UNIQUE in WPS Spreadsheet: Separate Distinct Values from Values Occurring Once

The official WPS UNIQUE lesson documents the behavior used here. It identifies WPS Office for Windows Personal. Reviewed October 19, 2026, this Chinese-language evidence does not establish an exact introduction build, every current edition, or English-global, Mac, Linux, web or mobile behavior. No new WPS execution or native screenshot was possible; the examples are independent controls or explicitly conditional fixtures.

Historical entry method versus newer releases

The 2021 lesson demonstrates selecting the complete result range, entering the formula and pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Braces shown around an array formula are added by that workflow; do not type them as part of the formula. That historical method is the reproducible workflow described here.

The official Windows release log separately announces dynamic arrays in October 2023. Consequently, the older lesson’s no-dynamic-array statements are historical, not a claim that current WPS cannot expand array results. For a newer installation, confirm its array-entry behavior and available output space in that build. This guide does not import Excel spill rules, error codes, spill-reference operators or cross-workbook behavior into WPS. Monthly release notes do not establish an exact introduction build for UNIQUE.

=UNIQUE(array,by_col,exactly_once)

All three arguments are supplied intentionally. The WPS lesson describes array, by-column comparison and appearing-only-once in that order.

• array: source values or records to examine.
• by_col: FALSE compares rows, which is the appropriate direction for the vertical list below. The lesson’s worked vertical example uses FALSE.
• exactly_once: FALSE gives distinct values; TRUE excludes values that repeat.

This is not a claim about every omitted-argument default. Start with explicit settings so the workbook communicates which meaning of “unique” was intended.

Enter these six values vertically:

In the historical workflow, select C2:C5 and enter =UNIQUE(A2:A7,FALSE,FALSE) with Ctrl+Shift+Enter. The distinct labels are North, South, West, East, in the first-occurrence order illustrated by the WPS lesson. There are four distinct labels even though there are six input rows.

This is useful for a report’s category list. It does not count the number of occurrences, and it does not remove the original rows. The source describes formula-driven updating, which should not be confused with a promise that a fixed reference automatically grows when data is entered outside it.

Select a separate two-cell vertical result range under the historical method and enter:

=UNIQUE(A2:A7,FALSE,TRUE)

Expected output is West, East. The control counts are North=2, South=2, West=1, East=1. North and South are omitted entirely, rather than retained once each.

This distinction matters for exception review: a “one-time category” report should not silently become a list of all categories. Use FALSE for a compact catalogue and TRUE for singleton detection.

If A7 changes from East to North, the distinct set becomes North, South, West; the exactly-once set becomes West alone. The new counts are North=3, South=2, West=1. Resize the selected result area appropriately when reproducing these separate legacy fixtures. Do not interpret extra cells from an oversized fixed array as additional categories.

The 2021 lesson discusses zeros or error placeholders in selected output ranges when inputs change. Those are historical demonstrations, not a general statement about current dynamic-array padding or spill behavior.

• Confirm the third argument before investigating the data: TRUE and FALSE answer different questions.
• Do not include the header in A2:A7 unless it is deliberately a data value.
• Check unexpected spaces and inconsistent spelling. Blank handling, case comparison and mixed-type equality are not established by these clean-text examples.
• The source range is explicit. Include new rows in the formula if the list grows beyond A7.
• Use SORT for an intentional sorted presentation; uniqueness alone is not a sorting request.
• Use FILTER when eligibility depends on a separate condition rather than repetition count.

• WPS UNIQUE lesson
• WPS Windows release log, October 2023 dynamic-array announcement

Expected outputs are derived from the explicit fixtures and documented operation. They are not results observed in an installed WPS build. Check the intended edition before relying on these formulas in a shared workbook.