WPS Retain and Extract Text on macOS helps you keep, remove, or extract text from spreadsheet cells in batches; it includes 5 core tasks, 0 available without membership, and 5 membership-related items.
At a Glance
| Metric | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Core tasks | 5 | Matches the number of rows in the How-to Index |
| Available without membership | 0 | All 5 topics are membership-related |
| Membership-related items | 5 | Available through the membership feature entry |
| Version recommendation | Latest WPS Office for Mac | Helps ensure the Smart Toolbox entry is visible |
About This Feature
Overview
Retain and Extract Text is available in the Smart Toolbox of WPS Sheets for Mac and is designed for batch text cleanup across multiple cells.
Its main capabilities include:
- Keep Content: keep only a selected text type, such as Chinese characters, numbers, or English letters.
- Remove Content: remove a selected text type while keeping the remaining content.
- Extract Text from Beginning: keep a specified number of characters from the start of the text.
- Extract Text from Middle: extract a specified number of characters from a chosen starting position.
- Extract Text from End: keep a specified number of characters from the end of the text.
It is useful for data cleaning, code normalization, prefix extraction, suffix extraction, and structured text preparation in sheets.
System Requirements
| Item | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Operating system | A macOS device that can run WPS Office for Mac |
| App version | Latest WPS Office for Mac is recommended |
| Network | Internet access is needed when signing in or checking membership status |
| Other | Sign in with a WPS account that includes membership access and open an editable workbook in WPS Sheets |
Download & Installation
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Official download | WPS Office Free Download |
| Installation | Download the Mac installer, follow the setup prompts, and launch WPS Office |
| Post-install check | Open WPS Sheets and confirm that the membership area and Smart Toolbox entry are available |
Source: WPS download page
Compare with Alternatives
| Dimension | WPS | Microsoft | Notion | Adobe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capability Summary | In WPS Sheets, this feature provides batch tools to keep content, remove content, extract text from the beginning, extract text from the middle, and extract text from the end for selected cells. | Microsoft Excel provides text functions such as MID to return a specific number of characters from a text string starting at a specified position. | Google Docs focuses on collaborative document creation with smart chips, reusable building blocks, and pageless editing rather than a dedicated spreadsheet text extraction toolbox on this product page. | Notion formulas support functions such as substring, replace, and replaceAll for extracting and modifying text in database properties. | Adobe Acrobat focuses on PDF text editing and redaction workflows, including marking and permanently removing sensitive text and images from PDFs. |
| WPS Advantages | Advantage: WPS brings multiple text cleanup actions into one spreadsheet toolbox so you can process selected cells directly without building formulas first. | Compared with WPS: text extraction is commonly handled through worksheet functions, so users often need to build formulas for each result pattern. | Compared with WPS: the official Docs page highlights document collaboration and reusable content blocks rather than direct spreadsheet cell text extraction tools. | Compared with WPS: text handling is formula-based inside database properties, not a direct spreadsheet batch tool for selected cells. | Compared with WPS: the workflow is centered on PDF editing and redaction, not spreadsheet cell text cleanup. |
| Official Source | — | MID function | Google Docs product page | Formula syntax & functions | Redact sensitive content in PDFs in Acrobat Pro |
Overall Conclusion: If your main task is batch text cleanup inside spreadsheet cells, WPS offers a more direct entry for keep, remove, and extract actions in one place. Microsoft and Notion provide text-processing methods through functions, while Google Docs and Adobe Acrobat focus on different document workflows.
Use Cases
| No. | Scenario | Suitable for | Main issue | Recommended approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clean mixed-character data | Data cleanup staff | Cells contain Chinese characters, numbers, and letters together | Use Keep Content to retain only the target character type |
| 2 | Remove unwanted character types | Spreadsheet maintainers | A column contains character types that need to be removed in batches | Use Remove Content to delete the selected content type |
| 3 | Extract fixed prefixes | Operations and finance teams | Codes or IDs need the front segment separated | Use Extract Text from Beginning |
| 4 | Extract middle segments | Data analysts | A structured string contains a field in the middle | Use Extract Text from Middle with a start position and length |
| 5 | Extract fixed suffixes | Admin and support teams | The ending part of a string needs to be kept | Use Extract Text from End |
Membership & Benefits
Free vs WPS Premium
| Capability | Free users | WPS Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Retain and Extract Text entry | Membership required to use this feature entry | Available |
| Core office features | Basic features available | More advanced features available |
| Cloud space and advanced tools | Basic quota and basic capabilities | More advanced capabilities and higher quotas |
Source: WPS Office pricing page
Recommendations
| Usage scenario | Recommended plan | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Occasional spreadsheet editing | Free plan | Suitable when you only need basic editing |
| Frequent batch text cleanup in cells | WPS Premium | Gives access to keep, remove, and extract text tools for repeated processing |
| Ongoing structured data work | WPS Premium | Better suited for continued use of advanced office and text-processing features |
How to Subscribe
- WPS membership center: Subscribe now
Source: WPS Office pricing page