Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 1, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365
If Cindy freezes panes in a worksheet and then saves the workbook, the next time she opens that workbook the previously frozen panes no longer appear. Each time she opens the workbook, she needs to reset the panes. Cindy doesn't think it used to be this way in older versions of Excel and wonders if there is some setting she needs to make or wonders, perhaps, if Excel has changed how it handles panes. She wants to save the pane settings with the workbook so they persist from one usage to another.
The default behavior of the latest versions of Excel is that your pane settings should be persistent, just as Cindy remembers in older versions of Excel. If that is apparently not happening for you, there are a few things you can check:
If none of those ring a bell with you, try starting with a brand new, blank workbook. Put some test data in it, freeze the panes, and then save it. Exit Excel and open the workbook again. If the panes are still there, then this is a good sign that the problem is with the other workbook only. In that case, it could be that the workbook is becoming corrupted (for some reason) and you may need to work on getting your data into a different workbook.
There are two other things you can do, if you desire. One is to simply save a custom view of your worksheet, with the panes in place. You should then be able to load the custom view at a later time and have the pane settings be present (along with many other settings) so that you can continue working with the workbook.
The other thing you could try is to create your own macro that sets the panes as you want them to appear. Here's an example:
Private Sub Workbook_Open() Sheets("Sheet1").Select ActiveSheet.Range("D4").Select ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = True End Sub
This macro would be added to the ThisWorkbook module, and you'll need to change the cell reference (D4) and worksheet name (Sheet1) to reflect where you want the panes set. You could also, if desired, change the code to a "regular" macro that could be assigned to a shortcut key or the Quick Access Toolbar. That way you could use the macro to set similar panes in any worksheet, with the click of a button.
Sub SetPanes() ActiveSheet.Range("D4").Select ActiveWindow.FreezePanes = True End Sub
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2023-07-01 10:26:42
J. Woolley
My Excel Toolbox includes the following dynamic array function to list all panes of the active window in four columns (Pane, ScrollColumn, ScrollRow, VisibleRange):
=ListPanes()
The following dynamic array function will list all properties of the active window (including freeze, split, and scroll information):
=ListWNProperties([SkipIgnored],[SkipHeader])
My Excel Toolbox's SpillArray function (described in UseSpillArray.pdf) simulates a dynamic array in older versions of Excel:
=SpillArray(...)
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox
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