Cache is ordinary. A packed C: drive is the emergency.

This is not a rootkit story

Kingsoft AppData is application data. Configs, caches, recovery crumbs. Public fear screenshots treat the folder as an implant. It is leftover paper. You may delete cache after you decide you do not need last night’s unsaved draft. You should not download a cleaner EXE to do it. Official suite: wps.com/download. Related: security, recover files.

Cloud off does not always mean cache off. Templates you previewed, PDF converts, and update scraps still land on disk. About 1 GB of Cloud is a quota in the account, not a cap on local cache.

Settings → Advanced → Cache

Open WPS. Settings (gear) → Advanced. Find Cache, Clear cache, or Storage. Labels drift by build. Clear. Restart the suite. If Settings is unreachable because the app will not launch, skip to AppData after you copy the tree — or follow will not open first. Do not clear cache as a first step if the only copy of a thesis might sit in Backup Centre. Copy, then clear.

Some builds let you set a cache size or path. If C: is a 128 GB drive with Windows, games, and a camera roll, put cache on D: or a documents disk when the UI allows it. Same idea as browsers. Same idea as Steam libraries.

Move Backup Centre off the system drive

Backup Centre is the feature that saves you and then fills the disk that boots the PC. In backup / recovery / autosave settings, change the path to a folder you created on a roomier volume, for example D:\WPS-Backup. Apply. Open Backup Centre once and confirm new snapshots land there. Old snapshots may stay on C: until you delete them on purpose — after a copy.

Autosave interval is a trade: more snapshots, more disk. A ten-minute interval on a 2 GB leftover partition is how launch fails next Monday. Free several gigabytes. Kingsoft’s modest hardware notes assume you did not already fill the volume with video.

The AppData walk

Explorer address bar: %AppData%\Kingsoft\WPS Office and %AppData%\kingsoft. Also peek at %LocalAppData%\kingsoft if Roaming is thin. Sort by size if your Explorer build can. Delete folders that are clearly cache, temp, or update leftovers. Leave configuration if you do not want to re-enter defaults. If Windows says a file is in use, quit every WPS process (Task Manager: wps.exe) and try once more. Reboot only if a handle is stuck.

Program Files is the product, not the cache. Do not delete the install directory to “free space” unless you intend to uninstall — uninstall. After a real uninstall, leftover AppData is optional cleanup, not a required exorcism.

What actually grows in those folders

People imagine one “cache.tmp.” What you actually meet is a pile: previewed marketplace templates, thumbnail tiles, convert scratch files after a PDF job, update packages the updater left behind, autosave snapshots you never opened in Backup Centre, and Cloud download stubs if you browsed a folder on the phone and the desktop pre-fetched it. None of that is your thesis by itself. Any one of those trees can include a recovery file with a useless name. That is why the copy-first rule exists. A 4 GB “office cache” on a 128 GB laptop is common after a semester of scan-to-PDF. It is still not proof of spyware.

WPS Photo and the PDF toolkit share the same family of folders. Clearing Writer cache can also drop PDF convert leftovers. If you live in convert, expect the folder to refill. That is a reason to move the path, not a reason to reinstall weekly. Store installs and website installs both use AppData; the Store package does not magically keep cache in a sandbox you cannot see. If two WPS builds were installed over time — website then Store — you may have two trees. Look at both kingsoft spellings.

Disk-cleanup tools that come with Windows can delete Temp. They do not always touch Kingsoft AppData. That is good. It is also why C: still looks full after “Storage Sense.” Open the Kingsoft folders and sort by size. If Backup Centre was left on C: with a short autosave interval, the backup directory wins the size contest. Move it, then delete the old snapshots you already copied. Keep one week of backups if you edit daily; keep more if you only remember the file on Fridays.

After a clean, set file associations again only if Windows got confused — unusual, but a crashed installer plus a cleaner is how defaults wobble. See file associations. If launch fails after a heroic delete, you removed a config the splash screen expected. Restore your copy or reinstall from official bits. Related reading for the analyst who fills C: during close week: stories.

Numbered cache steps

1. If a file might be unsaved, copy %AppData%\kingsoft and %AppData%\Kingsoft\WPS Office to another drive. See recovery.
2. WPS Settings → Advanced → Cache. Clear. Restart.
3. Point Backup Centre / autosave at a folder off C: if the system drive is small.
4. In Explorer, trim obvious cache folders under Kingsoft AppData. Quit wps.exe if files are locked.
5. Do not run an advertised leftover cleaner. Do not empty Recycle Bin until you know the draft is not there.
6. Launch Writer. If it fails, stop deleting and use the launch guide.
7. Recheck free space. If C: is still full, the culprit is probably not WPS alone — videos, installers, other app caches.

Related: recover files, will not open, troubleshooting, download.