Freeze Pane in Excel (Shortcut)

Freeze Pane is a handy feature in Excel that allows you to lock one or more rows at the top (and/or one or more columns on the left).

When you use the Freeze Pane option to lock/fix the rows or columns, those will always remain visible on the screen, even if you scroll down or scroll to the right.

In this tutorial, I will give you the shortcut to Freeze Pane in Excel

Table of Contents

Shortcut to Freeze Pane in Excel

Below is the three shortcuts to freeze panes in Excel.

To freeze the first row in Excel:

ALT + W + F + R

To freeze the first column in Excel:

ALT + W + F + C

To freeze all rows above the cell and all columns to the left of the active cell in Excel:

ALT + W + F + F

How to Use the Keyboard Shortcut to Freeze Pane in Excel

Since there are three different shortcuts to freeze pane in Excel, let me show you how to use each of them them.

Steps To Freeze the First Row

Click anywhere in the worksheet (it doesn’t matter what cell you select)
Use the shortcut ALT + W + F + R (press these keys one after the other)

The above steps would freeze the first row, which would always be visible when you scroll down the worksheet.

Steps To Freeze the First Column

Click anywhere in the worksheet
Use the shortcut ALT + W + F + C (press these keys one after the other)

The above steps would freeze the first column, which would always be visible when you scroll to the left in the workbook

Steps To Freeze Pane Based on Active Cell

Select a cell (all the rows above this cell and all the columns to the left of this cell would be freezed/locked)
Use the shortcut ALT + W + F + F (press these keys one after the other)

In the below example, I selected cell C4 and then used the above shortcut. As you can see, the first three rows and the first two columns have been locked (you can see a thin gray line after the first three rows and first two columns).

Freeze Panes first three rows and first two columns are locked

Note: This same shortcut (ALT + W + F + F) can also be used to remove the Freeze Panes in Excel (to unfreeze the panes)

Advance Excel Tip: If you want to freeze multiple rows (without freezing any column), select the left-most cell in a row just below the number of rows you want to freeze. For example, if you want to freeze the first three rows, select set D1 and then use the shortcut ALT + W + F + F. And similarly if you want to freeze the first three columns, select the cell A4 and then use the shortcut

Alternate Ways to Freeze Pane in Excel:

You can also access the Freeze Pane options through the ribbon in Excel:

Click the View tab
In the Windows group, click on the Freeze Panes option
Select from one of the three options

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