WPS Office Review

WPS Office (previously called Kingsoft Office) is a free Microsoft Office alternative that comes with three office products, each with a splendid display and easy to use interface. Automatic spell check and support for popular file types are just a couple of the included features you can find in WPS Office. 

The program installs Presentation, Spreadsheets, and Writer—these can be used to replace Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, respectively.

You can download WPS Office on Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android.

WPS Office File Formats

WPS Office fully supports the following file types, which means you can open and save back to these formats:

CSV, DBF, DOC, DOCM, DOCX, DOT, DOTM, DPS, DPT, ET, ETT, HTM, HTML, MHT, MHTML, POT, PPS, PPTX, PPT, PRN, RTF, TXT, WPS, WPT, XLS, XLSM, XLSX, XLT, XML

As you can see, popular Microsoft Office file formats, such as DOCX, PPTX, and XLSX, can also be used in WPS Office.

WPS Office vs Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office comes bundled with several programs: an email client, note taking application, and spreadsheet, presentation, database, and word processor software, among others.

While WPS Office doesn't support the same variety of office products, it is a close competitor to Microsoft Office in that with those that it does have in common (word processor, etc.), it's a rather close match as to which is better than the other.

Personally, I prefer the tabbed interface of WPS Office vs the one offered by Microsoft Office. Sometimes something as simple as that can sway you to prefer one suite over the other. However, because Microsoft Office is so popular, you may be required to use file types or specific MS Office programs, like Access, which can leave you wanting something more than this free office suite. 

You can even use WPS Cloud to edit documents online, much like Microsoft Office Online. It's just as easy to use as the desktop version.

With all things considered, it's important to realize that while you may need Microsoft Office to work some projects or use particular file types, WPS Office is a nice alternative that has its own set of features and benefits.

At the very least, if you're in a pinch to open a new Microsoft Office document type but your computer doesn't run MS Office, this suite is a great way to get that file open so that you can edit and save it just like you would if MS Office were installed.

My Thoughts on WPS Office

If you're comparing WPS Office to another paid or free office suite, you'll easily find things that are missing, like a database program or live spell check. But it's important to look at WPS Office on its own to recognize its own advantages.

Ease of use is sometimes more important than having hundreds of unique features. I think WPS Office is the easiest office suite to use, and to look at for that matter. I've had no troubles using it and the tabbed interface creates a much less cluttered work area.

Aside from aesthetics alone, WPS Office is also flexible in that it works with many common file types that you may be required to use, which makes it just that much sweeter.