The Split command is to be found in the View Tab of the Excel Ribbon. It allows users to split an Excel spreadsheet window into either two or four separate panes and is particularly useful for comparing data in different parts of a large worksheet.

To use the Split command, first activate the cell where you would like the split to occur then click on the split button in the Window section of the View Tab of the Excel Ribbon. The horizontal and vertical bars which mark the split can be repositioned simply by dragging. Separate scrollbars are also available for each section; so, in the case of a vertical and horizontal split, you end up with two horizontal scrollbars and two vertical scrollbars. To remove the split, just click on the split button once more.

A second and more intuitive way of using the split command is to use the split boxes. These are located above the vertical scroll bar and 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 and in the top pane and 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.

Suppose we then want to focus on the total for each individual and that the totals are shown in column J. We can create vertical and horizontal splits by dragging each of the two split boxes. We can then display the salesperson’s name displayed in the left pane while in the pane on the right we can scroll across to reveal the total.

As we scroll up and down, we now have the totals for each sales person next to the sales person’s name. If we also want 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 and down.

When we finish working with our totals, we can remove the vertical split and 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.