How to Keep Excel Worksheet Colors and Formatting When Copying Sheets in WPS Office
Question details
The user needs to preserve worksheet colors, themes, layout, and formatting when copying an Excel worksheet to another workbook in WPS Office.
- Product
- WPS Office Spreadsheets
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- The user is moving a worksheet between workbooks that use different color palettes or themes and wants the source formatting unchanged.
- Observed behavior
- Copying and pasting individual cells into a workbook with a different theme can change the worksheet colors, theme-based formatting, and layout.
Open both the source and destination workbooks in WPS Office Spreadsheets. On the Page Layout tab of the source workbook, note the currently applied theme before copying.
Copy the Entire Worksheet Instead of Pasting Cells
Use this method when you need to keep the complete sheet layout, column widths, colors, and formatting intact.
Copying the whole worksheet carries the source sheet’s structure and formatting settings into the destination workbook instead of relying on the destination workbook’s current theme for pasted cells.
In WPS Spreadsheets, open the workbook that contains the worksheet you want to copy.
At the bottom of the window, right-click the sheet tab you want to copy and choose Move or Copy from the context menu.
In the Move or Copy dialog, select the destination workbook from the To book dropdown.
Check the Create a copy option and click OK. The entire worksheet is copied with its original formatting.
Apply the Source Workbook Theme to the Destination Workbook
Use this method when the destination workbook uses a different theme and theme-based colors still appear different after copying the sheet.
Copy Excel Worksheets in WPS Office Without Losing Colors or Formatting
WPS Office Spreadsheets lets you copy an entire worksheet between workbooks and apply workbook themes, so colors, layout, and formatting stay consistent without manual reformatting.
- 1. Download WPS Office: Go to the official WPS website and download WPS Office for your device.
- 2. Open both workbooks: Open the source and destination Excel workbooks in WPS Office Spreadsheets.
- 3. Copy the worksheet: Right-click the sheet tab, choose Move or Copy, select the destination workbook, and tick Create a copy.
- 4. Match the theme if needed: If theme colors still shift, go to Page Layout > Themes and apply the same theme used in the source workbook.
- 5. Review the copied sheet: Open the destination workbook and confirm that colors, formatting, layout, and column widths are preserved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do Excel colors change when I paste cells into another workbook?
Pasted cells may use the destination workbook’s theme palette. To avoid this, copy the entire worksheet with Move or Copy instead of pasting individual cells, and apply the source workbook’s theme if needed.
Where is Move or Copy in WPS Spreadsheets?
Right-click the worksheet tab at the bottom of the window and choose Move or Copy. In the dialog, select the destination workbook and tick Create a copy.
How do I apply the original workbook theme in WPS Spreadsheets?
Open the source workbook, go to the Page Layout tab, and click Themes to note the active theme. Then open the destination workbook and select the same theme from Page Layout > Themes.
Does WPS Office preserve Excel formatting when opening .xlsx files?
Yes. WPS Office Spreadsheets supports Excel colors, themes, fonts, merged cells, and worksheet layout when opening and saving .xlsx and .xls files.
Can I copy only the formatting without copying the whole worksheet?
You can use Paste Special to paste formats, but theme-based colors may still be affected by the destination workbook theme. Copying the whole sheet is more reliable for preserving complete formatting.
