What a .wps file is
Microsoft Works came on most budget Windows PCs from the early 1990s to 2009. Its word processor saved documents as .wps. Current versions of Word don't open them, Works can't be bought any more, and Macs, iPads and Chromebooks have never opened them.
One catch: WPS Office (a newer office suite from Kingsoft) also uses .wps for its documents, which are a different format. This page tells you which one you have. If it's from WPS Office, see the guide on .wps files that aren't from Works.
Open it here
Drop the file on the box above. The page reads it with libwps, the open-source Works reader inside LibreOffice, and lays out the pages with the original margins, fonts, bold and italic, tabs, tables and pictures.
Save the pages as a PDF (free) to keep or email, or copy the text out. With the unlock you also get an editable Word file and can convert whole folders at once.
Very old Works files
Files from Works for DOS and Works 2 to 4 for Windows open too. They store text in the old DOS or Windows character sets; if accented letters look wrong, a menu appears under the document so you can pick the right one.