The Problem (Q-score 24, ranked #45th of 303 in the Excel VBA archive)
The scenario as originally posted in 2008
How can I create a table that has its first row and first column both locked, as in Excel, when you activate ‘freeze panes’? I need the table to both scroll horizontally and vertically (a lot of solutions for this exist, but only allow vertical scrolling).
So, when you scroll down in the table, the first row will stay put, since it will have the column headings. This may end up being in a thead, or it may not, whatever makes the solution easier.
When you scroll right, the first column stays put, since it holds the labels for the rows.
I’m pretty certain this is impossible with CSS alone, but can anyone point me toward a JavaScript solution? It needs to work in all major browsers.
Why community consensus is tight on this one
Across 303 Excel VBA entries in the archive, the accepted answer here holds niche answer (below median) status — meaning voters are unusually aligned on the right fix.
The Verified Solution — niche answer (below median) (+8)
6-line Excel VBA pattern (copy-ready)
Oh well, I looked up for scrollable table with fixed column to understand the need of this specific requirement and your question was one of it with no close answers..
I answered this question Large dynamically sized html table with a fixed scroll row and fixed scroll column which inspired to showcase my work as a plugin https://github.com/meetselva/fixed-table-rows-cols
The plugin basically converts a well formatted HTML table to a scrollable table with fixed table header and columns.
The usage is as below,
$('#myTable').fxdHdrCol({
fixedCols : 3, /* 3 fixed columns */
width : "100%", /* set the width of the container (fixed or percentage)*/
height : 500 /* set the height of the container */
});
You can check the demo and documentation here
When to Use It — vintage (14+ years old, pre-2013)
Ranked #45th in its category — specialized fit
This pattern sits in the 98% tail relative to the top answer. Reach for it when your scenario closely matches the question title; otherwise browse the Excel VBA archive for a higher-consensus alternative.
What changed between 2008 and 2026
The answer is 18 years old. The Excel VBA object model has been stable across Office 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 365, and 2024/2026 LTSC, so the pattern still compiles. Changes that might affect you: 64-bit API declarations (use PtrSafe), blocked macros in downloaded files (Mark-of-the-Web), and the shift toward Office Scripts for web-first workflows.