you freeze panes

To freeze just the first row, click on A2 first.

To freeze just the first column, click on B1 first.

To freeze both the first row and the first column, click on B2 first.

Regardless of the size of the workbook, I almost automatically freeze panes. It helps Excel know you have a header row when you go to use the sort buttons.