If you just upgraded to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS “Resolute Raccoon” and you regularly exchange .docx, .xlsx, or .pptx files with colleagues on Windows, you already know the problem: LibreOffice does a decent job, but complex formatting frequently breaks down the moment someone opens your file in Microsoft Office. That is where WPS Office fills the gap. This guide shows you exactly how to install WPS Office on Ubuntu 26.04 using three proven methods, fix the most common post-install errors, and configure the suite so it works properly from day one.

I have been managing Linux desktops and servers for over a decade. I have deployed WPS Office across mixed-OS office environments, and the steps below reflect what actually works in production, not just what the official documentation says.

What Is WPS Office and Why Does It Beat LibreOffice for .docx Compatibility?

WPS Office is a proprietary office suite developed by Kingsoft. It ships three core applications: WPS Writer (word processing), WPS Spreadsheets (data and formulas), and WPS Presentation (slides). The Linux version is available free of charge and has been actively maintained since well before Ubuntu 26.04 existed.

The reason experienced Linux users reach for WPS over LibreOffice comes down to one thing: native Microsoft Office format rendering. Tables with merged cells, tracked changes, embedded charts, and complex headers stay intact when you open them in WPS. With LibreOffice, those same files often arrive shifted, reflowed, or stripped of formatting. If you share documents with Windows users daily, that distinction matters.

WPS also ships with a built-in PDF editor and a ribbon-style interface that Windows migrants find immediately familiar, which shortens the learning curve considerably.

Prerequisites: What You Need Before You Begin

Before running any commands, confirm the following:

• Operating System: Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute Raccoon), released April 23, 2026
• System Architecture: 64-bit x86_64 (most modern desktops and laptops)
• RAM: Minimum 6 GB (Ubuntu 26.04 now requires this; WPS adds load on top)
• Free Disk Space: At least 2 GB available
• User Permissions: You need sudo access on your machine
• Internet Connection: Required for downloading packages and resolving dependencies
• Terminal Access: Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open a terminal window

Run these two commands to verify your system before proceeding:

uname -m

This confirms your CPU architecture. The output should say x86_64. If it does not, you need the ARM build of WPS Office instead.

df -h /

This checks available disk space on your root partition. Make sure the “Available” column shows at least 2 GB.

Step 1: Update Your System Before Installing Anything

Always run a full system update before adding new software. Ubuntu 26.04 shipped in April 2026, and security patches accumulate quickly. A stale package index causes dependency mismatches that produce confusing errors during installation.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

What this does: apt update refreshes the list of available packages from all configured repositories. apt upgrade -y then applies all pending updates without asking for confirmation on each one. Running both together before any new install is a baseline sysadmin habit.

sudo apt autoremove -y

Why run this: Orphaned packages left behind by previous installs can conflict with incoming dependencies. This command removes them cleanly. It takes 10 seconds and saves potential headaches later.

Confirm that wget is available, since you will need it to download the WPS .deb package from the terminal:

which wget

If the output is empty, install it:

sudo apt install wget -y

How to Install WPS Office on Ubuntu 26.04 via .deb Package (Recommended Method)

The .deb installation method gives you the best performance, the most current WPS version, and the cleanest integration with GNOME 50, which ships by default on Ubuntu 26.04. It loads faster than Snap and skips the overhead of a containerized runtime.

Step 2: Download the Official WPS Office .deb Package

Navigate to the official WPS Office Linux download page:

https://www.wps.com/office/linux/

Alternatively, use wget directly from the terminal so you have a reproducible, scriptable download step:

cd ~/Downloads
wget -O wps-office.deb "$(curl -s https://www.wps.com/office/linux/ | grep -o 'https://[^"]*amd64.deb' | head -1)"

If the above dynamic URL extraction does not work due to a page structure change, go to wps.com/office/linux/ in your browser, right-click the download button, copy the link address, and substitute it directly:

wget -O wps-office.deb https://wdl1.pcfg.cache.wpscdn.com/wpsdl/wpsoffice/download/linux/XXXXX/wps-office_VERSION_amd64.deb

Replace XXXXX and VERSION with the actual values from the download page. Version numbers change with each release.

Why use wget instead of the browser download button? Because wget gives you a direct command you can drop into a provisioning script or Ansible playbook. It also runs fine over SSH on headless machines, which matters when you are deploying WPS Office to multiple desktops remotely.

Step 3: Install the .deb Package Using dpkg

Navigate to your Downloads folder and install the package:

cd ~/Downloads
sudo dpkg -i wps-office.deb

Expected output:

Selecting previously unselected package wps-office.
(Reading database ... 245832 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack wps-office.deb ...
Unpacking wps-office (XX.X.X.XXXXX) ...
Setting up wps-office (XX.X.X.XXXXX) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for mime-support ...

If you see dependency errors at the end instead, do not panic. Run this immediately:

sudo apt --fix-broken install -y

Why does this happen? dpkg installs the package file directly but does not fetch missing dependencies. The apt --fix-broken command tells apt to look at what is broken in the package database and resolve it automatically by pulling the missing libraries from Ubuntu’s repositories.

Step 4: Verify the Installation

Confirm WPS Office registered correctly in the package database:

dpkg -l | grep wps-office

Expected output:

ii  wps-office   XX.X.X.XXXXX   amd64   WPS Office - Writer, Spreadsheets, Presentation

The ii at the start means the package installed and configured successfully. If you see rc instead, the install failed and you need to re-run the dpkg command.

Test each application module from the terminal before switching to the GUI:

wps &    # opens WPS Writer
et &     # opens WPS Spreadsheets
wpp &    # opens WPS Presentation

Why test from terminal first? The terminal catches startup errors that a GUI launch silently swallows. If a shared library is missing, you will see the error message directly. If all three modules open without errors, your install is solid.

Step 5: Fix Missing Fonts After Installation

This step is not optional. On first launch, WPS Office will display the warning: “Some formula symbols might not be displayed correctly due to missing fonts.” This is not cosmetic. Missing fonts break PDF exports, corrupt formula rendering in Spreadsheets, and cause symbol boxes to appear in documents you send to colleagues.

Why Fonts Are Missing

WPS Office on Linux does not bundle Microsoft-origin fonts due to licensing restrictions. The suite expects fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, and several symbol fonts to exist at the OS level. On a fresh Ubuntu install, they are not there.

Fix 1: Install Microsoft Core Fonts

sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer -y

This package pulls Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, Georgia, Verdana, and other essential Microsoft fonts via the restricted Ubuntu package repo. You will see a license agreement dialog in the terminal. Press Tab to select OK, then Enter to confirm.

After installation, rebuild the font cache:

sudo fc-cache -f -v

Why rebuild the cache? Applications like WPS Office read a compiled font index, not the raw font files directly. Without refreshing the cache, WPS may not detect the newly installed fonts until you reboot or manually trigger the rebuild.

Fix 2: Install WPS-Specific Symbol Fonts

Microsoft core fonts solve most issues, but WPS also relies on a set of symbol fonts that are not in any Ubuntu repo. The community-maintained fix lives on GitHub:

sudo apt install git -y
git clone https://github.com/iykrichie/wps-office-19-missing-fonts-on-Linux
cd wps-office-19-missing-fonts-on-Linux/special-wps-office-fonts
sudo cp -f *.* /usr/share/fonts/
sudo fc-cache -f -v

Why use the GitHub approach instead of downloading manually? Because git clone gives you a version-tracked, repeatable operation. When you come back in six months to provision a new machine, the exact same command still works. Manual downloads go stale.

After completing both font fixes, restart WPS Office. The symbol warning should not appear again.

Step 6: Method 2 — Install WPS Office via Snap

The Snap method suits users who prefer automatic updates and do not want to manually re-download .deb files when a new WPS version ships. Snap packages run in a sandbox, which limits what the application can do to your system — a useful property for proprietary software.

First, confirm that snapd is running:

systemctl status snapd

The output should show active (running). If it does not, enable it:

sudo systemctl enable --now snapd

Install WPS Office from the Snap Store:

sudo snap install wps-office

Why use strict confinement (the default) and not --classic? Classic confinement removes the sandbox entirely, giving the application full system access. WPS Office does not need that level of access. Keep it in strict mode unless you have a specific reason to loosen the boundary.

After installation, grant file access permissions so WPS can open documents on external drives or mounted volumes:

sudo snap connect wps-office:removable-media

Why is this step necessary? Snap’s strict confinement blocks access to paths outside your home directory by default. External drives typically mount under /media or /mnt, which are outside that boundary. Without this connection, WPS will fail to open files from USB drives or NAS mounts.

Step 7: Method 3 — Install WPS Office via Flatpak

Flatpak is the right choice if you run multiple Linux distributions and want one consistent install process across all of them. It is also a good option on Ubuntu 26.04 if you have already built your workflow around the Flathub ecosystem.

Install Flatpak support if it is not already present:

sudo apt install flatpak -y

Add the Flathub repository:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Why add Flathub manually? Ubuntu 26.04 does not include Flathub in its default Flatpak configuration. Without this step, flatpak install returns a “no remote refs found” error, which confuses new users into thinking Flatpak itself is broken.

Install WPS Office:

flatpak install flathub com.wps.Office

Launch it:

flatpak run com.wps.Office

Grant home directory access so WPS can reach your documents:

flatpak override --user --filesystem=home com.wps.Office

Why override filesystem permissions after install? Flatpak applications receive minimal permissions by default. Without this override, WPS may be unable to open or save files in your home directory, which defeats the purpose entirely.

Post-Installation Configuration

Once WPS Office is running correctly, take 5 minutes to configure these settings. They will save you frustration later.

Set WPS as the default application for Office formats. Open the terminal and run:

xdg-mime default wps-office-writer.desktop application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
xdg-mime default wps-office-et.desktop application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
xdg-mime default wps-office-wpp.desktop application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation

Why use xdg-mime instead of right-clicking files? The xdg-mime command writes to ~/.config/mimeapps.list at the user-profile level. GUI-based “Open With” associations sometimes revert after desktop environment updates. The command-line method sticks.

Enable auto-save. Open WPS Writer, go to Tools → Options → General, and set the auto-save interval to 5 minutes. WPS does not enable this by default on Linux. A crash or power loss without auto-save means losing everything since your last manual save.

Review the telemetry settings. On first launch, WPS presents a data-sharing prompt. Since WPS Office is proprietary software, review what data it collects. On security-sensitive machines, navigate to WPS Office Menu → Settings → Privacy and disable data collection.

How to Update WPS Office on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

The update process differs depending on which installation method you used.

For .deb installs: WPS does not register a repository in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/, so apt upgrade will not update it automatically. You need to download the new .deb from wps.com/office/linux/ and re-run:

sudo dpkg -i wps-office-new-version.deb
sudo apt --fix-broken install -y

For Snap installs: Updates happen automatically. To force a manual refresh:

sudo snap refresh wps-office

For Flatpak installs: Update all Flathub apps including WPS:

flatpak update

Troubleshooting Common WPS Office Errors on Ubuntu 26.04

How to Uninstall WPS Office Cleanly

If you need to remove WPS Office and start fresh, use the method that matches your installation type.

Remove a .deb install:

sudo apt remove --purge wps-office -y
sudo apt autoremove -y

The --purge flag removes both the package and its configuration files. Using remove without --purge leaves config files behind, which can cause unexpected behavior if you reinstall later.

Remove a Snap install:

sudo snap remove wps-office

Remove a Flatpak install:

flatpak uninstall com.wps.Office
flatpak uninstall --unused

Congratulations! You have successfully installed WPS Office. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing WPS Office on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute Raccoon) system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official WPS Office website.