How to Use the Freeze Pane Command in Excel to Create Static Headings

Keep row and column labels visible as you scroll through a spreadsheet with the Freeze Pane command. These instructions are for Microsoft Excel 97.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Excel Book
• Microsoft Excel

1. Open a spreadsheet file.

2. To freeze the top horizontal pane, select the row below where you want the split to appear.

3. To freeze the left vertical pane, select the column to the right of where you want the split to appear.

4. To freeze both the upper and left panes, click the cell below and to the right of where you want the split to appear.

5. Open the Window menu and select Freeze Panes. When you scroll through the worksheet, the area you selected remains on the screen.

Tips & Warnings

• Darker vertical and horizontal lines indicate which columns or rows are part of the freeze pane.
• Use Freeze Pane to help you when creating or editing large, unruly worksheets.
• The Freeze Pane rows and columns will not print as displayed in your worksheet.

on 8/27/2006 If you regularly work with a lot of very large spreadsheets, consider saving keystrokes with a Freeze Panes button on one of your toolbars:

Right-click on any toolbar
Choose "Customize" at bottom of pop-up menu
In Customize pop-up, Choose "Window and Help" from Categories column on left
Scroll right column down about halfway down until you see "Freeze Panes"
Left-click on Freeze Panes, keeping your mouse button down, and drag it onto whichever toolbar you want, in whatever position you choose.
Click "Close" button.
You're done!

Bonus tip: You can add a lot of useful buttons to your toolbar this way. While your Customize pop-up is open, consider taking five minutes to browse through all the categories and see whether you could use any of the other useful buttons available to you. All Microsoft Office programs (e.g., Word, PowerPoint) have the same functionality as well.