Block rows and columns

In “Excel”, we have the ability to “Freeze” rows or columns.

What do I mean by “Freeze”?

When you have a long list and you start scrolling down the data in this list, you don’t see the column titles anymore. This is not necessarily a problem when all the data in the columns is clear (e.g. Name – Address – Postal Code and City). But what if the data in the columns is not so obvious? One solution is to “Lock” the row which contains the titles. This way you can “Freeze” the titles of the rows or columns and you can scroll down as much as you want. The titles, when frozen, will always remain visible.

In order to do this, choose the “View” tab in the “Ribbon”, and click “Freeze Panes.” In the drop-down menu that appears, we have three possibilities:

1. “Freeze Panes”: the parent row, and left side of the selected cell block.
2. “Freeze Top row”: block the top row of our worksheet
3. “Freeze First column”: block the first column, column A in your worksheet .

 

Click on your choice.

You can now see in your “Worksheet”, indicated by the black lines, where “Excel” has positioned the lock.

To undo the freeze, click again on “Freeze Panes” button and choose “Unfreeze Panes”.

Split Screen

Another way to view different areas in our spreadsheet is to use the “split screen”option from the window menu.

The “Split” is found in the “View” tab in the Ribbon, under the group “Window”.

The window will split to the left of and above the selected cell.

The difference with the option “Freeze Panes”, is that when you “Split” a window, three of the four windows have their own scroll bars. This allows you to view different areas of the “Worksheet” at the same time.

You can rearrange the “Split” by clicking and dragging the bars.

A second way to “Split” a window is by clicking and dragging the splitter bar buttons.

These buttons are positioned at the vertical and horizontal bars, at the top right and bottom right of the scroll bars.

 

When using this option the window does not become divided into four windows, but in two. Horizontally or vertically, depending on which splitter button you clicked.

When you move the mouse pointer over the “split bar button” it modifies into a double arrow. When you double-click, the window will be “Split” in two, top or left of the cell that is currently selected. Again, this depends on which button you clicked on the striker bar.

For both splits, horizontally and vertically, click again on the “Split” in the “Ribbon”.

If you want to remove one bar, double-click this bar.

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