PCF Customizer Control to freeze a column in editable grid

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Posted on by Green_CU01071714-0

Hello Community,

I'm reaching out in hopes that someone can assist with a project requirement from our customer. We’re using a model-driven app and have enabled the editable grid view control to allow users to quickly update records inline. While this functionality works well, users are finding it difficult to identify the correct rows as they scroll horizontally through a view containing 30+ columns. Specifically, they’ve requested the ability to freeze the first column—CN-Code—so that it remains visible while scrolling horizontally, similar to the "Freeze Panes" feature in Excel. This would greatly improve usability and reduce errors during data entry. I'm aware that this functionality isn’t available out-of-the-box in model-driven apps or Dynamics 365 Sales. I'm looking to explore the possibility of building a custom PCF (PowerApps Component Framework) control that supports column freezing and can be integrated into the power apps editable grid control. I created and deployed a custom PCF control, but it didn’t work as expected. It appears that the built-in Power Apps grid control is overriding it. Any guidance, examples, or step-by-step help from the community would be truly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your support!

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Microsoft Dataverse with Power Apps

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w.p 8,345 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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fyi: this Power Up Program - Building model-driven apps with Microsoft Dataverse forum is intended for the Power Up Program course.

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Jon Unzueta 1,834 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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@Green_CU01071714-0

You're absolutely right—freezing the first column in a model-driven app's editable grid is not supported out-of-the-box, and your instinct to explore a custom PCF (PowerApps Component Framework) control is spot-on. Here's a breakdown of what’s happening and how you can move forward:

🔍 Why Your PCF Control Didn’t Work

The Power Apps Grid Control introduced in recent updates uses a new Fluent UI-based rendering engine, and it overrides traditional PCF controls unless you use the Grid Customizer Control interface specifically designed for this purpose.

✅ What You Can Do

1. Use the Grid Customizer Control Interface

Microsoft now supports customizing the editable grid using a special PCF interface called the Grid Customizer Control. This allows you to override:

Cell renderers (for read-only display)

Cell editors (for inline editing)

📘 Official Microsoft Docs – Customize the editable grid control

2. How to Freeze a Column (Workaround)

While freezing a column isn’t directly supported yet, here are two approaches:

🧊 Option A: Use a Formula Column as a Frozen Visual

Create a Power Fx formula column that duplicates the CN-Code value.

Add this column to the first position in the view.

Formula columns are read-only and appear visually distinct—this can simulate a frozen column.

🧠 This trick was suggested by a community member and works well for visual anchoring.

🧊 Option B: Custom Grid Layout with React

If you're building a fully custom PCF grid, you can:

Use a React table library (like react-table or ag-Grid) that supports frozen columns.

Render the entire grid yourself using the GridCustomizerControlTemplate from Microsoft’s GitHub repo:

GridCustomizerControlTemplate on GitHub

🧪 Tips for Success

Only one grid customizer control can be assigned per grid.

Make sure to package and register your control correctly in the solution.

Test in a sandbox environment before deploying to production.

🏷️ Tag me if you have any further questions or if the issue persists.

✅ Click "Accept as Solution" if my post helped resolve your issue—it helps others facing similar problems.

❤️ Give it a Like if you found the approach useful in any way.

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