If you’re typing a lot of data into a spreadsheet, it can be frustrating and time consuming to have to scroll up to remember which field is for what. To make it easier, Google Sheets gives you the option to freeze one or more columns, making entering values in the sheets a much easier process. We’ll show you two methods to freeze the columns in Google sheets.
Method 1
Quick Navigation
Have a look at your Google sheet. Observe that there is an intersection area formed by the fixed row and the fixed column. The intersection of the row with alphabets and the column with numbers.
The intersection area forms a rectangle. Hover your mouse pointer on the bottom side of the rectangle – you will see that it is highlighted in blue color.
Double-tap on the highlighted line and drag it to the column or the end of columns that you want to freeze. Now your column(s) should be frozen. Here’s an example of how this might work. We have a google sheet with some entries in it. Our aim is to freeze the first column which contains labels column 1, column 2 … column 6
This is the intersection area where the fixed upper row and the first column meet.
The area is highlighted in blue when our mouse hovers over it. Now, I drag the highlighted line towards the end of the first column and drop it there.
Now we froze our column with our labels in column 1 using method 1. We can use the same method to freeze multiple columns. Drag the blue line towards the end of the last column for the set of columns you want to freeze.
Method 2
For this method, we will go into the menu tab and go to ‘view.’
Click on the ‘Freeze’ option in the ‘view’ tab. You should now see the following options in the freeze tab:
- No columns: If columns are already frozen, this option will revert that option and no column(s) is/are frozen.
- 1 column – To freeze the first column
- 2 column – To freeze the first two columns at the beginning of the sheet
- Up to current column(x) – x is the column number you selected using your mouse. This allows us to freeze the columns from the first column to the selected column (x numbered column)
Select the appropriate option to carry out the task.
It’s time for another example. Let’s look at a google sheet with some entries in it. Our aim is to freeze the first column which contains the labels for all of our columns. Follow along with our method 2 steps as we freeze the first column.
First, we select the ‘View’ tab in the menu tab. In View, we select the ‘Freeze’ option. Since we want to freeze the first row, we select the option 1 column. Also, you can do the same by selecting the first column using the mouse pointer and then selecting the option up to current column (1) to freeze the first column.
Comparing Methods
If you’re wondering which option you should choose to save time, Method 1 saves us a lot of time when compared to Method 2. Still, you should pick the method that you’re most comfortable with and that matches the scope of your project.