Opening Hancom Office Hangul (.hwp) files
updated 04/2015.
Let's say a Korean co-worker sent you an .hwp file, but you don't have Hangul Word Processor on your computer. Lucky for you, there are a variety of ways of opening the document for viewing, printing, exporting, and in some cases, editing, all for free.
These are the options I'll talk about in this post:
This is where we can see the biggest change from just a few months ago. To their credit, Hancom have consolidated all of their viewer and trial apps at the site "H&Friends" at hanfriends.com where you can download this software for a variety of platforms. Here's what it looks like:
Here, in the two green tabs, you can download trial versions of their full software suite at the 체험판 다운로드 ("trial download") tab and viewers at the 뷰어 다운로드 ("viewer download") tab (viewer download tab pictured here). From here, a quick glance through the options and buttons show that you can download:
Clearly for the App Store and Google Play apps, there's no problem, but the bad news is that for the straight downloads of the Windows/Linux viewers, you have to be logged-in to the site, which requires creating a (free) user account, the set-up of which is entirely in Korean, even if you specify yourself as a foreigner / foreign customer.
But fear not. Many sites host copies of these files. This one includes the added bonus of the older 2007 viewer included in the Windows bundle:
⏬ HWP_Viewers_Windows.zip (433.5 MB)
containing:
- HOffice2014VP_Viewer.exe (445.2 MB)
- HwpViewer2007.exe (17.3 MB)
⏬ HWP_Viewers_Linux.zip (142.3 MB)
containing:
- hwpviewer_9.20.0.346_i386.deb (75.0 MB)
- hwpviewer_9.20.0.347_amd64.deb (74.2 MB)
And if that doesn't wet your whistle, you can also find these programs hosted on other sites such as [here], [here] or [here].
Rather than just view the file, as the above options allow, you can also convert that .HWP file to a Word document. Microsoft offers a converting program that will let you open .hwp files in Word (File -> Open) or batch-convert .hwp files to .docx
You can see this converter in action with screenshots here, and also download the converters there if the Microsoft link is down. You can also download them here:
⏬ HWP_Converter_pack.zip (28.0 MB)
containing:
- HwpConverter_x64_en-us.exe (8.0 MB)
- HwpConverter_x64_ko-kr.exe (8.0 MB)
- HwpConverter_x86_en-us.exe (7.1 MB)
- HwpConverter_x86_ko-kr.exe (7.1 MB)
There are now two methods that I know of for opening Hangul HWP files online: Hancom's Netffice 24, and Naver Office.
Which you use, in my opinion, depends on whether you just want to open/print/edit the document, or have more varied options for converting it. For document conversion, Naver Office seems better but the process is more difficult. I personally suggest Netffice 24.
Let's say a Korean co-worker sent you an .hwp file, but you don't have Hangul Word Processor on your computer. Lucky for you, there are a variety of ways of opening the document for viewing, printing, exporting, and in some cases, editing, all for free.
These are the options I'll talk about in this post:
- Stand-alone HWP Viewer applications
- Microsoft's MS Word <> HWP converter tool
- Online file conversion & office suites (Netffice 24, Naver Office)
- Hangul Office trial versions
Note: There are many more options than just these 4 for working with HWP files. Most are more updated than these original 4 methods, so you may prefer to see my other posts on various ways of opening Hangul (.hwp/.hml) files.
Stand-alone HWP Viewer application downloads
This is where we can see the biggest change from just a few months ago. To their credit, Hancom have consolidated all of their viewer and trial apps at the site "H&Friends" at hanfriends.com where you can download this software for a variety of platforms. Here's what it looks like:
 |
| Screenshot of the hanfriends.com site |
Official Hancom downloads
Here, in the two green tabs, you can download trial versions of their full software suite at the 체험판 다운로드 ("trial download") tab and viewers at the 뷰어 다운로드 ("viewer download") tab (viewer download tab pictured here). From here, a quick glance through the options and buttons show that you can download:
- Hancom Office 2014 VP Viewer for Windows (XP~8.1)
- Hancom Office Hangul 2014 Viewer for Linux (both 32 bit and 64 bit)
- Hancom Office Hangul 2014 Viewer for Mac (from the Mac Apple Store)
- Hancom Office Viewer for iOS (from the iTunes Store)
- Hancom Office Hwp 2010 Viewer for Android (from Google Play)
Clearly for the App Store and Google Play apps, there's no problem, but the bad news is that for the straight downloads of the Windows/Linux viewers, you have to be logged-in to the site, which requires creating a (free) user account, the set-up of which is entirely in Korean, even if you specify yourself as a foreigner / foreign customer.
Unofficial Mirrors
But fear not. Many sites host copies of these files. This one includes the added bonus of the older 2007 viewer included in the Windows bundle:
⏬ HWP_Viewers_Windows.zip (433.5 MB)
containing:
- HOffice2014VP_Viewer.exe (445.2 MB)
- HwpViewer2007.exe (17.3 MB)
⏬ HWP_Viewers_Linux.zip (142.3 MB)
containing:
- hwpviewer_9.20.0.346_i386.deb (75.0 MB)
- hwpviewer_9.20.0.347_amd64.deb (74.2 MB)
And if that doesn't wet your whistle, you can also find these programs hosted on other sites such as [here], [here] or [here].
Microsoft's official HWP↔MS Word Converter
 |
| Screenshot of the MS HWP converter download site |
You can see this converter in action with screenshots here, and also download the converters there if the Microsoft link is down. You can also download them here:
⏬ HWP_Converter_pack.zip (28.0 MB)
containing:
- HwpConverter_x64_en-us.exe (8.0 MB)
- HwpConverter_x64_ko-kr.exe (8.0 MB)
- HwpConverter_x86_en-us.exe (7.1 MB)
- HwpConverter_x86_ko-kr.exe (7.1 MB)
Online Conversion & Cloud-based Office Suites
Which you use, in my opinion, depends on whether you just want to open/print/edit the document, or have more varied options for converting it. For document conversion, Naver Office seems better but the process is more difficult. I personally suggest Netffice 24.
 |
Screenshot of Hancom Netffice 24's "drive" storage page
|
The best part about using Hancom's own Netffice 24 is that you can log-in to the service with a one-click sign-on using a Google or Facebook account. After that you can upload the .HWP file, and view it online. Editing or printing the document requires just another click.
I've made a separate, illustrated, super-simple guide to doing this. It's filled with screenshots so I've written it up in a post by itself. Check it out here:
→ Open Hangul (.hwp) files online with Hancom's Netffice 24
Additionally, you can use Naver Office by uploading the .hwp file to the Naver Office cloud, then exporting (downloading) it as a MS Word file. You'll need a Naver account to access Naver Office. The sign-up form for Naver accounts is in English, but Naver Office itself is in Korean. I personally don't use this method, but this useful illustrated tutorial (also in Korean but easy to follow along) can help.
Finally, if you want the full power of Hangul Office, Hancom offers 30-day trial versions of their full office suite for download.
The trial version is available on the hanfriends.com site, but like with their other downloads, it will request you to log-in. One way around this is to visit this page for purchasing the software, and, instead, choosing the "Free Trial" option. This will initiate a download of the Hoffice2014VP_Trial.exe (1.7 GB) file.
The trial version of Hangul Office 2008 for Linux is still available here, but good luck getting it to work nowadays.
There are, of course, full versions of the software out there for all platforms, for those pirates among you, which are easily enough to find. You might even consider giving the full 2014 version a try. It seems quite snappier than 2010.
Hangul Office gets a lot of flack from foreigners for being the outlier in a world that standardized Microsoft Word, but Hangul Office does have its charms and once you start playing around with it, you may find that you like it even more. It's a full-featured, powerful suite, that offers a massive variety of options, all of them in English and/or Korean depending on your settings.
Of course, I use LibreOffice (which does have a Korean version) as my default suite, so what do I know?
This post has been the most popular entry on my blog for some time now. Hopefully it can help others out of a tight spot. It can be very frustrating to need to open an important file and lack the tools. I hope that this information was useful in your mission. Good luck, soldier.
Finally, don't forget to see my other posts on various other methods of opening Hangul (.hwp/.hml) files.
I've made a separate, illustrated, super-simple guide to doing this. It's filled with screenshots so I've written it up in a post by itself. Check it out here:
→ Open Hangul (.hwp) files online with Hancom's Netffice 24
Additionally, you can use Naver Office by uploading the .hwp file to the Naver Office cloud, then exporting (downloading) it as a MS Word file. You'll need a Naver account to access Naver Office. The sign-up form for Naver accounts is in English, but Naver Office itself is in Korean. I personally don't use this method, but this useful illustrated tutorial (also in Korean but easy to follow along) can help.
Trial Version of Hangul Office
Finally, if you want the full power of Hangul Office, Hancom offers 30-day trial versions of their full office suite for download.
 |
| Screenshot from the Hancom Office 2014 download screen, with "Free Trial" button visible |
The trial version is available on the hanfriends.com site, but like with their other downloads, it will request you to log-in. One way around this is to visit this page for purchasing the software, and, instead, choosing the "Free Trial" option. This will initiate a download of the Hoffice2014VP_Trial.exe (1.7 GB) file.
The trial version of Hangul Office 2008 for Linux is still available here, but good luck getting it to work nowadays.
Parting Words
There are, of course, full versions of the software out there for all platforms, for those pirates among you, which are easily enough to find. You might even consider giving the full 2014 version a try. It seems quite snappier than 2010.
Hangul Office gets a lot of flack from foreigners for being the outlier in a world that standardized Microsoft Word, but Hangul Office does have its charms and once you start playing around with it, you may find that you like it even more. It's a full-featured, powerful suite, that offers a massive variety of options, all of them in English and/or Korean depending on your settings.
Of course, I use LibreOffice (which does have a Korean version) as my default suite, so what do I know?
This post has been the most popular entry on my blog for some time now. Hopefully it can help others out of a tight spot. It can be very frustrating to need to open an important file and lack the tools. I hope that this information was useful in your mission. Good luck, soldier.
Finally, don't forget to see my other posts on various other methods of opening Hangul (.hwp/.hml) files.
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