What is a WKS file?
A .WKS file is a legacy spreadsheet file. It stores rows, columns, formulas, and text. Historically, two different programs used this extension. The first is Microsoft Works, an early productivity suite. The second is the Lotus 1-2-3 Spreadsheet application developed by IBM. Because a .WKS file has multiple possible meanings, it can be hard to know which software created your specific document.
How to open WKS files?
Modern spreadsheet programs often drop support for legacy formats. You can sometimes open a Microsoft Works .WKS file using older versions of Microsoft Excel. However, Lotus 1-2-3 files usually require the original software or a special compatibility plugin. To bypass these problems, viewer.online/wks analyzes .WKS files to identify their exact format and creator software, shows which programs can open the file, and usually previews it.
Software and tools
If you need to edit the data, you should migrate it to a modern format. We recommend using convert.guru to convert your .WKS files into .XLSX or .CSV formats. For users familiar with the command line, open-source libraries like `libwks` can help extract data from older Microsoft Works documents programmatically.
Summary
Finding old software to view historical data is frustrating. viewer.online/wks directly opens and previews .WKS files in the browser, eliminating the need to install software or troubleshoot compatibility issues.