Splitting Panes In Excel
The Split command is found in the View Tab of the Microsoft Excel 2007 Ribbon. It allows you to split an Excel spreadsheet window into either two or four separate panes & is particularly useful for comparing data in different parts of a large worksheet.
To use the Split command first activate the cell where you want the split to occur then click on the split button. The horizontal & vertical bars marking the split can be repositioned simply by dragging. Separate scrollbars are also available for each section; so in the case of a vertical & horizontal split you end up with two horizontal scrollbars & two vertical scrollbars. To remove the split simply click on the split button once more.
A second & more intuitive way of using the split command is to use the split boxes. These are located above the vertical scroll bar & to the right of the horizontal scroll bar. Let’s say for example that we have a spreadsheet containing rows of sales figures. Suppose we want to be able to compare the sales figures of one particular person with the sales figures of other individuals. We can create two vertical windows by dragging the vertical split box. We can then scroll to make the first person’s sales figures visible & in the top pane & then do the same to position the sales figures of any other sales person in the bottom pane.
Excel offers us a really simple way of removing the split. Simply double-click on the split line.
Similarly let’s now say we want to focus on the total for each individual & that the totals are shown in column J. We can create both a vertical & horizontal split by dragging each of the two split boxes. We can then leave the salesperson’s name displayed in the left pane while in the pane on the right we can scroll across to make the total visible.
As we scroll up & down we now see the totals for each sales person next to the sales person’s name. If we would also like the heading to remain in place we simply make the top pane one row deep displaying only the headings while we scroll the bottom pane up & down.
When we finish working with our totals we can remove the vertical split & leave the horizontal split in place. To do this we simply double-click on the vertical split line. To return to a normal window we would also double-click on the horizontal split line.
The writer of this article is developer & trainer with Macresource Computer Training a UK IT training company offering Excel 2007 Training Courses in Birmingham London Leeds Manchester Bristol Cambridge Bradford Liverpool & throughout the UK.
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