Someone sent you a .wps document, an .et spreadsheet or a .dps presentation. You don't have WPS Office, and Microsoft Office either refuses the file or doesn't recognize the extension at all. All you need is a PDF that looks like a scanned paper copy, and installing a whole office suite for one file feels like overkill.

Look Scanned can now open WPS Office's own file formats. Go to the WPS Office to scanned PDF page, select the file, check every page in the preview and download a scanned-looking PDF. There's no separate conversion step first.

Which WPS files work?

WPS Office app Document Template
Writer .wps .wpt
Spreadsheets .et .ett
Presentation .dps .dpt

The file needs to have been saved by WPS Office 2005 or later. The .docx, .xlsx and .pptx files WPS Office can also save already open as regular Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

Look Scanned doesn't contain WPS Office. Since 2005, these formats have been built almost exactly like older Microsoft Office files: a .wps is essentially a Word 97–2003 .doc, an .et an Excel .xls, and a .dps a PowerPoint .ppt. So they're read by the same engines we use for those binary Office formats. Spreadsheets files (.et, .ett) have full support. Writer and Presentation files (.wps, .wpt, .dps, .dpt) are in beta, and you'll see a beta notice after selecting one.

How to turn a WPS file into a scanned PDF

  1. Open the WPS Office to scanned PDF page and select your .wps, .et or .dps file.
  2. Look through the preview, paying attention to fonts, tables and slide layouts.
  3. Adjust the scan effect, such as paper tone, margins, tilt and noise. Keep blur and noise low if small text needs to stay readable.
  4. Select "Generate Scanned PDF", then "Download Scanned PDF".

Got a stack of them? Bulk Scan, a Pro feature, takes several WPS files at once, and you can mix them with PDFs and Word files.

If you'd rather have one image per page, choose PNG or JPEG as the output format. Our guide to PDF, JPG and PNG explains the difference.

The WPS file is opened and converted in your browser. It isn't uploaded to a server.

Will it look exactly like it does in WPS Office?

Not always. We read what's in the file and lay it out again following Word, Excel and PowerPoint rules, rather than rendering it with WPS Office itself.

  • Writer (.wps). The text is reflowed onto pages, so page breaks may land in different places than in WPS Office, and headers, footers and page layout are approximate.
  • Spreadsheets (.et). Values, number formats and merged cells come through. Sheets are laid out on A4 pages, wide sheets switch to landscape, and gridlines are hidden as they would be on a printout. Cell fill colors, fonts and borders aren't carried over yet.
  • Presentation (.dps). Each slide becomes a page, but text and shape support is still partial, so busy slides can lose elements or shift them.

Whatever the file, the download is a PDF with a scan effect applied, and every page is an image. You can't copy or search the text, and WPS Office will open it as a PDF, not as something you can edit. Keep the original file for that.

If the file won't open or the layout is off

  • The preview says the document failed to render. If the file is fine otherwise, it was most likely saved by WPS 2000 or WPS Office 2002/2003, which used a different format that isn't supported. Open it in a current version of WPS Office and save it again. The .wpsx, .etx and .dpsx extensions aren't supported either.
  • An old .wps from Microsoft Works. Microsoft Works also used the .wps extension for its own, unrelated word processor format. Those files can't be opened here.
  • Fonts or layout look wrong. The most reliable fix is to export the file as a PDF from WPS Office, check that PDF, then select it in Look Scanned to add the scan effect. A PDF keeps its layout fixed, so more of the original survives. If you don't have WPS Office, ask the sender to export a PDF for you.
  • Compare before you send. Look over the preview next to the original, especially tables and small print.

For Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, see what improved in Office support and our Word and Excel to scanned PDF guide. Received an .ofd invoice instead? That format works too.

If there's a .wps, .et or .dps file you haven't been able to open, try it here.