WPS Office icon WPS Office

Migration

How to switch from Microsoft Office to WPS without losing a weekend

Do not uninstall 365 on Monday morning. Run a bake-off on the files that already make your life hard.

The ten-file test

  1. Longest DOCX with tracked changes and comments
  2. DOCX with mail merge
  3. DOCX with legal numbering / styles
  4. XLSX with pivot tables
  5. XLSX with the hairiest formulas
  6. XLSM if you use macros (expect pain)
  7. CSV with dates and Unicode
  8. PPTX with your brand master
  9. PPTX with embedded video
  10. The PDF you always have to flatten

Open each in WPS, save a copy, open the copy in Word/Excel/PowerPoint again. If the round-trip holds, you can move. If it does not, keep 365 for that class of file.

Habit changes

  • Save As DOCX/XLSX/PPTX, not WPS/ET/DPS, unless the whole team switched.
  • Rebuild macros in the new world or keep Excel for those workbooks.
  • Outlook does not come along; mail stays in Microsoft, Thunderbird, or webmail.

Cutover week, not cutover hour

Days 1–2: WPS installed beside 365. You open files in WPS but still have Word for emergencies. Days 3–4: new files start in WPS, old “cursed” files stay in Excel/Word. Day 5: if nobody screamed, unpin Word from the taskbar. If someone screamed, you learned which file class needs a remaining Microsoft seat — cheaper than a failed Friday migration.

Sharing rules after you switch

Send DOCX/XLSX/PPTX. Say so in the team chat once. If a partner still has Word 2010, avoid the newest 365-only formulas. If a partner has only Google Docs, they will convert anyway — warn them that comments may flatten.

Rollback

Uninstall WPS, restore file associations to Word/Excel/Edge, keep the files (they are still DOCX). You did not convert your archive into a trap unless you saved as .wps. That is why default save format is the first habit.

Mail does not come with you

WPS is not Outlook. Calendars, public folders, IRM mail, and company templates that are really Outlook objects stay in Microsoft. Plan that before you cancel 365 because “we have WPS now.”

SharePoint / Teams files

Opening a DOCX from Teams in WPS can work via sync (OneDrive) or download. Co-authoring in the Microsoft cloud is a Word/Excel-in-browser sport. If the team’s whole culture is simultaneous red balloons in Word Online, WPS is the wrong migration.

Access, Publisher, OneNote

They are not in WPS. Publisher flyers become Writer or a real layout app. OneNote notebooks stay in OneNote. Access databases stay in Access or get rewritten. A “we switched offices” project that forgets those three is a surprise on Wednesday.

Calendar invite to yourself

Migration fails because it is unpaid work. Block two hours. Ten-file test. Write down fails. Decide. If you skip the write-down, you will reinstall 365 in a panic during a live merge. Comparison table.