wps-office-cn on Omarchy

wps-office-cn on Omarchy

wps-office-cn is Kingsoft's WPS Office China edition for Omarchy — Writer, Spreadsheets, Presentation, and PDF tools with a Microsoft-Office-style ribbon and the best .docx fidelity of any free suite on Linux.

TL;DR

omarchy pkg add wps-office-cn

Takes ~15 minutes — the biggest package in this batch: 781.9 MB download / 2.1 GB installed.

Free tier is ad-supported (proprietary Kingsoft EULA, LicenseRef-WPS-EULA). Premium exists; pricing varies across sources, so no numbers are quoted here.

Getting started (5 minutes)

1. Know which WPS you're installing.

This is the China edition from linux.wps.cn — the newest track (the AUR pinned comment: "users who want WPS version above 12, install wps-office-cn instead"). The international build at wps.com is older and English-localized; the CN edition is newer but ships Chinese-named default templates. If you only need English and an older version is fine, the international wps-office AUR build is the alternative — but for v12+, this is the package.

2. First launch — watch for the silent exit.

The best-documented modern failure: WPS hard-requires libxml2.so.2 while current distros ship libxml2.so.16, so the app can exit instantly with no error. If double-clicking does nothing, that's the prime suspect — the fix is in "Common issues." Similarly, the wpscloudsvr cloud daemon can segfault on modern glibc/libc++ and take the main process down with it.

3. The three things everyone needs to know:

• Free means ad-supported. Multiple reviews confirm it: the free version includes ads that can interrupt the workflow, a ~1 GB free cloud cap, and no real-time co-editing. If the ads bother you, LibreOffice and OnlyOffice are the free-and-clean alternatives (comparison below).
• It's the .docx-fidelity king among free suites. That's the reason to tolerate the ads and the 2.1 GB: documents round-trip through Microsoft formats better here than in LibreOffice. If your work is "open the client's .docx and it must look right," this is the pick.
• Fix fonts and input method once, up front. Missing formula fonts (symbol/webdings/wingdings/mtextra) → install ttf-wps-fonts from AUR. fcitx5 Chinese input on Wayland is broken by default — the community wps-office-repack documents maintained workarounds (+fcitx5xwayland, +kdedark for dark-theme text).

4. Where its config lives.

~/.config/Kingsoft/Office.conf — this is also where the AppComponentMode[Install]=classic fix goes (see issues). (Confirm on-machine.)

Common issues & fixes

All items below are from the ArchWiki WPS Office page, AUR comments, or documented fix projects — none are invented.

WPS exits instantly on launch — no window, no error.

The documented modern-distro failure: WPS hard-requires libxml2.so.2, but current distros ship libxml2.so.16. If it still dies, the second culprit is wpscloudsvr segfaulting on modern glibc/libc++ and taking the main process down — the "Fusion" dashboard auto-spawns the daemon otherwise.

Fix: Per the wps-office-linux-fix project: symlink your newest libxml2 to the expected .so.2 name. Then replace wpscloudsvr with a no-op and set AppComponentMode[Install]=classic in ~/.config/Kingsoft/Office.conf.

WPSPDF won't open or export PDFs.

The PDF features need libtiff5.so.5.

Fix: ArchWiki + AUR pinned comment (Universebenzene): install libtiff5 from AUR. (ArchWiki: WPS Office)

Fonts render too bold / double-bold; formulas show tofu boxes.

Two separate known issues. The overbold rendering: WPS applies its own bolding on top of freetype's fakebold with freetype2 > 2.13 on 11.x builds — fixed in CN 12.1.0.17885+, so this 12.1.2 build should be clean (verify on-machine; older-build workaround was freetype2-wps from AUR). The tofu: missing formula fonts.

Fix: Install ttf-wps-fonts from AUR for symbol/webdings/wingdings/mtextra. (ArchWiki: WPS Office)

Can't type Chinese with fcitx5 on Wayland; text unreadable in dark theme.

The CN edition ships Chinese-named default templates. These are repack-maintainer-verified workarounds, not official Kingsoft fixes — treat as community solutions.

Fix: Community-verified workarounds from the wps-office-repack maintainer: the +fcitx5xwayland variant fixes XWayland input, and +kdedark works around dark-theme text.

After install, .docx/.xlsx files are recognized as zip archives.

Mime association problem.

Fix: ArchWiki: remove the wps-office-mime package to fix the mime association. (ArchWiki: WPS Office)

Download/availability seems China-only or flaky outside China.

Caution, not a confirmed block: an AUR comment (udotirol) reports the related wps-office-365 package's download is China-only ("failure while downloading from wpscdn.cn"). The CN edition is served primarily for mainland users.

Fix: If the install stalls on download, this is the likely reason. (AUR: wps-office-365 comments)

Pairs well with / If you hate this, try

Pairs well with

• ttf-wps-fonts (AUR) for formula/symbol fonts
• libtiff5 (AUR) for PDF features
• fcitx5 configured desktop-wide
• a file manager that opens .docx in WPS by default once mime is fixed

If you hate this, try

• LibreOffice — free/open-source, no ads, solid .docx compatibility, heavier and less "Word-like"
• OnlyOffice — the best MS-format fidelity among FOSS suites, the cleanest WPS replacement
• the international wps-office AUR build — same suite, English-localized, older version track
• Google Docs / Office web — zero-install fallback for occasional editing

Comparison: wps-office-cn vs similar apps

Verdict: If "the client's .docx must render exactly right" is the job, WPS Office CN is the free pick — tolerate the ads and the 2.1 GB. If you value clean, ad-free, and open, OnlyOffice is the closest fidelity match and LibreOffice the dependable default.

How to switch from Microsoft 365 (~15 minutes)

1. Export from Microsoft 365: your files are already .docx/.xlsx/.pptx — there's nothing to export. Copy them over (or point WPS at your OneDrive-synced folder).
2. Import into WPS: File → Open. Fonts are the main friction — install ttf-wps-fonts (AUR) so symbol/Wingdings content renders.
3. What doesn't transfer: VBA macros (limited support), real-time co-authoring, OneDrive-native version history, Outlook mail-merge integration.
4. Time estimate: ~15 minutes plus the 2.1 GB install.