Contact
12 programs
Explore the site

WPS Spreadsheet · Navigation and references · Beginner

Build Worksheet Navigation Links in WPS Spreadsheet

Build internal worksheet navigation links and display cross-sheet values with separate formulas. Verify destinations and references after renaming a sheet.

Editorial standards

Quick answer

Use Insert → Hyperlink → Place in this document for navigation. Use a separate formula such as ='North Sales'!B6 to display a value; test both again after renaming a sheet.

English WPS Spreadsheets for Windows desktop; documentation-qualified basic local-workbook workflow, reviewed 20 October 2026. Installed build, region and free-edition execution are not verified; menu labels may differ. No web, mobile, macOS or Linux parity is claimed.

Give a workbook a small index that jumps to useful cells, and separately display a value from another sheet. A navigation link changes where you look; a cross-sheet formula returns data. Neither requires an external-workbook refresh connection.

Before you begin

Create WPS-Navigation-Final.xlsx with three sheets named exactly Index, North Sales and South Sales. Spaces in sheet names are intentional. Use a local practice workbook; this exercise does not instruct you to share it or initiate sign-in. Account requirements are not established for every edition. WPS documents Insert > Hyperlink and a Place in this document link type. Newer Windows help lists insertion and editing as Free. Check that these basic controls exist in your installation before proceeding; no cloud-document link or paid feature is needed.

1. Prepare destinations that are easy to verify

On North Sales, enter:

A1: North region
A2: Item       B2: Sales
A3: Pens       B3: 120
A4: Notebooks  B4: 80
A5: Trays      B5: 50
A6: Total      B6: =SUM(B3:B5)

The North total is 250. On South Sales, use the same labels but enter B3:B5 as 90, 60, 30. Its B6 total is 180. These locations are deliberately identical, so the sheet name is part of every destination check. Seeing a total cell alone is insufficient.

On Index, enter A1 Workbook index, A2 Open North total, A3 Open South total, A4 WPS hyperlink help, A6 North sales value, and A7 South sales value. Save the workbook before adding links.

  1. Activate Index in WPS-Navigation-Final.xlsx and select A2.
  2. Open Insert > Hyperlink. Choose Place in this document. In the sheet list select North Sales; set the cell reference to B6. Keep the display text Open North total. Confirm.
  3. Activate the link using the click behavior shown by your installation. Verify the active sheet tab is North Sales and the selected destination is B6, containing 250. Do not assume success just because the text became blue.
  4. On North Sales, enter Back to index in D1 and create another internal link targeting Index!A1. Test the return route.
  5. On Index, select A3 and create a link to South Sales, cell B6. Test it: the active sheet must be South Sales, B6 must be selected and its value must be 180.
  6. Add and test a D1 return link on South Sales targeting Index!A1.

Using the sheet picker avoids guessing how a dialog wants spaces quoted. Do not type a local file path or choose the existing-file category for a destination inside the current workbook.

On Index!A4, use Insert > Hyperlink and choose Existing File or Web Page. Enter this public WPS Help URL as the address, leaving the display text unchanged:

https://help.wps.com/articles/how-to-work-with-hyperlinks-in-spreadsheets

Inspect the address for spelling and protocol before confirming. Opening it depends on a browser and network connection. No private workbook information belongs in a query string or URL. A failed external page opening does not prove that internal navigation is broken.

Now select B6 on Index and type:

='North Sales'!B6

In Index!B7, enter:

='South Sales'!B6

Single straight quotes surround sheet names containing spaces; ! separates the sheet name from its cell address. Expect B6 250 and B7 180. In A8 enter Combined sales, and in B8 enter =B6+B7, expecting 430.

These cells show values and are not hyperlinks. Clicking B6 normally selects the formula cell rather than navigating to North Sales. You can also construct a reference by typing =, selecting the source sheet and cell, and confirming; inspect the resulting formula for the intended sheet and B6 before continuing.

4. Save and reopen the completed navigation

Save WPS-Navigation-Final.xlsx, close it and reopen it. On Index, confirm B6:B8 show 250, 180, 430. Test both A2/A3 internal links and both D1 return links. Inspect A4’s saved target with Edit Hyperlink rather than relying only on its visible label. Record the final file as complete only after these reopened-state checks.

5. Repair a rename in an independent copy

Save As WPS-Navigation-Rename-Test.xlsx and confirm that it is the active workbook. Rename North Sales to North Region using the sheet-tab rename command available in your build.

Test Index!A2 again and inspect Index!B6 separately. Do not assume the hyperlink and formula both track renaming in the same way. The required repaired state is a link to North Region!B6 and a formula referencing that same sheet/cell, returning 250.

If the navigation link is stale, right-click A2, choose Edit Hyperlink, select Place in this document, choose North Region and set B6 again. If the formula is broken, reconstruct it by selecting the renamed sheet’s B6, or enter ='North Region'!B6. Test the return link too. Save, close and reopen the experiment copy to verify the repair without altering the successful main workbook.

Troubleshooting

  • Link opens the wrong total: both sheets use B6. Check the sheet name as well as the cell reference.
  • Text looks like a link but does nothing: inspect Edit Hyperlink. Blue underlined formatting alone does not create a destination.
  • Click selects rather than follows: use the activation gesture indicated by your WPS build. Avoid assuming an undocumented modifier-key requirement.
  • Formula shows an error after a rename: inspect spelling, straight quotes and the separator. A display label such as Open North total is not a sheet name.
  • External help cannot open: check the saved URL and browser/network state. Do not bypass a browser security warning.
  • Removing a link: in the experiment copy, right-click the link and use Remove Hyperlink/Remove Link. Verify that the label remains and no longer navigates. This is different from deleting the cell’s contents.

Official references

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.