Create and Check a Chart in WPS Spreadsheet

Quick answer

Select A1:C5 and use Insert → Chart → Column → Clustered Column. Verify four months and two named series before adding labels or changing colors.

Create a clustered column chart for monthly service requests. The goal is an editable chart whose values and labels remain traceable to a small worksheet, not merely an attractive picture.

Before you start

Use a disposable XLSX workbook in the English Windows desktop application with the cited controls. The Academy lessons show a desktop-style interface but do not identify an OS build, region or edition. Record those details from your installation. This is a documentation-based exercise, not a native test or entitlement guarantee. If a required command is missing or requests payment, stop that branch. No macOS, mobile, Linux, browser or WPS 365 parity is implied.

Prepare and check the source

Create WPS-Requests.xlsx and name the sheet Requests. Enter the following at A1:

Month	Received	Resolved
January	12	10
February	16	14
March	14	13
April	20	18

Enter Received total in E1, =SUM(B2:B5) in E2, Resolved total in F1 and =SUM(C2:C5) in F2. Expected totals are 62 and 55. Leave column D empty and do not include the checks in the chart selection.

Insert and audit before styling

1. With WPS-Requests.xlsx active and Requests selected, highlight A1:C5.
2. Follow Insert → Chart, then Column → Clustered Column in the documented chart chooser. Confirm the selection.
3. Move the chart into a clear area to the right or below the fixture without covering its values.
4. Count four category groups, in the order January, February, March, April. Count two data series, Received and Resolved, giving eight bars in total.
5. Check the pair of April values: Received 20, Resolved 18. March must be 14 and 13. Do not accept a chart containing the totals 62 and 55 as extra months.

The intended model is series by columns: B1 names Received, B2:B5 supplies its values, C1 names Resolved, and C2:C5 supplies that series. A2:A5 contains category labels. Write these ranges down before trying to fix an unexpected orientation.

Make quantities readable

Select the chart, then use Add Chart Element → Data Labels, as documented in WPS’s column-chart lesson. Choose a placement where adjacent labels do not collide. Confirm the displayed labels match all eight source values. Select a series and use its formatting pane’s fill/line controls to give Received and Resolved distinct, restrained colors.

Keep a visible legend so the colors have names. Where the chart element menu exposes chart title and legend controls, display them and set the title to Service requests, January–April 2026. Exact legend placement and title-editing controls require checking in the installed build; do not infer an Excel ribbon path. If the legend is absent and you cannot enable it, retain the source table beside the chart and do not distribute an unexplained two-color graphic.

Double-click the vertical axis to inspect the axis options described by WPS. For this comparison, keep the minimum at 0 and choose a maximum at or above 20; automatic maximum is acceptable if labels remain legible. A truncated column axis exaggerates differences. WPS’s lesson demonstrates changing axis bounds; this example deliberately keeps a zero baseline instead of copying its nonzero-bound example.

Confirm that the chart is linked to the right cells

Change Requests!B5 from 20 to 22. The Received April bar and its label should become 22; the Resolved April value must remain 18. E2 should become 64. Restore B5 to 20, bringing the total back to 62. This is a proposed in-application verification check, not a report that it was executed here.

If the chart does not update, check that you selected an editable chart rather than a pasted image, that the edit occurred in this workbook and sheet, and that the source still contains numbers. If a Select Data control is present, inspect its source addresses against the explicit model above. Its exact current Windows location and row/column-switching behavior have not been verified by the cited insertion lesson. Do not keep clicking an assumed Switch Row/Column button. The documented safe recovery is to remove only the incorrect chart and insert a new one from the correct A1:C5 selection.

Save the final chart before experimenting

Leave the source at its original values and the chart with four groups, two series, readable labels and a zero-based vertical axis. Save WPS-Requests.xlsx, close it, reopen it and activate Requests. Check January 12/10, April 20/18, totals 62/55, the legend and title. View at the intended reading size: if values or category labels overlap, enlarge the chart rather than shrinking text until unreadable.

Optional growth test in a separate file

Save the reopened main workbook as WPS-Requests-Experiment.xlsx. In this copy only, add May, 18, 17 to A6:C6. An existing fixed chart range may not expand automatically. If the build exposes an editable chart source range, set it to Requests!$A$1:$C$6 and verify five groups and ten bars. Otherwise create a fresh chart from A1:C6. This fallback checks the data without asserting unverified automatic expansion. The original main file should still contain four months.

Troubleshooting

If only one series appears, check whether column C was excluded or a chart filter hides it. If the legend contains month names, orientation is wrong: recreate from the source block after verifying headers. A blank bar can mean text masquerading as a number; inspect the corresponding source cell. Missing category labels can indicate the first column was omitted. Formatting a single point rather than the entire series can make one bar unexpectedly different; select the series again and inspect the selection before changing colors.

Official references

• WPS Insert a chart — source snapshot retrieved 2026-10-19.
• WPS Column-chart formatting — source snapshot retrieved 2026-10-19.

These are documentation-based instructions. The fixture expectations were checked independently; no native WPS run, application screenshot, installed-edition entitlement test or cross-program round trip is claimed. Academy page dates do not identify an application build.

Related guides

• Format a Readable WPS Spreadsheet Report
• Save and Reopen a WPS Spreadsheet Workbook Safely