Google Docs: Pinning Table Headers

There is a new feature in Google Docs that affects document tables. You will see the option when interacting in a table in the Google Doc is a pushpin icon. This will provide functionality that is similar to how to lock the column headers in Google Docs Sheets.

Want More Help with This? Become a Premium Member

Adding Tables to Google Docs

You can insert a table by using the Insert menu or simply type the @ symbol and start typing the word table. This will then allow you to determine what size table you want to insert.

Pinning Table Headers in Google Docs

Notice that as you hover over the table some options show up to the side of the table. One of the icons is a pushpin icon.

Pinning the table row affects the page breaks

The purpose of pinning a table row is that when the table goes to another page and you can no longer see what the header row is, the context of the table is preserved.

Pinning Multiple Rows

You will notice the pinning icon shows up on all of the rows of the table when you hover. If you click on the pin icon 5 rows down in the table, this will pin not just that row but all the rows above it.

• Google Classroom: Pin All Your Classes
• Pin Tab: Google Classroom, Email, Gradebook, Drive
• Try This Tabbed Browser Workflow – Control 2
• 5 Features of Google Keep
• Google Meet: See Your Presentation AND the Participants

Column Headers Google Docs

A column header is the first row in a column where the entry indicates to the reader what they will see in the cells below it. For example “First Name” In the first cell in a column would be the column header. It is not someone’s name, but you would expect all of the entries below the words “First Name” would be first names.

Pinning Table Rows in Google Docs

Pinning a table row creates column headers. You do not need to pin the row to have column headers. However, when the table extends beyond the view of the reader to see the column headers additional clarity is given to the reader when the row is pinned.

How to Lock the Column Headers in Google Docs Sheets

In a Google Sheets spreadsheet, you do not pin or lock the column headers, but rather freeze the column headers. You can do this by going to the view menu and choosing “Freeze.” In a Google Doc, the term is pin rather than freeze the first row. In Sheets, freezing the first row will make the first row always visible as you scroll down the sheet. In a Google Doc, the pinning of the row does not follow you as you scroll. Rather, it replicates on the next page. It is possible in Google Docs that when you are at the bottom of a table at the bottom of a page that you are not able to see the column headers. This would not be the case when you freeze rows in Google Sheets.