How to Keep Rows Stationary in Excel

By C. Taylor

When you scroll down long spreadsheets, the top header rows quickly disappear. Without these headers, you may have trouble confidently identifying columns of data. To prevent having to scroll back up to reference headers or important data, consider using Excel 2013's Freeze Panes option to make those rows stationary. This option only freezes rows at the top of the screen, but the frozen rows do not need to start with the first row.

Freeze Panes

Step 1

Scroll down until the first row you want visible is at the top of the spreadsheet. As an example, if you only wanted the third through fifth rows visible, scroll down until the third row is the first visible row at the top of the screen.

Step 2

Click the row number directly below the last row you want stationary. Continuing with the example, click the left "6" row header. Doing so highlights the entire sixth row.

Click the "View" tab, select the "Freeze Panes" drop-down menu from the Window group and choose "Freeze Panes." Alternatively, select "Freeze Top Row" to only freeze the first visible row. You can then scroll down as far as you need while keeping the frozen row(s) visible.