Zoom, Split and New Window: Viewing Large Sheets in Excel

Big sheets don't fit on one screen, and the part you need is always somewhere else. Excel has three tools for this. Zoom shows more or fewer cells at a time. Split divides the window so you can see two distant parts of the same sheet. New Window opens a second window of the workbook, so you can look at two sheets, or two workbooks, side by side. The quickest of them is zoom: hold Ctrl and roll the mouse wheel.

Where to find them

All three live on the View tab: the zoom commands in the Zoom group, Split and the window commands in the Window group.

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Zoom

100%

Zoom to Selection

Zoom

Zoom in and out

The fastest control is the zoom slider at the right end of the status bar. Drag it, or click − and + to zoom out or in by 10% at a time. The number next to it shows the current zoom; click it to open the Zoom dialog and pick an exact value.

Zoom✕

Magnification

200%100%75%50%25%Custom

The dialog also has a Fit selection option, which works like Zoom to Selection.

OKCancel

With a mouse, hold Ctrl and roll the wheel: forward to zoom in, back to zoom out. To return to normal size, click View› then Zoom› then 100%.

Zoom only changes what you see. The font size stays the same, and so does the printed page. Each sheet keeps its own zoom, and Excel saves it with the workbook.

Zoom to the cells you've selected

Zoom to Selection sets the zoom so that the selected cells fill the window. It's the quickest way to make a table readable on a projector or a shared screen.

1. Select the cells to show

   Select the table, here A1:F5.

   fx

   	A	B	C	D	E	F
   1	Region	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
   2	East	120	135	128	150	533
   3	West	98	104	117	121	440
   4	North	143	139	152	160	594
   5	South	87	92	85	101	365

2. Zoom to the selection

   Click View› then Zoom› then Zoom to Selection. A small table is magnified, up to 400%; a large one is shrunk until it fits, down to 10%.

3. Go back

   When you're done, click View› then Zoom› then 100%.

Split one sheet into panes

Split divides the window into two or four panes. Each pane shows the same sheet and scrolls on its own, so you can keep the first rows of a long list in one pane and work at the bottom in the other.

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New Window

Arrange All

Freeze Panes

Split

Window

1. Pick where the split goes

   Click the cell below and to the right of where you want the split bars. A cell in column A, such as A7, gives a single bar above row 7: a top pane and a bottom pane. A cell in row 1 gives a single bar for left and right panes. Any other cell gives four panes.

2. Split the window

   Click View› then Window› then Split. A gray split bar appears above row 7.

   A7fx

   	A	B	C	D
   1	Date	Description	Category	Amount
   2	2026-09-01	Rent	Housing	900
   3	2026-09-02	Supermarket	Groceries	64
   4	2026-09-03	Bus pass	Transport	55
   5	2026-09-05	Bakery	Groceries	12
   6	2026-09-08	Phone bill	Bills	45
   7	2026-09-10	Cinema	Fun	24
   8	2026-09-12	Supermarket	Groceries	81
   9	2026-09-15	Electricity	Bills	58
   10	2026-09-19	Taxi	Transport	18
   11	2026-09-23	Concert	Fun	60
   12	2026-09-27	Supermarket	Groceries	73

3. Scroll each pane

   Scroll the bottom pane down to the last entries while the top pane keeps showing the first ones. Both panes show the same cells, so a change you type in one appears in the other at once.

4. Adjust or remove the split

   Drag the split bar to move it. Double-click it to remove that bar, or click Split again to remove the split completely.

Split and Freeze Panes look similar, but frozen rows can't scroll at all, while each split pane can. You can't use both on one sheet at the same time.

Open a second window of the same workbook

New Window opens the workbook you're in a second time, in its own window. It's not a copy: both windows show the same workbook, and a change in one shows in the other. Use it to watch a summary sheet while you enter data on another sheet.

1. Open a new window

   Click View› then Window› then New Window. A second window opens on top of the first. The title bars show a number after the file name, 1 and 2, so you can tell them apart.

2. Arrange the windows

   Click View› then Window› then Arrange All, choose Vertical to put them next to each other, tick Windows of active workbook so other open files stay where they are, and click OK.

   Arrange Windows✕

   Arrange

   TiledHorizontalVerticalCascade

   ✓Windows of active workbook

   OKCancel

3. Show a different sheet in each window

   Click the Transactions sheet tab in one window and the Summary tab in the other. Each window also keeps its own zoom and frozen panes.

4. Close the extra window

   When you're finished, close one of the windows with its X button. The workbook stays open in the other.

You can also arrange the windows with Windows itself: drag one to the left edge of the screen and the other to the right, or move one to a second monitor.

Compare two workbooks side by side

View Side by Side shows two windows next to each other and, with Synchronous Scrolling, scrolls them together. It's made for comparing two versions of a file.

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View Side by Side

Synchronous Scrolling

Reset Window Position

Switch Windows

Window

1. Open both workbooks

   Open the two files you want to compare. To compare two sheets of one workbook, open a New Window of it first.

2. Turn on View Side by Side

   Click View› then Window› then View Side by Side. If more than two windows are open, Excel asks which one to compare with the active window. Synchronous Scrolling turns on, so scrolling one window scrolls the other.

3. Adjust the layout

   Excel may stack the windows one above the other. To put them left and right, click Arrange All and choose Vertical. Reset Window Position gives both windows equal space again.

4. Turn it off

   Click View Side by Side again to stop comparing.

Which one should you use?

Real-world scenarios

Work

Check a new price list against last year's

Open last year's and this year's price lists, then click View Side by Side. With Synchronous Scrolling on, the same product sits at the same height in both windows as you scroll.

fx

	A	B	C
1	Code	Product	Price
2	P-101	Copy paper	6.5
3	P-102	Toner	48
4	P-103	Pens (box)	9
5	P-104	Folders	4.25
6	P-105	Labels	7.5
7	P-106	Stapler	14

Synchronous Scrolling moves both windows by the same number of rows. If one list has an extra product, the rows below it drift out of line. Turn off Synchronous Scrolling, line them up again, and turn it back on.

School

Show results on the classroom projector

A teacher wants the class results readable from the back row. Select A1:D6 and click Zoom to Selection: the table fills the screen.

fx

	A	B	C	D
1	Student	Test 1	Test 2	Average
2	Ana	78	86	82
3	Ben	64	70	67
4	Chloe	92	95	93.5
5	Daniel	71	69	70
6	Emma	85	91	88

After the lesson, click 100% to return to normal size. The zoom doesn't change the sheet itself, so nothing needs undoing.

Personal

Watch the budget while you enter spending

A household budget workbook has a Transactions sheet for every purchase and a Summary sheet with formulas. Open a New Window, choose Arrange All › Vertical, and show Summary in the second window.

fx

	A	B	C	D
1	Category	Budget	Spent	Left
2	Groceries	300	230	70
3	Transport	100	73	27
4	Bills	120	103	17
5	Fun	80	84	-4

Each purchase typed in the Transactions window updates the Summary window straight away. Here groceries have 70 left and fun shows -4, so the next concert can wait.

Common mistakes

• Zooming to fix printing. Zoom doesn't change the printed size. To fit a sheet on a page, use Page Layout› then Scale to Fit.
• Thinking New Window makes a copy. Both windows show the same workbook. Delete a row in one and it's gone in the other.
• Saving with two windows open. Excel remembers the windows, so the workbook opens in two windows next time. Close the extra window before you save.
• The split won't go away. Click View› then Window› then Split again, or double-click the split bar.
• Synchronous Scrolling is grayed out. It only works while View Side by Side is on.

Practice

Practice

Three ways to see more

Type the transaction list from this page into a sheet named Transactions, then copy the rows down a few times so it's longer than your screen. Add a sheet named Summary.

1. Hold Ctrl and roll the mouse wheel to zoom out until you can see the whole list. Click the percentage on the status bar and set exactly 100%.
2. Select the first five rows and click Zoom to Selection. Then click 100%.
3. Click A7 and choose Split. Scroll the bottom pane to the last row while the top pane shows the first. Remove the split.
4. In Summary, type =SUM(Transactions!D:D) in A1 to total every amount.
5. Open a New Window, use Arrange All › Vertical, and show Summary in one window and Transactions in the other. Change an amount in the Transactions window and watch the total change in the Summary window.
6. Close the extra window, then save.