How to Keep Rows Stationary in Excel
By C. Taylor
When you scroll down long spreadsheets, the top header rows quickly disappear. Without these headers, you may have trouble confidently identifying columns of data. To prevent having to scroll back up to reference headers or important data, consider using Excel 2013's Freeze Panes option to make those rows stationary. This option only freezes rows at the top of the screen, but the frozen rows do not need to start with the first row.
Freeze Panes
Step 1
Scroll down until the first row you want visible is at the top of the spreadsheet. As an example, if you only wanted the third through fifth rows visible, scroll down until the third row is the first visible row at the top of the screen.
Step 2
Click the row number directly below the last row you want stationary. Continuing with the example, click the left "6" row header. Doing so highlights the entire sixth row.
Step 3
Click the "View" tab, select the "Freeze Panes" drop-down menu from the Window group and choose "Freeze Panes." Alternatively, select "Freeze Top Row" to only freeze the first visible row. You can then scroll down as far as you need while keeping the frozen row(s) visible.
References
Tips
- To unfreeze the panes, click "Freeze Panes" from the View tab's Window group and select "Unfreeze Panes."
Warnings
- If the frozen panes don't begin with the first row, the rows above the frozen panes will not be visible even when scrolling. To get around this limitation, follow the same procedure, but click "Split" from the View tab's Window group after selecting the row. Doing so creates two scrollable panes. You can then scroll to the top rows in either pane. Click "Split" again to return to a single pane.
Writer Bio
C. Taylor embarked on a professional writing career in 2009 and frequently writes about technology, science, business, finance, martial arts and the great outdoors. He writes for both online and offline publications, including the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Samsung, Radio Shack, Motley Fool, Chron, Synonym and more. He received a Master of Science degree in wildlife biology from Clemson University and a Bachelor of Arts in biological sciences at College of Charleston. He also holds minors in statistics, physics and visual arts.