Freeze Excel column and row titles (2000/2001/2002/2003/2007)

When you work with a large Excel worksheet, it's often difficult to remember exactly what kind of data columns or rows contain once you begin scrolling around the sheet and lose sight of the column and row labels. Fortunately, you can freeze rows and columns that contain headings so you always know what data you're looking at.

To freeze a row, select the row number or the cell in column A that's immediately beneath the last row you want frozen. Then, select Window | Freeze Panes from the menu bar. (In Excel 2007, go to the View tab and, in the Window group, click on the Freeze Panes button. Choose Freeze Panes from the dropdown list.) Excel inserts a thin line to show you where the frozen pane begins. To freeze a column, select the column letter or the cell in row 1 that's immediately to the right of the last column you want frozen. To freeze horizontal and vertical areas simultaneously, select the cell that's in the upper-left corner of the range you want to remain scrollable and then invoke the Freeze Panes feature. If you later want to make all regions scrollable again, simply select Window | Unfreeze Panes from the menu bar. (In Excel 2007, go to the View tab and, in the Windows group, click on the Freeze Panes button. Choose Unfreeze Panes from the dropdown list.)

In Excel 2007, you have two new features for freezing panes. When you click the Freeze Panes button, there are two new options in the resulting dropdown list: Freeze Top Row and Freeze First Column. These options allow you to freeze either the top row or the first column regardless of what's selected in your spreadsheet.