How to fix a row or column in Excel: do it step by step

With this feature, you will be able to take advantage of your spreadsheets while using Microsoft Excel.
One of the great advantages of using Microsoft Excel is that you can include a large amount of data in a spreadsheet and even sort it alphabetically in a few steps. However, a file with thousands and thousands of rows and columns can become quite unwieldy, bordering on insanity.

Fortunately, the app has the great feature of fixing rows or columns, which makes it easier to manage and process all that data more comfortably. This means that no matter where you scroll in the spreadsheet, those rows or columns will always be visible to you, and here we’ll show you how to get the most out of this feature.

Table of Contents

How to fix the first row or column at the top of your Excel sheet

Many spreadsheets do not contain headers, so pinning a column or row that contains a header makes it much easier to deal with your data, especially when you have a lot of it. With this method, you’ll have to choose to either freeze the first column or the first row, but unfortunately you can’t do both at the same time.

Open the Excel spreadsheet in which you want to fix the rows or columns.
Once open, go to the View tab.
Click the Freeze button.
Here, you can choose to freeze the first column or the top row of the spreadsheet.
If you’re using Excel for Mac, you’ll have separate buttons on the View tab for each option. Just click Freeze First Column or Freeze Top Row.

How to fix columns and rows anywhere in your Excel sheet

If you are thinking of fixing something other than the first column or row of your Excel sheet, you can do that too. For this, all you have to do is comply with the following steps:

The first thing you should do is open your Excel spreadsheet .
Then go to the View tab.
Now select the last column or row of the group you want to pin. For example, if you want to freeze columns A through C, select column D. Or if you want to freeze rows 1 through 4, select row 5.
Click the Freeze button and then click the Freeze Panels option from the dropdown menu.
In Excel on Mac, you’ll find a dedicated button on the View tab, and from there you can select the column or row and click Freeze Panes.

You can also pin panels in an Excel

If you prefer to set a combination of rows and columns, which is known as a panel, it is possible to do so, but with a little more work. In this case, you will have to follow these steps:

Open the Excel spreadsheet you want to pin a panel to.
Click on the View tab.
Now select the cell directly below the row you want to freeze and the cell to the right of the column you want to freeze. For example, if you want to fix columns A through C and rows 1 through 4, you would select cell D5.
After making your selection, click the Freeze Panes button and again, click the Freeze Panes option in the dropdown menu.

Being able to fix the rows and columns of a spreadsheet can help in different situations. Whether you want to view a large amount of data more easily or simply manage it with greater ease, Microsoft Excel has the functionality you need.