ONLYOFFICE Spreadsheet Editor · Navigation and layout · Intermediate

Keep Headers Visible in a Long ONLYOFFICE Sheet

Freeze two header rows and two identifying columns, navigate a long worksheet, and restore an unfrozen view.

Documentation-qualified; native execution and save/reopen checks pending · Editorial standards

Quick answer

Select the cell immediately below the rows and to the right of the columns you want to keep visible. View → Freeze Panes → Freeze Panes fixes that boundary. For two header rows and two identifying columns, select C3; use Unfreeze Panes to reverse it.

Freeze panes keep the labels for a long register in sight while its body scrolls. This exercise uses two header rows and two identifying columns, so a wrong boundary is easy to spot.

Version and practice file

These instructions target ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors 10.0.0 on Linux with an English interface and a local XLSX workbook. The desktop changelog records that release on 13 October 2026. The release announcement identifies Linux support but says updated Snap, Flatpak and AppImage packages would follow later; check your installed version rather than assuming every distribution package has updated.

The menu names below were checked against current first-party help on 19 October 2026. This example has not been executed in the native application, and there are no application screenshots or verified save/reopen results. Expected results are independent checks for you to perform. Hosted collaboration, mobile interfaces and other desktop builds are outside this guide’s tested scope.

Build a navigable sheet

Create Navigation in freeze-navigation.xlsx. Enter Service register in A1 and October practice in C1; leave other row-1 cells blank and unmerged. In A2:H2 enter ID, Owner, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Total, Notes.

For each row from 3 through 42, enter its record number in column A, starting with 1 and ending with 40. Put Team A in column B, 1, 2, 3, 4 in columns C:F, and =SUM(C3:F3) in G3, copying that formula down through G42. The relative formula in G42 should be =SUM(C42:F42); every total is 10. Put Check record in each Notes cell and replace H42 with Last record. You can enter the repeated data by copying a prepared row, but verify the ID sequence afterward.

Make the window narrow enough that all eight columns cannot fit, and tall enough that you can scroll away from the top. Save before changing the view. The exact visible row count depends on display size and zoom; the exercise tests the boundary, not a prescribed screenshot.

Freeze the intended rectangle

Select C3 on Navigation. Choose View → Freeze Panes → Freeze Panes. The freeze documentation defines the fixed region as the rows above and columns left of the selected cell. Here that means rows 1:2 and columns A:B.

Scroll down until ordinary rows near 30 are visible. Both the title and the field headers should still be visible. Scroll right until columns C or D would normally leave the window: the ID and Owner columns should remain visible. Verify that row 3 and column C are part of the scrolling body, not an extra fixed band.

This distinction matters when you later work on a real register. Selecting B2 would freeze just row 1 and column A, leaving these row-2 field labels unprotected. Selecting D4 would fix three rows and three columns, wasting space and keeping the first record on screen as if it were a heading.

Reach a distant record and come back

Use the vertical and horizontal scrollbars to reach H42, then select it. Check the formula bar for Last record, the row header for 42, the frozen ID column for 40, and the column heading Notes in row 2. These four checks distinguish the right cell from a visually similar row elsewhere.

Return using the scrollbars to row 3 and column C. Nothing in the data should have changed: ID 1 still belongs to row 3 and each total remains 10. Freezing is a display aid, not a data transformation, a protection setting, or an instruction to repeat titles in a printout.

Compare presets safely

In the same editing session choose View → Freeze Panes → Unfreeze Panes. Scroll both ways and confirm that the headers and identifying columns can now leave the window. This is the explicit recovery command; you do not need to undo workbook edits.

Try Freeze Top Row. Only row 1 should remain, so this preset is insufficient for the two-row header. Unfreeze again, then try Freeze First Column and verify that Owner can scroll out of view. Unfreeze once more, return to the top-left portion of the sheet, select C3 and reapply the selection-based Freeze Panes command. Finish with the correct two-row, two-column boundary.

If almost no body remains visible, unfreeze and check your selection and zoom. A large frozen area on a small window can hide the benefit. Do not assume this feature creates independent split windows or changes another user’s personal view.

Save and reopen

Save and close freeze-navigation.xlsx. Reopen that exact file and repeat both scroll checks. Confirm rows 1–2 and columns A–B remain fixed, H42 still says Last record, and G42 still evaluates to 10. Persistence is an acceptance check here, not an application test already performed by this guide.

If you want a version without frozen panes, create freeze-navigation-unfrozen.xlsx separately, explicitly unfreeze, save and reopen that copy. Keep the completed frozen example unchanged.