Q&A: Mystery file type

Q I have been sent three email attachments with a .wps extension. Outlook Express won’t open them because it does not recognise the file type. Can I open them? Saving in a different format makes no difference.

Johnny Mitch

A Documents with a .wps extension are created with the word processor program in Microsoft Works, a basic office suite that is often supplied with new computers. How easy they are to open depends on the computer’s software.

Simply saving the file with a different extension will not work because it does not alter the file’s contents. If the computer has a copy of Microsoft Word, the process is very simple. Save the files to the computer, then start Word. Click on the File menu and then Open. Click on the dropdown menu labelled ‘Files of type’ and select Works 6.0-9.0. The file will now appear in the Open window. Double-click it to open in Word. It can be saved in Word format by clicking on File, selecting Save As… and choosing Word from the ‘Files of type’ menu.

Without Word, the process is more convoluted but possible. Download Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003. This software will not convert the document but can display it. Open the .wps file, press Ctrl and A to select the entire contents, then press Ctrl and C to copy the document to the clipboard.

Switch to the word processor installed on the computer, such as Openoffice and press Ctrl and V to paste the clipboard’s contents into a document. This should keep the formatting and other elements.

Some word processors need to be told to copy more than the text. For example, in Openoffice, rather than pressing Ctrl and V to paste the text, click on the Edit menu and then on Paste Special. Next, select ‘Formatted text [RTF]’ and click on OK.