WPS files

Today I had a student come to me in a panic.  She couldn't open her Word file.  When I plugged in her USB drive and looked at the file extension it showed WPS an extension for Word Processing Software no good.  At school we use Word 2007 we can open DOC files and DOCX.  Normally when you open a file and your WPS file is missing you can change the File Type to All Files.  At school students are restricted from doing this so I will do it for them and save in the DOC format.  

Why it s confusing.

The WPS extension comes from Microsoft Works.  This product was discontinued in 2010 and looks very similar to Word.  many people get confused by this.  

Way around it.

You can try using openoffice.org a free download that will work "seamlessly" with Office.  I haven't tried it myself but feedback is positive.  

If you can access your files you may want to try zamzar.com a free online converter.