Tuesday Tip – Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

by Cheryl Sklar

“Frozen” –the 3D, computer-animated Disney film that’s all the rage right now – has people all over the world, adults and children alike, singing their hit songs and watching the movie over and over and over again.  And despite the weather in Atlanta trying to evolve into Spring, there are still freeze warnings now even though we’re well into March.  Welcome to Atlanta!

 But what if you want to Freeze columns in Excel while you’re working on a spreadsheet, or while you’re looking for critical information?  If you’re scrolling down through the spreadsheet but you still want to be able to see the titles of the columns at the top, there is a handy little “thingy” (that’s a technical term) on the top to the right of the columns.

You simply put your cursor there and drag it down below the area that you want to keep seeing.  This creates a secondary working area and freezes your titles in place at the top of the spreadsheet.

 Now you can see the titles, no matter how far down you need to keep scrolling.

If you want to do a similar thing, but freeze the rows on the far left of your worksheet, there is not a convenient “thingy” there (at least not in my Excel 2010 Version).  However, you can still freeze those rows.

To do so,

• select the column to the right of the column(s) that you want to keep visible when you scroll;

• click on the View tab (at the top of the spreadsheet) and then “freeze panes;”

• When you hit the scroll down triangle next to “Freeze Panes,” you’ll see the option to Freeze First Column.  This will allow you to keep the first column visible while scrolling through the rest of the worksheet.  You’ll see that this is another way to freeze the top row as well.

If you want to freeze the columns and the rows, you simply put your cursor on the cell below the row you want to freeze and to the right of the column you want to freeze.  Then click View again, Freeze Panes, and you’ll see the option to Freeze (both) Panes.  A thicker line will appear that shows you where the freezing occurs.

Note:  You can freeze only rows at the top and columns on the left side of the worksheet. You cannot freeze rows and columns in the middle of the worksheet.

To Unfreeze these rows or columns, just click “Unfreeze Panes” at the same place where you froze them.

So while you’re organizing important lists in your law firm or medical practice, this is a handy tool to help you be able to see rows and columns as you need to scroll throughout the spreadsheet.  For another helpful Excel tip, see Richard’s previous information about Auto Fill.

For those of you wondering why this Tip is entitled, “Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?”, that’s the name of one of the popular songs in “Frozen.”  If you have small children, grandchildren or teenagers, ask them and they’ll either start singing it for you or start crying (it’s a tear-jerker in the context of the movie).

Cheryl Sklar  With over 25 years of experience in sales,  marketing and general coordination, Cheryl uses her varied organizational skills to enhance the behind the scenes workings of Network 1.  She strives to help things run smoothly wherever she can.

csklar@network1consulting.com or 404.997.7641

Network 1 Consulting is a 16-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA.  We become – or augment – the IT department for law firms and medical practices.  Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients really value are the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firms.  This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly.  We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.