In Google Sheets, while working with a large data set you might want to make the top header row or the first column or multiple rows and columns to be frozen and visible all the time even if you scroll the data downwards or right side and for the same, you have to lock those rows and/or columns.
In this tutorial, we will show you some quick and easy ways to lock and unlock rows or columns.
Lock Top Header Row Using Mouse
- Hover your mouse on the downside border of the blank box at the top left of the spreadsheet just above the first-row number.
- The moment you hover your mouse on that box border, it will get highlighted in grey color and your cursor symbol will get also changed into a hand symbol.
- Now, just click and hold the mouse and drag that grey line downside to cover the header row of the data set.
In the above image, you will find the bold grey line just below the top header row, which means that the row above this line is locked and frozen. Now even if you scroll downwards to any row number, this locked row will get visible all the time.
Lock Multiple Rows Using Mouse
- Hover your mouse on the downside border of the blank box at the top left of the spreadsheet just above the first-row number.
- The moment you hover your mouse on that box border, it will get highlighted in grey color and your cursor symbol will get also changed into a hand symbol.
- Now, just click and hold the mouse and drag that grey line downwards until you cover all the rows which you want to lock to make them visible all the time.
In the above image, you will find the grey line after the 4th row which means all the 4 rows above that line are got locked and become visible all the time.
Lock Rows Using the View option
- First, click on any cell of the row until which you want to lock the rows, and then go to the “View” option in the tab.
- After that, hover the cursor on the “Freeze” option and then click on “Up to row 6” to lock the first six rows of the data set.
- You can also click on “1 row” or “2 rows” if want to lock only the top row or the first two rows only.
In the above example, we have clicked on a cell in row 6, so it showed the option to lock the rows up to 6 only. If we would have been clicked on a cell in row 9, then it would have shown us the option to lock up to 9 rows.
Lock First Column Using Mouse
- Hover your mouse on the right-side border of the blank box at the top left of the spreadsheet just above the first-row number.
- The moment you hover your mouse on that box border, it will get highlighted in grey color and your cursor symbol will get also changed into a hand symbol.
- Now, just click and hold the mouse and drag that grey line right side to cover the first column of the data set.
In the above image, the bold grey line after column A indicates that column A is locked and will be visible even if you scroll the data toward the right.
Lock Multiple Columns Using Mouse
- Hover your mouse on the right-side border of the blank box at the top left of the spreadsheet just above the first-row number.
- The moment you hover your mouse on that box border, it will get highlighted in grey color and your cursor symbol will get also changed into a hand symbol.
- Now, just click and hold the mouse and drag it towards the right side until you cover all the columns which you want to lock to make them visible all the time.
Lock Columns Using View option
- First, click on any cell of the column until which you want to lock the columns, and then go to the “View” option in the tab.
- After that, hover the cursor on the “Freeze” option and then click on “Up to column B” to lock the first two columns of the data set.
- You can also click on “1 column” or “2 columns” if want to lock only the first column or the first two columns only.
Lock Panes Using Mouse
Locking Panes means locking the combination of rows and columns. Sometimes there comes a situation when you want to lock the rows and columns together. Follow the below steps to do so.
- First, hover your mouse on the downside border of the blank box and click and hold the mouse and drag it downside until you cover the required rows.
- After that hover the mouse on the right-side border of the blank box and click and hold the mouse and drag it right-side until you cover the required columns.
Lock Panes Using View Option
- First, click on the cell within the row and in the column until which you want to lock the rows and columns, and then go to the “View” option in the tab.
- After that, hover the cursor on the “Freeze” option and then click on “Up to row 3” to lock the first three rows and then “Up to Column A” to lock the first column of the data set.
In the above image, we have clicked on cell A3 which comes under column A and in row 3, so under the “Freeze” option, it showed us the option to lock rows up to 3 rows with the first column. Same as this you can click on column B3 if want to lock the 3 rows and 2 columns and so on.
Unlock the Rows and Column
- To unlock the rows and columns, just hover the mouse on the bold grey line and click and drag it back to the top left blank box.
- Or simply go to the “View” option then hover on “Freeze” and then choose “No rows” and “No columns” to unlock the locked rows and columns.
