How to freeze rows and columns in Excel: top row, first column or both

Summary. To freeze the top row in Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, open the View tab, select Freeze Panes and choose Freeze Top Row; row 1 then stays on screen as you scroll down. To freeze rows and columns together, select the cell just below and to the right of the area to keep, such as B2 for row 1 and column A, then choose View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes. One rule covers every case: Freeze Panes locks the rows above and the columns to the left of the selected cell, so D5 holds rows 1 to 4 and columns A to C. On a Mac, the View tab has separate Freeze Top Row, Freeze First Column and Freeze Panes buttons. Excel for the web uses the same selection rule, then a menu option that begins Freeze up to and names the row and column. Freezing changes only the screen: it does not repeat headers in print (Print Titles), stop edits (sheet protection) or pin rows from the middle of a sheet (Split). On 15 November 2026 the current builds are Microsoft 365 Apps Current Channel Version 2610 (Build 20527.20196) and Office for Mac Version 16.115, both released on 10 November 2026.

About this article. For anyone who works in long Excel sheets, and for IT teams who build shared templates. Every step, label and limit was checked on 15 November 2026 against Microsoft Support articles and Microsoft Learn release notes. Ribbon labels can differ slightly between versions and update channels; no vendor paid for inclusion. Researched with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.

Which cell to select before you freeze

The one-click options for row 1 or column A need no selection. Everything else depends on which cell is active when you choose Freeze Panes, and the rule is the same on Windows, Mac and the web.

The frozen block always starts at row 1 and column A. Microsoft's Mac article says you can freeze as many rows and columns as you like, provided you start from the top row and the first column. Scroll to the top-left corner before you freeze: rows that are scrolled out of view when you freeze stay out of reach until you unfreeze. Once panes are frozen, a slightly thicker border appears below the last frozen row and to the right of the last frozen column.

Worked example: a sales sheet you scroll both ways

Say you track quarterly sales for 200 reps. Names sit in column A, quarters in columns B to E and a total in column F. Row 1 holds the headers, so the reps fill rows 2 to 201.

Type =SUM(B2:E2) in F2 and fill it down to F201. For Avery that gives 12,400 + 13,100 + 11,800 + 14,250 = 51,550. Now select B2 and choose View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes. Scroll to row 150 and the Rep, Q1 to Q4 and Total headers stay at the top. Add monthly columns out to column Z and scroll right, and the names in column A stay on the left. If you later add a second header row, unfreeze, select B3 and freeze again.

How to freeze rows and columns in Excel for Windows

Microsoft's Windows article applies to Excel for Microsoft 365, Excel 2024, Excel 2021, Excel 2019 and Excel 2016.

Freeze the top row or first column only

1. Open the worksheet and go to the View tab.

1. Select Freeze Panes.

1. Choose Freeze Top Row or Freeze First Column.

Freeze several rows, several columns or both

1. Scroll so that row 1 and column A are visible.

1. Select the cell below the rows and to the right of the columns you want to keep visible. To freeze only the first two columns, Microsoft's example is to select the third column.

1. Select View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes.

Keyboard route. Alt+W opens the View tab, and pressing Alt shows Key Tips, the small letters beside each command. Press the letter shown on Freeze Panes, then the letter for the option you want. If the View tab is missing, Microsoft says you are probably using Excel Starter, which does not support every feature.

How to freeze panes in Excel for Mac

Microsoft's Mac article applies to Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac, Excel 2024 for Mac and Excel 2021 for Mac. On a Mac the freeze buttons sit directly on the View tab rather than in a menu.

• Top row: on the View tab, select Freeze Top Row. The border under row 1 turns a little darker.

• First column: on the View tab, select Freeze First Column. The line to the right of column A turns a little darker.

• Top row and first column: select cell B2, then View > Freeze Panes.

• Several rows or columns: select the row below the last row, or the column to the right of the last column, that you want frozen, then View > Freeze Panes. For the top four rows and leftmost three columns, select D5 first.

If the freeze buttons are greyed out, Microsoft's fix is to select Normal on the View tab.

How to freeze rows in Excel for the web

Excel for the web keeps freeze panes on its View tab, but Microsoft's browser instructions use a different menu option from the desktop:

1. Select the cell below the rows and to the right of the columns you want to freeze. A2 holds row 1 only, B1 holds column A only and B2 holds both.

1. On the View tab, select Freeze Panes.

1. Choose the option that begins Freeze up to, which names the row and column it will lock.

From the keyboard, Alt+Windows logo key, W opens the View tab in Excel for the web, and Microsoft lists freezing rows or columns among the tasks on that tab. For a desktop-only feature such as repeating headers in print, select Editing > Open in Desktop App at the top of the ribbon.

iPad and iPhone

On an iPad, tap View > Freeze Panes and tap the option you need. To freeze several rows or columns, first select the row below or the column to the right of the ones you want frozen, then tap View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes. On an iPhone, tap the ... button to bring up the ribbon, tap Home > View, scroll down and tap Freeze Panes.

How to unfreeze panes

• Windows: View > Freeze Panes > Unfreeze Panes.

• Mac: View > Unfreeze Panes.

• Web: open View > Freeze Panes again and choose the unfreeze option on that menu.

• iPad and iPhone: tap View > Freeze Panes and clear every selected option.

To move the frozen line, unfreeze first, select the new cell, then freeze again.

Freeze panes compared with split, print titles, hide and protect

The paths come from Microsoft's Split, Print Titles, hide and sheet protection articles.

Split is the answer when you want to freeze a row in the middle. Select the row below where the split should go (row 13 splits the sheet below row 12), then choose View > Window > Split; select Split again to remove it. Microsoft's Split article covers Excel for Microsoft 365, Excel 2024 and Excel 2021.

For printed headers, open Page Layout > Print Titles, go to the Sheet tab and, in Rows to repeat at top, type $1:$1. Microsoft notes that the button is dimmed while you are editing a cell, when a chart is selected on the same sheet or when no printer is installed, and that Excel for the web cannot currently repeat headers when printing. To stop people changing a shared template, lock the cells and protect the sheet, as our guide to locking cells in Excel explains.

Troubleshooting freeze panes

• The freeze buttons are greyed out. On a Mac, Microsoft's fix is View > Normal. On Windows, the same switch to Normal view is worth trying first, and finish editing any cell before you open the menu.

• The wrong rows froze, or rows above the line vanished. You probably froze while scrolled down. Unfreeze, scroll to the top, select the right cell and freeze again.

• Column A seems frozen but you cannot see it. It may be hidden rather than frozen. Microsoft's fix is to type A1 in the Name Box, then choose Home > Format > Hide & Unhide > Unhide Columns. See also our guide to hiding and unhiding columns.

• The sheet scrolls oddly with the arrow keys. Check the status bar: Excel shows Scroll Lock there when it is on, and pressing the Scroll Lock key turns it off. See also our guide to turning off Scroll Lock in Excel.

For IT teams and businesses

Freeze settings travel with the file: the Open XML spreadsheet format stores each worksheet's pane layout, including whether its split is frozen. So the simplest fix for tickets about missing headers is a better template. Freeze row 1 (or B2) in every report template before it is shared, and set Print Titles at the same time so PDFs sent to clients carry headers on every page.

If staff scroll through thousands of rows to find answers, the data probably belongs in a filtered and named Excel table, a PivotTable or a reporting tool rather than a longer sheet.

How eCorpIT can help

eCorpIT is a Gurugram-based technology organisation, founded in 2021, assessed at CMMI Level 5 and MSME certified, with senior-led engineering teams working across AWS, Microsoft and Google platforms. Our data and analytics services team builds reporting templates and dashboards so staff spend less time scrolling large sheets and more time reading the numbers. Talk to us at /contact-us/.

Last updated: 15 November 2026.

References

1. Freeze panes (Microsoft 365, Web and Microsoft 365 for Mac tabs) — Microsoft Support

1. Freeze panes to lock rows and columns, updated 27 January 2026 — Microsoft Support

1. Freeze panes to lock the first row or column in Excel for Mac, updated 31 July 2026 — Microsoft Support

1. Print rows with column headers on top of every page — Microsoft Support

1. Split panes to lock rows or columns in separate worksheet areas — Microsoft Support

1. Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date) — Microsoft Learn

1. Update history for Office for Mac — Microsoft Learn

1. Keyboard shortcuts in Excel — Microsoft Support

1. Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Excel — Microsoft Support

1. Freeze panes to lock the first row or column in Excel for iOS — Microsoft Support

1. Hide or show rows or columns — Microsoft Support

1. Protect a worksheet — Microsoft Support

1. Unhide the first column or row in a worksheet — Microsoft Support

1. Turn off Scroll Lock — Microsoft Support

1. Pane Class (DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Spreadsheet) — Microsoft Learn