How to Freeze a Row in Google Sheets (In 3 Easy Steps)

Have you been working on a spreadsheet that had hundreds of rows, and when you scroll down a bit, you couldn’t see your column’s headings?

Remember the frustration of not being able to figure out which data belong to which heading?

It sucks!

One of the best solutions to this problem is to freeze rows.

The freeze feature in Google Sheets allows you to freeze rows or columns in your spreadsheet. After freezing the rows or columns, it will be always visible on the top while you scroll through the rest of the sheet.

Sounds interesting?

Let’s dive into how to freeze a row in Google Sheets (step-by-step tutorial)

01. How to Freeze the Top Row in Google Sheets?

Most of the time you’ll be looking to freeze the top row in your Google Sheets as it generally contains the heading of each column (data points) in your spreadsheet.

For example, Let’s consider the case where you are a website owner. You have prepared a Google spreadsheet to track the key engagement metrics on your site for each day.

Your spreadsheet contains over 100 rows and 8-10 different data points (columns).

When you scroll below rows 20-25, you’ll have a hard time figuring out which data belongs to which metrics (until and unless you memorize every data point in the correct order)

This is where freezing the top row in your Google Sheets makes sense.

Fortunately, Google Sheets makes it quite easy to freeze the top row within 1-2 clicks.

Here’s how:

1. Visit docs.google.com/spreadsheets and open your prefered Google sheet.

2. Next, navigate to the top-left corner of your Google sheet — right below the formula bar. You will find a blank grey box between the column letters and row numbers with light gray border. This border is going to help you freeze the row within a click.

3. Put your mouse cursor on the bottom gray border, and when you see the hand icon, drag it beneath the row 1 and above row 2.

That’s it… The above steps will freeze the top row in your Google sheets.

02. How to Pin a Row in Google Sheets Using View Menu?

While the above method is quite handy, there is another super-easy way to pin a row in Google Sheets.

The Freeze feature in the View menu offers different ways to pin a certain number of rows within your spreadsheet.

Here are all the possible options you’ll find under the freeze menu:

Freeze the First Row of Your Spreadsheet:

In order to freeze the first row of your data, simply head to View > Freeze

Then select 1 row from the Freeze Sub dropdown menu.

This will instantly freeze the first row of your spreadsheet.

Freeze the First Two Row of Your Spreadsheet:

In order to freeze the first two rows of your data, follow the same instruction as above (go to View > Freeze). Just select 2 rows from the Freeze Sub dropdown menu, instead of 1.

Freeze Multiple Rows in Google Sheets:

What if you want to freeze more than 2 rows?

For example, let’s say you want to freeze the first 5 rows of your Google Sheets.

No Problem!

Start by selecting any cell in the fifth (5) row. This is because we want to freeze until the 5th row.

Then navigate to View > Freeze and select up to row 5 from the Freeze sub dropdown menu. The number of rows in the freeze sub dropdown menu will dynamically change based on the row number selected in your sheet.

03. How to Freeze a Column in Google Sheets?

Similar to rows, your worksheet may contain so many data points (columns) that some of them go off your viewable window or screen.

Freezing a column will make sure it is always viewable while you scroll to the left or right. This makes it easy to analyze one data point (column) with the other.

Freeze First Column in Google Sheets:

Let’s say we want to freeze the “date column” in our worksheet.

To freeze a column in Google Sheets, follow the same procedure outlined before for freezing the first row.

Simply head to View > Freeze and select 1 column from the Freeze sub dropdown menu.

Freeze Multiple Columns in Google Sheets:

Now, let’s say we want not only the “date” column to remain in view as we scroll to the right, but also the “sessions” and “page views” column.

Again, this is very simple since you have already learned how to freeze multiple rows.

Select one of the cells in column 3 and then head over to View > Freeze and select Up to column C from the Freeze sub dropdown menu.

04. How to Unfreeze Rows or Columns in Google Sheets?

It’s just as simple to unfreeze rows and columns in Google Sheets as it is to freeze them.

Simply head to View > Freeze and select No row or No column (depending on what you want to unfreeze)

05. Final Thought

And there you have it!

A spreadsheet can become difficult to manage as you begin to add more and more rows to your sheet.

Constantly scrolling to the top to figure out which data belongs to which heading can be a tedious task.

Fortunately, once you freeze a row, it stays visible at the top of the page, even when it should be hidden from view as you scroll down.

Now that you know how to freeze a row in Google Sheets you can take advantage of it to easily navigate large and complicated spreadsheets.