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Trouble Freezing Top Row and First Column Together

Anonymous
2019-08-13T16:40:52+00:00

When I do the below instructions, it does not freeze my top row and first column together, though BOTH were selected as instructed, meaning "select the cell below...and [the cell] to the right of column..."  The only way I can see information is to use the SPLIT screen feature.

Why can't I just freeze both row and column at once without it grabbing the top 3 or 4 rows?

Freeze columns and rows

  1. Select the cell below the rows and to the right of the columns you want to keep visible when you scroll.
  2. Select View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes.
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  1. HansV 462.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2019-08-13T16:48:19+00:00

    If you want to freeze the top row and leftmost column:

    • If Split is currently active, turn it off.
    • If Freeze Panes is currently active, turn it off.
    • Select cell B2.
    • Select Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes.

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  1. HansV 462.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2019-08-13T18:34:52+00:00

    The sentence from the online help that you quoted says "Select the cell below the rows and to the right of the columns you want to keep visible when you scroll."

    If you want to freeze the first row and first column, B2 is the cell to select:

    If you had wanted to freeze the top 2 rows and left 3 columns, D3 would be the cell immediately below row 2 and to the right of column C, so you'd select D3 before selecting Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes.

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-08-13T18:47:05+00:00

    My bad.  I just didn't take the time to actually READ the wording.  (And usually I do.)  It says "cell."  Instead, I was highlighting the entire first row and the entire first column.

    That'll teach me!  :)

    Again, thank you, Hans!

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-08-13T18:02:04+00:00

    Hans: 

    I don't know how you did it, but it worked!  But the question is...why?  Why "B2?"  And secondly, where would someone have found that solution to implement?  I looked in the help section, among others, and found nothing.  Even the directions to "Freeze Panes" did not give the correct info because freezing only the one row/column I needed resulted in the top 3-4 rows being included.

    If you're willing to share "inside" secrets, do let me know!

    And thank you so much!

    Penny

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