How to Freeze Rows and Columns in Google Sheets

To freeze rows in Google Sheets, open the View menu, choose Freeze, and pick how many rows or columns to lock. They then stay visible as you scroll. Here is how to freeze, adjust, and unfreeze them.

Freezing keeps your header row (or first columns) visible while the rest of the sheet scrolls. It is the fix for that moment when you scroll down a long list and can no longer tell which column is which.

How to freeze rows

1. Open the sheet and click any cell.
2. Go to the View menu, then hover over Freeze.
3. Choose 1 row to lock just the header, or 2 rows to lock the top two.
4. Scroll down — the frozen rows stay put while everything below moves.

How to freeze columns

Columns work the same way. Go to View > Freeze and choose 1 column or 2 columns to keep the leftmost columns — like names or dates — visible as you scroll sideways. To freeze up to a certain column, select a cell in it first and choose "Up to current column".

Adjust or unfreeze

• To change how many rows or columns are frozen, just pick a different number under View > Freeze.
• To remove a freeze, go to View > Freeze and choose No rows (or No columns).
• You can also drag the thick gray line at the edge of the frozen area to move the freeze by hand.

Doing the same thing in Excel? See how to freeze rows and columns in Excel. Once your headers stay put, a pivot table in Google Sheets makes long lists even easier to read.