How to Freeze a Row and Column in Google Sheets

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Key Takeaways: How to Freeze a Row and Column in Google Sheets

To Freeze a Row and Column in Google Sheets

  1. Go to View > Freeze.
  2. Choose an option for rows or columns.
  3. Your selected rows or columns are now frozen.

OR

  1. Go to View > Freeze.
  2. Select “1 row” to freeze the first row or “2 rows” for the top two rows.

OR

  1. Open the Google Sheets app.
  2. Select any cell in the row you want to freeze.
  3. Go to View > Freeze and choose an option for the row.

In this article, we will learn how to freeze a row and column in google sheets.

Freezing a row or column can be very helpful when working on large datasheets, we many times face the complexity of too much data appearing in our sheet so that’s why we use the freeze method we can freeze and unfreeze our rows and columns without losing their data, functionality or position.

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Advantages of using Freeze Function in Google Sheets

The freeze function is really useful and very important for complex data sets. Datasets like pay orders and payroll are highly loaded and most of the data is not required all the time. By using the frozen row and column feature we can freeze the top most important rows and work on the below spreadsheet. We don’t need to scroll up and scroll down, again and again, to see the important things from the top of the datasheet we can easily freeze top rows and they will be frozen. They will not leave their sticky position and keep appearing on the top either we scroll down or scroll up.

Let’s see how it works using several methods.

Two Ways to Freeze Rows and Columns in Google Sheets

Freeze Rows & Columns using Main Menu

In the main menu method, we can freeze rows and columns by going to View > and then Freeze > pick an option from the given four options according to your need and click on it.

Step 1

Go to View > Freeze

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Step 2

Select an option from the four given options for rows and similarly for columns

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Step 3

Check your sheet. It will be frozen

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Freeze Rows & Columns using Shortcut

Hover on the header of the column, until your cursor changes into a hand cursor. Then drag below up to the rows till where you want to freeze.

Similarly for columns, hover on the left-most corner origin and wait for the hand cursor and then drag rightward until the column you want to freeze.

Step 1

Hover on the headers of the columns until you get the hand cursor.

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Step 2

Left Click, and drag your mouse below.

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Step 3

A transparent line will be indicating you the freeze span. Left the left-click button and scroll to see the freeze effect.

Step 4

Similarly for the columns

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How to Freeze a Specific Row in Google Sheets

You can freeze a specific row in google sheets very easily by following the below steps. But remember that a specific row can be the top row or any row connecting with row 1. It means that you can not separately freeze any row until it’s the first row. This limits the functionality of the freeze function. But currently, we don’t have any alternative in google sheets to freeze a middle row specifically.

Step 1

Go to view > Freeze

Step 2

Click on “ 1 row”. It will freeze the very first row. You can also select “2 rows” to freeze the top 2 rows.

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Also remember that you can not freeze a middle column, like if you want to freeze column number 10. Google sheets do not allow to do that. You can only freeze rows or columns from the top or left side.

You can freeze up to an nth number of rows and columns if it is starting from the top row or leftmost column.

How to Freeze a Row in Google Sheets App

Freezing rows in google sheets are very simple, we have two methods as we discussed above, a direct main menu method, and another is a shortcut method using mouse. The mouse method is mostly used and is recommended because it is fast.

We can freeze the first row, top 2 rows, and as many rows as we want but with the combination starting from row1. We can not freeze only row number 10 or 15 or even 2. But we can freeze rows 1-2, 1-3, 1-100, etc.

This is how the google sheets freezing feature works. Don’t get overwhelmed by finding a way to freeze a specific row other than the top row. There is no such way. The same goes for the columns.

Step 1

Go to View > Freeze.

Step 2

Select an option to freeze the row as per your need.

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How to Freeze a Header Row in Google Sheets

So the headers that contain A B C are automatically frozen by default. The next header row is the first row that mostly contains the headers of the data. So we can easily freeze the header row here by using the same method. Considering it as the first row we can use the following two same steps to freeze it.

The headers are normally more likely to be frozen by the data manager for themselves and also for their users to easily navigate and manipulate through it. The most simple way to freeze the header row is to hover your mouse over the header row, and slowly move your mouse to the left or right side until the arrow cursor changes to the hand cursor. After you have got the hand cursor, then just drag it by holding the left-click of your mouse, a transparent guideline will appear and help you understand the rows that are going to be frozen from your action.

If this sounds too confusing then you can refer to this method in the above shortcut method section, where we have defined this method step by step with screenshots.

If you still don’t like this method then you can use the below method which is the menu method.

Step 1

Go to View > Freeze.

Step 2

Select “up to row 1” or “1 row” both are identical if you select any cell of the first row (header row).

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How to Freeze a Column in Google Sheets App

Just like rows, we can also freeze columns in google sheets, and the google sheets app. for google sheets, simply follow the below easy steps to freeze columns.

For columns, keep in mind that the column index starts from the left, and goes towards the right. Column A is column number 1.

Step 1

Go to View > Freeze

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Step 2

Select an option from no columns, 1 column, 2 columns, up to n columns. (n is the number of columns currently selected.

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Freeze 1 Column

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Freeze 2 Columns

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Freeze Up to Column N

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How to Freeze Columns in Google Sheets App

Mobile apps are widely used, if you’re using the google sheets mobile application, and you want to freeze your columns then you can easily do it without any hurdle using your smartphone.

Simply follow the below steps to freeze the column from your smartphone google sheets application.

Step 1

Open google sheet app

Step 2

Select any row or column header

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Step 3

From the popped-up menu click on three dots

Step 4

Click Freeze

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Step 5

Repeat the same steps to unfreeze

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Note that you can also freeze and unfreeze rows similarly using the mobile app of google sheets. The only difference in the selection is if you select rows and perform the above step then rows will be frozen or unfroze

How to freeze row and column in google sheets

We have discussed how to freeze rows and columns, now we can easily freeze rows and columns at once. It is as simple as you like. Where we used the menu method to freeze a row and then a column, we will use both options one after another to freeze the row and column at once.

This is so simple.

Step 1

Identify the rows and columns you want to freeze

Step 2

Select any cell from the row you want to freeze and go to View > Freeze

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Step 3

Pick an option to freeze the row

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Step 4

Select any cell of the column you want to freeze and go to View > Freeze

Step 5

Pick an option to freeze the column

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You have successfully frozen rows and columns as per the requirement.

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How to Unfreeze Rows and Columns in Google Sheets

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To recap we have seen how to freeze a row and column google sheets using several scenarios. We also discussed the basic rule for freezing the google sheets. And the most important thing is that the middle row of columns can not be frozen using any method, either by google apps script. So never try to freeze a middle row or column. Keep your data professionally appealing and avoid using the freeze function unnecessarily. It is more likely to be used for freezing headers, or sometimes a column that contains important data.

Notes

  • Remember that, a middle row or column can not be frozen using any method in the google sheets.
  • You can freeze the 1st row or 1st column, and from the 1st row to the nth row, similarly for columns.
  • If you have seen somewhere that a middle row or column is frozen, so let me clear it is possible in Microsoft excel. It is done by using the split function. This function split the entire sheet into two or more parts, and then the 1st row of each part can be frozen and similarly for columns
  • You can easily freeze rows or columns using the shortcut method that is defined above.
  • Try to use the shortcut method, it is fast and easy.
  • Mostly you need to freeze your data headers only, so never overdo this feature.

Conclusion

Congratulations for being till the end. hope you enjoyed the article and you have learned many new things about the freeze function in google sheets. Now you can play around with your data and make it more appealing and convenient for the users by freezing the important top rows that help avoid a lot of scrolling and saves a lot of time. That’s all from how to freeze a row and column in google sheets.

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M. Shaiq Ansari

Hi, I am Shaiq, I am a highly skilled technical writer working full-time for Office Demy. I am specialized in Google Workspace and Microsoft Office applications. With a background in Software Engineering, I possess a deep understanding of the intricate functionalities and features of these productivity tools. Connect me on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaiq-ansari/

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