How to unfreeze Panes in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a great tool for managing your data. But have you ever needed to keep a row or column fixed while scrolling through your Google Sheets?

Sometimes you may need to view the data at the end of your sheet while still maintaining a view of the top.

Google Sheets has a feature that allows you to freeze rows and columns so that important information like column headings don’t scroll off the screen when you are viewing certain parts of the spreadsheet.

This can be especially helpful when you are working with large datasets!

This blog post will show you how to use the freeze panes feature in Google Sheets effectively!

Make sure to use the above link to get the example workbook to help you practice.

Freeze Rows or Columns Using the Mouse

One way you can freeze a Google Sheets row or column is by using the mouse!

To do this, move your mouse cursor to the square over to where the row and column headings intersect. This will cause your cursor to change into a hand icon and you will see either a horizontal or vertical light blue bar.

Now you can click and drag the line to freeze either the row or column.

Unfreeze Rows or Columns Using the Mouse

Unfreezing rows or columns is just as easy with the mouse.

To unfreeze rows or columns, all you need to do is simply click and drag the bar back to the row and column heading intersection.

When you hover the mouse cursor over the frozen row or column bar indicator, the cursor will again turn into a small hand icon and you can click and drag the bar back to its origin.

It’s that easy!

Freeze Rows or Columns from the View Menu

Another way to freeze Google Sheets rows or columns is by using the View menu!

Follow these steps to freeze rows or columns.

1. Click on the View tab in the menu.
2. Select Freeze from the options.
3. Choose either of the options: 1 row, 2 rows or Up to the current row. Similar options exist for columns as well.

If you select 1 row or 2 rows then the top row or top 2 rows will appear frozen at the top of the spreadsheet when you scroll down. These are great preset options when you have a data list with column headings.

If you select Up to current row, then the number of rows that will be kept frozen at the top will depend on where your active cell cursor is located. Any rows on or above the active cell will get frozen at the top of your sheet.

Similarly, selecting Up to current column will freeze any columns on or to the left of the active cell.

Unfreeze Rows or Columns from the View Menu

If you already have frozen rows or columns in your sheet and you would like to remove them, this can also be done from the View tab menu.

To unfreeze rows or columns, follow these steps.

1. Click on the View tab menu.
2. Select Freeze from the options.
3. Select either No rows or No columns.

The frozen rows or columns will be removed.

Unfortunately, if you’ve got both frozen rows and columns. You will need to do this twice as there is no option to remove both rows and columns at the same time.

Freeze Rows or Columns Using an Apps Script

Freezing rows or columns can also be controlled using Apps Scripts.

This way you can easily toggle on and off frozen rows and columns at the same time.

To do this click on the Tools menu then select Script editor from the options.

This will open up the script editor and you can place the above code inside and run it.

This code will freeze both the first row and column of the active sheet.

Unfreeze Rows or Columns Using an Apps Script

Nearly the same apps script code can be used to unfreeze the rows and columns.

You just need to change the index referenced in the setFrozenRows and setFrozenColumns functions of the script.

Setting these to 0 will essentially remove any frozen rows or columns on the sheet.

Conclusions

With Google Sheets, it’s easy to freeze rows or columns to help you keep the important information visible when scrolling.

Google Sheets has two different ways to do this, either with the mouse or from the View menu.

You can even automate this using a simple apps script.

Do you use this feature? Let us know in the comments below!

Next: Check out how to add alternating row colors to your datasets. This is another great feature for making your data easier to view!

If you’re working with a massive amount of data in Google Sheets, the option to freeze columns can be very useful. It’s a simple and effective way to prevent the data from a key column disappearing from your sight.

But if the sheet in front contains frozen columns that you’d like to unfreeze, there’s an easy way to do so. In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know.

Here’s a simple sheet with numerous columns and rows. The first and second columns are frozen. If you scroll to the right, you can still see them.

If you’d like to unfreeze this column, follow these steps:

1. Press and hold Ctrl and select the columns you’d like to unfreeze (click if you’re working on a computer, touch and hold if you’re using Google Spreadsheets on Android, or tap it on your iPhone or iPad).
   
   
2. Click “View,” and on the drop-down menu choose “Freeze” > ”No columns”.
   
   

How to Freeze Columns

If you want to freeze those columns again – or to prioritize some other threads – the procedure is just as easy:

1. Select the column or click a cell on the column you want to freeze or keep visible.
   
   
2. Click “View”, choose “Freeze”, and decide on the number of columns that need to be frozen.
   
   

Note that you can also select either “Up to the current column” to freeze several columns at once.

So you’ve frozen some columns, and now you’d like to freeze a few more. If they’re placed next to the already pinned ones, just drag the line that indicates the end of the last frozen column. Then, drop it where you want, to comprise other columns that need to be pinned.

It works the other way round too. You can unfreeze columns with drag and drop.

How to Customize Columns

When you create a new spreadsheet, all cells are the same. As soon as you start typing and entering data, based on the type of content within cells, you’ll probably need to change the width of columns, move them, insert new ones, or delete some columns.

To change the width of a column:

1. Place the cursor on the right border of a column.
   
   
2. When a double arrow appears, click the border and move it to the right to expand, or to the left to reduce the width of the column.
   
   

If you’d like your column’s width to adapt the content, you can autosize its width. To do that:

1. Place the cursor on the right border of a column.
2. When a double arrow appears, just double-click on it.
   
   

You might wish to make all your columns equal. To change the dimensions of all columns in a sheet at once:

1. Hold Ctrl and press A or click the blank button that’s placed just beneath the formula bar.
   
   
2. Place the cursor at the border of any column.
   
   
3. When a double arrow appears, click the border and move it to the right to expand, or to the left to reduce the width of the column – just like you would do with a single column.
   
   

Inserting Columns

To insert additional columns between the existing ones:

1. Select the column closest to the point where you want the new one to appear.
   
   
2. Right-click on it and then click either “Insert 1 left” or “Insert 1 right”.
   
   

If you’ve reached the last column of the sheet, you can insert new ones as described above. But keep in mind that sheets have limits. The maximum number of cells in each sheet is two million. Even before you reach that limit, you might notice how everything slows down, especially if your sheet has plenty of complex models and formulas.

Imagine you have a column titled “Name” and you want to turn it into two separate columns – one containing first names only, and the other with last names. You could insert a column on the right and then move all surnames manually. But there is a better way to do this:

1. Insert a column to the right, as explained above.
   
   
2. Select the column containing the full names.
   
   
3. Click on the Data button and choose “Split text to columns” then select “Space” in the small pop-up box.
   
   
4. Rename the columns.
   
   

To Freeze or Not to Freeze

The option to freeze or unfreeze columns in Google Sheets can be really helpful if you’d like to keep the key data visible as you work. Unfreezing is easy – you can freeze and unfreeze as many columns as you like at any time. Whether you’re new to Google Sheets or a seasoned, advanced user, there will always be a column that you can freeze to make the whole sheet better organized.

Have you ever had to unfreeze columns in Google Sheets? Did you use the methods outlined in this article? Let us know in the comments section below.