5 Ways to Open/Convert and Edit a .WPD (Word Perfect) File on a Windows PC
What’s a .WPD?
A .WPD file is a document created in WordPerfect, a word-processing software program by Corel. Even if you don’t have WordPerfect installed on your computer, you can open these file-types easily & quickly. You don’t even need Word installed if you use Way#5. But most people have Word. Use Way #5 also if you need to view the .WPD file on your iPhone or iPad.
Here are the five (5) ways to open WPD files. The first few ways will convert the file to Word (DOC) format. And you can edit it, too.
Way #1. Rename .WPD to .DOC
WordPerfect (.WPD) files are easy to open if you have Microsoft Word on your computer. You can rename the extension from .WPD to .DOC and they will open up in any version of Word (Word 2003, 2007, 2010).
Here’s how step by step:
- Put the file on your desktop or some place you can easily find it if it’s not already. (For example, if the .WPD file was sent to you in e-mail, this means you need to save the attachment to your desktop.) (If you use Microsoft OUTLOOK, this is done by right-clicking on the attachment in your e-mail and selecting SAVE AS.)
- Right-click on the file and select RENAME. Rename the file to whatever you want as long as you end it with .DOC instead of .WPD. Important: Change the file extension to .DOC no matter what version of Word you have. This “trick” will NOT work if you use .DOCX as the file extension. All versions of Word can open .DOC files.
- Double-click on the file. Doing this will cause the file to open up in Microsoft Word. Now you’re all set. You should see your document! (Word knew it was really a WordPerfect file and converted it for you as it opened.) Now, you can either leave it in .DOC filetype, or if you want feel free to now convert it to .DOCX filetype if you’re using Word 2007 or Word 2010. But this is not required or necessary in most cases. If you work at a law firm and want to use MacPac10 to transform your document to use a standard template for your law firm, then it’s a good idea (smile).
And that’s it!
Way #2. Open it From Inside of Microsoft Word
Here’s step by step instructions for opening & converting WordPerfect files from inside of any version of Word.
- Open Microsoft Word
- Click File and Open
- In the Files of Type at the bottom of the dialog box, select the dropdown menu and change it to All Files (*.*)
- Browse to the file
- Click it and select OK
- The file will open up in Word after it is automatically converted
Way #3. Add File Association for .WPD
You can also setup your computer to always open .WPD files in Word going forward (if you have Word installed). This method is called changing your file associations. You’ll want to do this “way” if you expect to receive a lot of .WPD (WordPerfect) files. Then you don’t have to worry about changing the filename each time. Simply double-click the file & it’ll open in Word.
Here’s how to associate .WPD files to open in Word, step by step:
- Put the file on your desktop or some place you can easily find it if it’s not already. (For example, if the .WPD file was sent to you in e-mail, this means you need to save the attachment to your desktop.) (If you use Microsoft OUTLOOK, this is done by right-clicking on the attachment in your e-mail and selecting SAVE AS.)
- Right-click on the file and select OPEN WITH. Then select CHOOSE DEFAULT PROGRAM. If you see Microsoft Word on the list, highlight it and be sure to place a CHECK next to the option on the bottom that says, ”Always use the selected program to open this kind of file.” If you do NOT see Microsoft Word as a choice (and you have it installed on your computer), click the BROWSE button to locate WINWORD.EXE (you can do a search on your computer if you need the exact file path). On WindowsXP computers, the path is C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT OFFICE\OFFICE12\WINWORD.EXE.
- Click on OK. The .WPD file will then open in Word and for future WPD files, all you now have to do is double-click them and they’ll open up in Word going forward. This is because you just changed your file association for .WPD files. By completing the above step, you told your computer, “Hey, open up .WPD files in Microsoft Word from now on.” There’s a more complicated way of doing this, but the above step is easiest for most non-computer people.
Way #4. Use a WordPerfect Viewer
If you don’t have Microsoft Word installed on your computer (or even if you do), you can view WordPefect files using Corel’s free software called WordPerfect Lightening, a viewer. Corel also has a WordPerfect Viewer out now for the iPhone and iPad.
There are Three Types of Viewers you can Download:
- For a Windows PC. With or without Word installed, you can use a FREE software called WordPerfect Lightening to open and view WordPerfect files! So just download and install it. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT (note: you do NOT need an Acer computer to use this software as the page seems to imply). After clicking the link, pay attention to where your file is downloading. If you’re using FireFox or Google Chrome as your web browser, more than likely the file will automatically download to your DOWNLOADS folder. The name of the file that is being downloaded is WordPerfectLightningInstaller.exe. You will need to double-click this file after it downloads in order to INSTALL it onto your computer. After it’s installed, then you’ll be able to easily open .WPD WordPerfect files. I’m going to create a video showing you how to do this step by step in the near future.
- For an iPad. Read WordPerfect and WordPerfect email attachments on your iPad with a simple tap. CLICK HERE to download the iPad WordPerfect Viewer.
- For an iPhone. Yes, there’s a WordPerfect app for your iPhone! It lets you view WordPerfect files right on your iPhone. CLICK HERE FOR IPHONE WORDPERFECT VIEWER.
Way #5. Buy WordPerfect for $29.
A fourth way would be to buy WordPerfect and install it on your computer! Seriously, you can grab a copy of Corel’s WordPerfect software for $29 on Amazon (click here to buy WordPerfect), and it will work on WindowsXP, Windows VISTA, or Windows 7. So if all else fails, you can always purchase WordPerfect.
Questions: Did you find this tip helpful? Was it easy to find and understand? What can make it better? What other tips do you think would be helpful to have online? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Thanks for the info. Changing the wpd to a doc didn’t work but the corel lightning works great. Thanks and God Bless.
Great! I’m glad to hear one of the methods worked out of you. Thank you for commenting. Take care.
Renaming .wpd to .doc worked in Office 2013 with formatting in tact. Also, opened up .wpd inside of 13 as well, no issues! Thanks for the post
Great, glad to hear it, Jason! You are welcome.
Didn’t work for me (I’m on a mac). After I renamed the file with the .doc extension and tried to open it it brought up a convert file from dialogue box with many options. I tried each of them and none of them worked. Each method I use brings up this dialogue box which is a dead end. Any ideas?
Ahhh, this tricks on this page is specifically for PC-users. I don’t use a Mac but can do some research and write something for Mac users (let me know of solutions if you find them). Meanwhile, if you have a G-mail account (they are free to create), e-mail the WPD to yourself, and G-mail will let you view the file, even if you don’t have Word or WordPerfect installed.
Try NeoOffice App for Mac users.
The Corel Lightning program worked like a breeze for me! Saved 4 old Word Perfect documents. Thanks! :)
Awesome, @stephen_kenney:disqus
Your link to Lightening for PC points to a malware site.
Hi there Larry! Knowing is half the battle. So thanks for letting me know about the bad link. Here’s a good one: http://apps.corel.com/lp/acer/5941/index.html?trkid=acerwplightning
Please note this blog post was published in 2012, so a lot may have changed since I looked into this. But for the most part, the latest Word versions can open pretty much everything.
I also provide a link to purchase WordPerfect above. it is surprisingly very inexpensive software to own, which is probably the best/sure way to open WP files.
Take care!
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I do realize your post is a bit “long in the tooth”. It’s interesting to me that my Word 2010 can indeed open old WP files, even ones composed on WP for DOS and ones without an explicit .WP extension (my older Word 2001–or so–would not). It also opens old PC Write files, although the formatting isn’t so hot on those. I had hoped to find something akin to the old QuickView from 15 or so years ago. Lightning doesn’t fit that bill. It can’t seem to read WP files older than about 1995. There is, it seems, an updated, version of Quick View from Avanstar. Perhaps I should go that route, or perhaps I’ll just have to open the 50 or so files in word until I find what I want. Thanks again.
This probably doesn’t apply to most people, but CorelDraw can import old WordPerfect files. I found some 20 year old WPD files and they imported perfectly into CorelDraw X6.
Thanks for sharing this tip, @accroya:disqus
Renaming the file and trying to open it opened a dialog box with many options. An article I had read before said to choose “word perfect” from that list. That’s great, except for the fact that is not anywhere on the list. The link you provide for wordperfect lightning does download a program by that name. It’s great for opening pdf files, but would not open my word perfect files.
Thank you so much for this post, it really saved me a lot of work as I needed to reuse some documents from 15 years ago (when I had WordPerfect). Once I’d realised that I also needed to find and transfer the font from the 15 year old hard drive, WordPerfect Lightning opened them perfectly with most formatting intact and saved me a lot of retyping.
I am still generating invoices and POs in WordPerfect 7. I also have Office 2007. obviously I can open WPD files, but i want to convert them to PDF. Trying to open WPD files in Word 2007 does not work. Renaming the file to DOC does not fool Word 2007.
@disqus_TqXTVbpcL3:disqus , you can print to PDF (by installing free PDF printers, which is a virtual printer that will print your document to that format). Also the latest version of Office lets you save any document in a PDF format.
WordPerfect viewer/editor on Android? For long-time WordPerfect users, it has been virtually impossible to read or write WPD files on an Android device. The only official option, thus far, has been the official and commercial Corel WPD viewer, but the user reviews have been mixed, to say the least.
This problem has prompted me to research and experiment, based on the fact that a free Windows MS Office-compatible suite like Libre Office [or Open Office, or Apache Office] has, for some time, had the ability to open WordPerfect files seamlessly [and save them, sometimes]. I formatted and saved a few basic WPD files, simply renamed the file extension to .ODT, and opened them in Libre Office – virtually perfectly [only experiencing importing issues with some complex tables]. Apart from that, formatting features like different fonts, graphics boxes, numbered outlining? No problem.
Then I proceeded to Android: I copied these test WPD files [simply renamed as ODT files, not exported as Open Office files, remember] to my device/cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive. I installed a number of Open Office/ODT compatible office apps, and tried to open the “new” ODT files.
The best result so far [only been testing for the last 2 days] has come from OOReader [free via the Google Play store]. Opening a disguised WPD file as an ODT file takes a few seconds to convert, and – success! Almost every file I’ve tossed at OOReader has imported successfully, with WP formatting and graphics intact.
Interestingly, the official Libre Office viewer app [also the beta one] chokes on these FrankenFiles, as well as most other allegedly ODT-compatible office viewers and editors.
And so my 48-hour conclusion and advice are this: If you’re a die-hard WPD user and would like to access your files on an Android device, follow these kludgy and hack-ey steps: (1) upload your WPD file AS IS to your device or the cloud; (2) install OOReader on your device; (3) when you need to do so, simply rename the WPD file to an ODT extension, and import into OOReader.
Savvy users might even write a batch script or CMD file beforehand which automatically renames or mirrors important WPD files as ODT files in one’s PC Dropbox folder, which will save precious seconds when accessing that beautiful WPD data…
When (if) I find an app which can then also correctly and perfectly edit and save these hacked WPD-as-ODT files, a follow-up report will, well, follow.
Date: 28 May 2016
Worked like a charm, thanks!
Use LibreOffice or Word. Otherwise, buy a dirt cheap copy of X7 Home & Student off Amazon and keep it for this reason. Ditch WordPerfect. Corel doesn’t support it well and no cloud storage services (and few Office Suites) are supporting the file format – which is notoriously hard to build decent support for, BTW.
Pity those people on Macs :-(
I tried switching to WPO, but the bad support for its native file formats everywhere made this literally impossible. it also has really bad OOXML import/export filters; so de facto bad if you interop with users on other sites.
Great information! Great website! Easy worded instructions! Thank you for linking me to ‘Word Perfect Lighting!!!’
you’re wonderful! You’ve saved me many hours of work.
I have to collaborate with a guy using WordPerfect. If I install WordPerfect on my desktop PC running Windows 10 and using Microsoft Office, will I be able to edit his text, save the edited document in WordPerfect and send back to him with the changes highlighted so that if he approves them, his secretary can copy the changes into his master documents without retyping?
Thanks for your help. Awesome tips.
Thank you!!! Saved me!!
Hi June
I just saw your article on Opening/Converting and Editing a .WPD file on a Windows PC and I’m hoping you can help me with my problem.
I have numerous WP 5.1 for DOS files on a old PC computer using Windows XP I use to retrieve them. The computer also has a Microsoft Word 97 program on it which hasn’t been used in ages. My other computers all have current versions of Windows and Word. I need to convert and send all these WP files to a current version of Word so I can then convert these files to PDFs for storage. If I can’t, I will have to print these files in order to create PDFs. That is an extremely undesirable option! Can you give me some advice on this. I tried to attempt your suggested “Way 4” and couldn’t find the Word Perfect Viewer download on the link you provided. I am at my wits end. Can you rescue me? Thanks!
Very helpful.