Excel like a finance pro.
Freeze the header row so it never scrolls away
AltW, F, FTables & dataPin the headings in place so row 300 still tells you what it's looking at.
Difficulty
1What it does
Freeze Panes locks rows above and columns left of wherever you're standing, so they stay on screen while the rest scrolls. On a trial balance or an aging report the difference is total: without it, everything past the first screenful is a wall of anonymous numbers and you're scrolling up and back to remember which column is which. The one thing to get right is where you stand before you press it — the freeze happens above and to the left of the SELECTED cell, not on the row you meant.
2The shortcut
- 1Click the cell BELOW the rows and RIGHT of the columns you want frozen. To freeze row 1 only, click
A2. - 2Press
Alt + W, thenF, thenF. - 3A thin line marks the freeze. Same keystroke again unfreezes.
3Before → after
Press the shortcut to play it on a sample sheet.
Before — scrolled to row 300, columns are anonymous
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | … | … | … |
| 2 | 6100 · Rent | 18,000 | 18,000 |
| 3 | 6200 · Payroll | 94,300 | 88,100 |
| 4 | 6300 · Software | 7,450 | 6,900 |
| 5 | 6400 · Travel | 3,120 | 5,880 |
Which number is this month and which is last? The freeze happens ABOVE the cell you're standing on — that's the bit people get wrong.
4When you use it
- Keep account names and month headings visible down a long trial balance.
- Hold the customer column in place while scrolling right through aging buckets.
- Freeze the top row and first column at once by standing on
B2.
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