How to Freeze a Row in Google Sheets

Your header row scrolls out of view as soon as the sheet gets long, and you lose track of which column holds what. Freezing the top row pins it in place while the rest of the sheet scrolls underneath.

Click a cell in the lowest row you want to keep visible

Google Sheets always freezes from row 1 down to the row you choose. To freeze only the header, click any cell in row 1. To freeze a title row plus the header beneath it, click a cell in row 2.

Open View, Freeze

Go to View, Freeze. The submenu lists No rows, 1 row, 2 rows, and Up to current row, with the number of the row you clicked shown next to that last option.

Pick how many rows to freeze

Choose 1 row to pin the header only. Choose 2 rows if a title sits above the header. Choose Up to current row to freeze everything from row 1 down to the cell you selected.

A thicker gray line appears under the frozen rows. Scroll down and those rows stay put while the data moves beneath them.

Drag the gray bar if you prefer the mouse

At the top-left corner of the grid, above row 1 and to the left of column A, there is a short, thick gray bar. Hover over it until the cursor changes to a hand, then drag it down. Release it under row 1 to freeze one row, under row 2 to freeze two, and so on. This does the same thing as the menu.

Unfreeze the rows when you no longer need them

Go to View, Freeze, No rows. The gray line disappears and the whole sheet scrolls normally again. Dragging the gray bar back up above row 1 has the same effect.

Freezing columns works the same way. The same View, Freeze menu offers No columns, 1 column, 2 columns, and Up to current column. There is also a second gray bar at the top-left corner that you can drag to the right. Frozen columns stay on screen while you scroll sideways, which is useful when column A holds names or ID numbers that the rest of the row depends on.