Arranging Windows in Excel
Getting the Most out of Spreadsheet Applications
The window management functions are located on the Window menu on the main toolbar. Features such as Freeze Panes, Split and Arrange allow users the ability to see all their data at one time and make spreadsheets easier to use.
Freeze Panes in Excel
Freeze Panes allows users to always see the titles in a spreadsheet even if there are too many columns or rows to fit on the screen. Click in the cell just after where you want to freeze the sheet.
For instance, if the title for the columns you want to see is in Row 1. Click in row 2 and select Freeze Panes. If you have many columns of data and want to freeze the titles on the left, click in Column B and then freeze. If you want to fix both rows and columns, click in Cell B2.
Excel allows the user to go back and change the data in the frozen cells at any time. Going back to the menu and selecting Unfreeze Panes will return the spreadsheet to its original condition.
Split Windows in Excel
Splitting is similar to Freeze Panes, but creates multiple windows that the user can move about. The windows are linked with each other, in that if there are two windows side by side, going toward the bottom in one will result in the other window going down as well.
Splitting is useful if you are working with a large spreadsheet, where calculations in one section bring results in another. Split the worksheet so the cell you need to change and the result are visible in different windows. When you make the change, you will see the result without hunting through the spreadsheet.
Arranging Windows in Excel
A little used feature in Excel is arranging windows, located on the Window menu. Excel allows multiple spreadsheets (workbooks) to be open at the same time. Arrange gives the user the option of seeing those multiple workbooks on the same screen. It is important to understand that worksheets are the individual pages of a workbook.
This is useful for transferring data between spreadsheets using copy and paste, or with links. It can function that way the Split Windows command works when calculations flow from one workbook to another.
The choices for arranging worksheets are Vertical, Horizontal, Cascade and Tiled. Tiled is likely the best choice for most uses, but the user can easily test each method for what works best for each purpose.
A related feature is New Window, also in the Windows menu, which allows users to see multiple views of the same workbook, so that each worksheet within can be its own workbook, enabling the use of Arrange to see different worksheets in the same workbook easily.
