Free Microsoft Works viewer Open Microsoft Works .wps documents, .wks and .xlr spreadsheets and .wdb databases without Works - and old Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro, Word for DOS and Write files - then save them as Word, Excel, PDF or text, entirely in your browser
Next step About this Microsoft Works viewer Microsoft Works came with millions of home PCs from 1988 until 2009: a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database in one cheap package. Microsoft stopped making it, and Word, Excel and the Microsoft Store apps no longer open its files, so family letters, school reports, budgets and address lists saved as .wps, .wks, .xlr and .wdb are stuck on old disks with nothing to read them.
This page reads them with libwps, the open-source library LibreOffice uses for Works files, compiled to run in your browser. Documents appear with their fonts, bold and italics, alignment, lists, tables and footnotes, and save as a Word .docx, a PDF, HTML or plain text. Spreadsheets and databases appear as a grid with their numbers, dates and formulas, and save as an Excel .xlsx or CSV. It also opens the other old formats libwps knows: Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro, Word for DOS, Microsoft Write, Multiplan and Pocket Word. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline. Modern spreadsheets open in the Excel Viewer , and Word documents in the DOC Editor .
What you can do Open Works word processor documents (.wps) from Works 2 for DOS to Works 9 Open Works spreadsheets (.wks, and .xlr from Works 6 to 9) and databases (.wdb) Open Lotus 1-2-3 (.wk1, .wk3, .wk4, .123), Quattro Pro (.wq1, .wb1 to .wb3, .qpw), Word for DOS, Write (.wri), Multiplan and Pocket Word files Save documents as Word (.docx), with formatting, lists, tables, pictures and footnotes Print a document or save it as a PDF, or download it as HTML or plain text Save spreadsheets and databases as Excel (.xlsx), keeping numbers, dates and formulas, or as CSV Click a cell to see its formula, and switch between sheets Choose the character set of an old DOS file whose accented letters come out wrong, and open password-protected Lotus files Recognise .wps files made by WPS Office and show their text How to open a .wps file without Microsoft Works Drop the .wps, .wks, .xlr or .wdb file onto the box above, or click it to choose the file. Read the document or browse the spreadsheet on the page. To keep working on it, save it as Word (.docx) or Excel (.xlsx) and open that in Word, Excel, Google Docs or LibreOffice. Questions
Why won't Word open my .wps file? Word dropped its Works converters after Office 2010, and Works itself has not been sold since 2009. The files are a closed format of their own, not a kind of Word document. This page reads them directly, and saving as .docx gives you a file every current word processor opens.
My .wps file came from WPS Office, not Works. Can it open that? Partly. Kingsoft's WPS Office also uses .wps, but its files are Word 97-2003 documents inside. This page recognises them and shows the text and saves it as .docx or text, without the formatting or pictures. For a full copy, open it in WPS Office, Word or LibreOffice, or ask the sender for a .docx.
Are formulas kept when I save a Works spreadsheet as Excel? Yes, where the original had them: each cell keeps its value, and formulas are written into the .xlsx so Excel recalculates them. Number formats such as currency, percentages and dates come across too. Charts and cell borders are not converted.
Why do accented letters look wrong in an old DOS file? Works for DOS, Lotus 1-2-3 and Word for DOS files do not say which character set they were written in, and the page guesses Western European. If letters like é or ü come out as other symbols, choose the right character set from the list above the document, and it is read again.
Are my old documents uploaded anywhere? No. The reader runs in your browser, so old letters, finances and address books stay on your computer. Built by John McMillan, a senior full-stack engineer. Open to remote roles: hire me .