Lesson 18: Freezing Panes and View Options /en/excel2016/basic-tips-for-working-with-data/content/ Introduction Whenever you're working with a lot of data, it can be difficult to compare information in your workbook. Fortunately, Excel includes several tools that make it easier to view content from different parts of your workbook at the same time, including the ability to freeze panes and split your worksheet. Optional: Download our. Watch the video below to learn more about freezing panes in Excel. Other view options If your workbook contains a lot of content, it can sometimes be difficult to compare different sections. Excel includes additional options to make your workbooks easier to view and compare.
For example, you can choose to open a new window for your workbook or split a worksheet into separate panes. To open a new window for the current workbook: Excel allows you to open multiple windows for a single workbook at the same time. In our example, we'll use this feature to compare two different worksheets from the same workbook. Click the View tab on the Ribbon, then select the New Window command.
After creating a split, you can click and drag the vertical and horizontal dividers to change the size of each section. To remove the split, click the Split command again.
Within our example file, there is A LOT of sales data. For this challenge, we want to be able to compare data for different years side by side. To do this:. Open our.
To freeze multiple rows (starting with row 1), select the row below the last row you want frozen and click Freeze Panes. To freeze multiple columns, select the column to the right of the last column you want frozen and click Freeze Panes.
Open a new window for your workbook. Freeze First Column and use the horizontal scroll bar to look at sales from 2015. Unfreeze the first column. Select cell G17 and click Split to split the worksheet into multiple panes. Hint: This should split the worksheet between rows 16 and 17 and columns F and G. Use the horizontal scroll bar in the bottom right of the window to move the worksheet so that Column N, which contains data for January 2015, is next to Column F.
Open a new window for your workbook, and select the 2012-2013 Sales tab. Move your windows so they are side by side.
Now you're able to compare data for similar months from several different years. Your screen should look something like this.