How to freeze rows and columns simultaneously? If you want to unfreeze the first column, select Unfreeze Panes on the same menu. This will lock the first column and it will be visible no matter how far right of the sheet you scroll. To freeze the first column, select Freeze First Column from the menu. If you want to unfreeze the top row, select Unfreeze Panes on the same menu. This will lock the top row and it will be visible no matter how far down the sheet you scroll. To freeze the top row of a spreadsheet, select Freeze Top Row from the menu. Microsoft Excel has three options to help you freeze the rows and columns via the Freeze Panes menu. Most of the time, this makes the worksheet very difficult to understand and analyze as we are unable to see the columns and headers that give the data meaning. Similarly, when we scroll to the right, the important information column disappears. Whenever we have a large table with a header row on top, it scrolls off the screen as we scroll down through the data.