Hey, data friends!
Today I will walk you through how to freeze a column in Excel. This tutorial is short and to the point, since I have a more in-depth post on how to freeze top row and first column in excel available here.
Let’s see these two steps in Action:
We will use the below data set as an example of how to freeze a column in Excel. Our goal will be to freeze the Order Date and Order Number columns.
To do that we need to select the column to the right of those two, which would be the Product Sku column. When I say to select the column I mean the entire column, like so:
You can select the entire column by clicking on the column letter (in the red box).
With the entire column selected we can now execute the freeze panes shortcut ALT + W + F + F. Our data table should now look like the one below:
Notice the new grey line that runs vertically and directly to the right of the Order Number column. This grey line is an indication that our panes are frozen; in other words, we’ve successfully frozen a column in Excel!
If we need to unfreeze the panes, then all we need to do is execute the freeze panes shortcut. The shortcut allows us to toggle between freezing and unfreezing columns. When we unfreeze panes, we do not need to highlight the column again, we can unfreeze regardless of what cell we’re currently in.
If you have any questions or need anything clarified, you can reach me through my Twitter DMs @Cest_nick; otherwise, I’ll catch you on the next post!
-Nick
