WPS Spreadsheet · Workbook management · Beginner

Copy and Organize WPS Spreadsheet Worksheets

A worksheet copy can preserve the original while creating a new planning period. Moving a sheet does the opposite: it removes that sheet from its original position or workbook. This exercise uses copies, distinct names and a formula audit to avoid accidental dependencies.

Editorial standards

Quick answer

Use Home → Worksheet → Duplicate Sheet for a new period. For another workbook, use Move or Copy Worksheets and explicitly enable Create a copy, then audit formulas in the destination.

Before you begin

Use a new local .xlsx practice workbook in the English Windows desktop application. Record your installed WPS build, region and free or paid edition before comparing commands. The cited WPS instructions support the workflow, but do not identify a tested build for this example. This guide has not been executed in native WPS; its small fixtures provide expected results to check, not a claim that a desktop test passed. macOS, Linux, mobile, web and WPS 365 interfaces are outside this guide.

Work in an unmerged practice range with only one worksheet selected. If a required command is absent or requests membership, stop that branch; a freely accessible lesson does not prove installed-edition entitlement.

Prepare two workbooks

Save a new workbook as Department Plan.xlsx. Name its active sheet October and enter this block at A1:

Item	Units	Rate	Cost
Pens	5	4	=B2*C2
Pads	2	7	=B3*C3
Total			=SUM(D2:D3)

Expect D2=20, D3=14, D4=34. Add Summary with A1=October total and formula ='October'!D4 in B1, also 34. Save. Separately create and save Department Archive.xlsx with one blank sheet named Readme; enter Copied local plans in its A1. Keep both workbooks open.

Duplicate and rename within the source file

Activate Department Plan.xlsx, then its October tab. Use Home > Worksheet > Duplicate Sheet. Verify that an additional tab appears and the original October still exists.
Double-click the new tab, name it November, and commit the name. Do not depend on an automatically generated suffix.
In November, change B2 to 6. Expect D2=24 and D4=38. Return to October; its B2 must remain 5 and D4 must remain 34.
Return to Summary; B1 must still reference October and display 34. Copying a sheet does not make an existing summary select the newest period.
Add November total in Summary!A2 and ='November'!D4 in B2. Expect 38.
Drag the Summary tab before October, leaving tab order Summary, October, November. Inspect both summary formulas again. Moving tab order should not substitute the sheets referenced by name.

Copy a self-contained sheet between workbooks

WPS’s worksheet lesson documents Move or Copy Worksheets, To Workbook, Before Sheet, and Create a copy. It does not specify an exact free-edition build. Use the following variant only if these ordinary controls are present without a membership prompt; otherwise keep the completed within-workbook result and defer the between-workbook variant.

Activate Department Plan.xlsx > October. Open Home > Worksheet > Move or Copy Worksheets.
Set To Workbook to the already-open Department Archive.xlsx. Select Readme under Before Sheet and enable Create a copy. Check the destination filename before confirming.
Activate Department Archive.xlsx. Verify it contains the copied October tab before Readme. Rename the copied tab October Archive to make its role obvious.
Inspect archive D2:D4. They must contain local formulas =B2*C2, =B3*C3, and =SUM(D2:D3), returning 20, 14, 34. No formula should contain Department Plan.xlsx, an external file path or a bracketed workbook name.
Return to the source workbook. October and November must both still be present. If October disappeared, you moved instead of copied; stop before saving and restore from the saved source.

Audit dependencies and save both deliverables

The copied October is deliberately self-contained. Do not copy Summary alone and assume its references become independent: it refers to sheets outside itself. A cached total can look correct even when an external link is unresolved. Check formula text as well as displayed values.

Save both files, close both, and reopen Department Archive.xlsx alone. Activate October Archive, verify D4=34, and inspect its three formulas. Then reopen Department Plan.xlsx and verify the three tab names, original 34, November 38, and both summary references. Keep the archive as a separate file; copying does not authorize sending it to anyone.

Troubleshooting and safe experimentation

Destination missing: ensure both local workbooks are open in the same WPS desktop session. Do not substitute a similarly named recent file or upload either workbook.
Duplicate name: choose the explicit unused name October Archive; cancel conflicting-name or named-range prompts you do not understand.
Copy disabled: check workbook structure protection and whether the file is editable. Do not remove protection without authority.
Values look right but links remain: close the source and inspect formulas. Replace dependency-heavy copies with a deliberately designed independent model, not a blind Find/Replace of workbook names.

After saving and reopening both final files, an optional rename experiment belongs in Department Plan - rename test.xlsx, created using Save As. Rename November to Next Month there and inspect the summary formula for correct adjustment, including quotes around the space-containing name. The result should remain 38. Close that independent test copy; the main file retains November and its final audited state.

Official references

WPS Sheets — 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.