Freeze Panes
Excel Guides / Shortcuts & Formatting
Shortcuts & Formatting
Keep headers and labels on screen while you scroll, and fix it when freezing goes wrong.
Updated 12 Oct 2026 Ā· 6 min read Ā· By Sky Dashboards
Scroll down a long sales log and the headers disappear. Scroll right and you lose the client names. Freeze Panes locks rows at the top and columns on the left so they stay put while the rest of the sheet moves. It is one command, but the active cell decides what gets frozen, and that is where most people trip up.
In this guide
What Freeze Panes does
Freezing divides the window into a fixed area and a scrolling area. Frozen rows stay at the top and frozen columns stay on the left, with a thin line marking the edge. The data itself does not change: it is purely a view setting. All three options live on the View tab, in the Window group, under Freeze Panes.
- It only freezes rows at the top and columns on the left. You cannot freeze a block in the middle or at the bottom of a sheet.
- Each sheet keeps its own setting, and it is saved with the workbook.
- It does not affect printing. To repeat headers on every printed page, use Page Layout > Print Titles and fill in Rows to repeat at top.
Freeze the top row or first column
For a simple list with headers in row 1, this is all you need:
- Make sure row 1 is visible at the top of the window. Ctrl + Home gets you there in one step.
- Go to View > Freeze Panes.
- Choose Freeze Top Row, or Freeze First Column to lock column A.
It freezes the top of the window, not row 1
Freeze Top Row locks whichever row is at the top of the window at that moment. If you are scrolled down so row 40 is at the top, row 40 is frozen and rows 1 to 39 are stuck out of sight. Scroll back to the top first.
Only one freeze can be active at a time. Picking Freeze First Column after Freeze Top Row replaces the first freeze rather than adding to it. To lock both, use the active-cell method below.
Freeze rows and columns together
Freeze Panes, the first option in the menu, freezes everything above and everything to the left of the active cell. Put another way, the cell you select is the first cell that scrolls.
| A | B | C | D | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Client | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | |
| 2 | Harbour Yoga | $1,200 | $1,350 | $1,100 | $1,420 | |
| 3 | Mint Bakery | $640 | $720 | $690 | $805 | |
| 4 | Lumen Studio | $2,100 | $1,980 | $2,240 | $2,310 |
Select B2 and choose Freeze Panes. Row 1 (the months) and column A (the clients) stay on screen whichever way you scroll.
| Select this cell | Freeze Panes then keeps |
|---|---|
| B2 | Row 1 and column A |
| A2 | Row 1 only |
| B1 | Column A only |
| A4 | Rows 1 to 3 |
| C3 | Rows 1 and 2, plus columns A and B |
Tip
You can select a whole row or column instead of a cell. Select row 4 and choose Freeze Panes to freeze rows 1 to 3 with no columns. Select column C to freeze columns A and B with no rows.
Freeze Panes keyboard shortcuts
There is no single key combination, but the ribbon key tips do the job. Press the keys one at a time:
āØĀ Freeze Panes at the active cell
Alt ā W ā F ā F
Press the keys one after another, not together.
Alt shows the key tips, W opens the View tab, F opens the Freeze Panes menu and the second F runs Freeze Panes. When panes are already frozen, the same sequence unfreezes them.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Freeze Panes at the active cell, or unfreeze | Alt ā W ā F ā F |
| Freeze Top Row | Alt ā W ā F ā R |
| Freeze First Column | Alt ā W ā F ā C |
| Split the window at the active cell | Alt ā W ā S |
| Go to the first cell outside the frozen area | Ctrl + Home |
Note
Key tips are Windows only. In Excel for Mac, the same freeze commands are on the View tab of the ribbon.
Unfreeze panes
Go to View > Freeze Panes > Unfreeze Panes. The first option in the menu changes its name once something is frozen, so it is always in the same place, and Alt W F F toggles it from the keyboard.
Unfreezing does not scroll the sheet. If rows were stuck above the frozen area, press Ctrl + Home after unfreezing to get back to A1.
Tip
To move the freeze line, unfreeze first, select the new cell, then freeze again. Clicking a different cell while panes are frozen leaves the line where it was.
Split vs Freeze Panes
Split (View > Split, or Alt W S) also divides the window at the active cell, but every pane scrolls. That lets you look at row 10 and row 900 of the same sheet at the same time.
| Freeze Panes | Split | |
|---|---|---|
| Top and left areas | Stay fixed | Scroll independently |
| Divider | Thin line, cannot be dragged | Thick bar you can drag |
| Best for | Keeping headers and labels in view | Comparing two distant parts of one sheet |
| To remove | Alt W F F | Alt W S, or double-click the bar |
A sheet can use one or the other, not both at once. To compare two different sheets side by side, use View > New Window and then Arrange All instead.
When Freeze Panes goes wrong
- Rows above the freeze have vanished. You were scrolled down when you froze, so those rows sit above the window and cannot be reached. Unfreeze, press Ctrl + Home, select the right cell and freeze again.
- The frozen area fills the screen. Freezing at row 30 on a laptop can leave nothing to scroll. Unfreeze and pick a cell higher up, or zoom out.
- The command is greyed out. Either you are still typing in a cell (press Enter or Esc first), or the sheet is in Page Layout view, which does not support freezing. Switch back with View > Normal.
- It looks different on a colleague's screen. The freeze is stored with the sheet, but their screen size and zoom decide how much room is left to scroll. Freeze only the rows you need.
Tip
If your data is an Excel Table, you may not need to freeze at all. When the active cell is inside a table and you scroll past its header, Excel shows the table's column names in place of the column letters.
Frequently asked questions
How do I freeze the top two rows in Excel?
Select cell A3, then choose View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes, or press Alt, W, F, F in turn. Everything above row 3 stays in place.
Can I freeze a row in the middle or at the bottom of the sheet?
No. Excel only freezes rows at the top and columns on the left. If you need to keep two distant areas on screen, use Split instead.
Why is Freeze Panes greyed out?
Usually because you are still editing a cell or the sheet is in Page Layout view. Press Esc, then switch to View > Normal.
Does Freeze Panes work in Excel for the web and on a Mac?
Yes. In both, the freeze commands are on the View tab. The Alt W F key tips in this guide are for Excel on Windows.
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