You can view two areas of a worksheet and lock rows or columns in one area by freezing or splitting panes . When you freeze panes, you select specific rows or columns that remain visible when scrolling in the worksheet.

For example, you would freeze panes to keep row and column labels visible as you scroll, as shown in the following example.

worksheet window with row 1 frozenWorksheet window with row 1 frozen

When you split panes, you create separate worksheet areas that you can scroll within, while rows or columns in the non-scrolled area remain visible.What do you want to do?

Freeze panes to lock specific rows or columns

  1. On the worksheet, do one of the following:
    • To lock rows, select the row below where you want the split to appear.
    • To lock columns, select the column to the right of where you want the split to appear.
    • To lock both rows and columns, click the cell below and to the right of where you want the split to appear.

    How to select cells, ranges, rows, or columns

    To select Do this
    A single cell Click the cell, or press the arrow keys to move to the cell.
    A range of cells Click the first cell in the range, and then drag to the last cell, or hold down SHIFT while you press the arrow keys to extend the selection.

    You can also select the first cell in the range, and then press F8 to extend the selection by using the arrow keys. To stop extending the selection, press F8 again.

    A large range of cells Click the first cell in the range, and then hold down SHIFT while you click the last cell in the range. You can scroll to make the last cell visible.
    All cells on a worksheet Click the Select All button.

    select all button

    To select the entire worksheet, you can also press CTRL+A.

    Note If the worksheet contains data, CTRL+A selects the current region. Pressing CTRL+A a second time selects the entire worksheet.

    Nonadjacent cells or cell ranges Select the first cell or range of cells, and then hold down CTRL while you select the other cells or ranges.

    You can also select the first cell or range of cells, and then press SHIFT+F8 to add another nonadjacent cell or range to the selection. To stop adding cells or ranges to the selection, press SHIFT+F8 again.

    Note You cannot cancel the selection of a cell or range of cells in a nonadjacent selection without canceling the entire selection.

    An entire row or column Click the row or column heading.

    worksheet showing row heading and column heading

    callout 1 Row heading

    callout 2 Column heading

    You can also select cells in a row or column by selecting the first cell and then pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ARROW key (RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW for rows, UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW for columns).

    Note If the row or column contains data, CTRL+SHIFT+ARROW key selects the row or column to the last used cell. Pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ARROW key a second time selects the entire row or column.

    Adjacent rows or columns Drag across the row or column headings. Or select the first row or column; then hold down SHIFT while you select the last row or column.
    Nonadjacent rows or columns Click the column or row heading of the first row or column in your selection; then hold down CTRL while you click the column or row headings of other rows or columns that you want to add to the selection.
    The first or last cell in a row or column Select a cell in the row or column, and then press CTRL+ARROW key (RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW for rows, UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW for columns).
    The first or last cell on a worksheet or in a Microsoft Office Excel table Press CTRL+HOME to select the first cell on the worksheet or in an Excel list.

    Press CTRL+END to select the last cell on the worksheet or in an Excel list that contains data or formatting.

    Cells to the last used cell on the worksheet (lower-right corner) Select the first cell, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+END to extend the selection of cells to the last used cell on the worksheet (lower-right corner).
    Cells to the beginning of the worksheet Select the first cell, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+HOME to extend the selection of cells to the beginning of the worksheet.
    More or fewer cells than the active selection Hold down SHIFT while you click the last cell that you want to include in the new selection. The rectangular range between the active cell and the cell that you click becomes the new selection.

    Tip To cancel a selection of cells, click any cell on the worksheet.

  2. On the View tab, in the Window group, click Freeze Panes, and then click the option that you want.

    excel ribbon image

    Note When you freeze panes, the Freeze Panes option changes to Unfreeze Panes so that you can unlock frozen rows or columns.

Split panes to lock rows or columns in separate worksheet areas

  1. To split panes, point to the split box at the top of the vertical scroll bar or at the right end of the horizontal scroll bar.

    split box

  2. When the pointer changes to a split pointer split pointer or resize pointer (double-headed arrow), drag the split box down or to the left to the position that you want.
  3. To remove the split, double-click any part of the split bar that divides the panes.



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