Download WordCraft for Windows

For most Windows PCs, download the x64 installer (.msi) above, open it and follow the steps. WordCraft is free, and every file on this page comes from the official GitHub release.

Which file to choose

Not sure? Open Settings → System → About and look at System type.

Then choose how to run it:

• Installer (.msi): installs WordCraft for all users in Program Files, adds it to the Start menu and to the Open with list for Word documents. It needs administrator rights.
• Portable (.zip): nothing to install. Unzip it and run wordcraft.exe. It’s handy when you can’t install software or just want to try WordCraft. It doesn’t add a Start menu entry or file associations.

Both contain wordcraft.exe (the app) and wordcraft-cli.exe (a command-line tool for converting documents). Both programs are code-signed, and neither needs the Visual C++ Redistributable.

Install with the installer

1. Download the .msi for your PC from the table above.
2. Open it. If Microsoft Defender SmartScreen warns about the file, click More info and check that the publisher is Learning Machines Inc before you go on.
3. Accept the licence and click Install. Windows asks for administrator permission, and the prompt names Learning Machines Inc as the verified publisher.
4. On the last page, leave Launch WordCraft ticked to start it right away. Afterwards, start it from the Start menu.

We checked the signature on the 0.7.0 x64 installer. It is signed by Learning Machines Inc through Azure Trusted Signing, Microsoft’s code-signing service, and its SHA-256 matches the checksum published with the release. Is WordCraft safe? has the details.

Run the portable version

1. Download the -portable.zip for your PC.
2. Right-click the file, choose Extract All and pick a folder.
3. Open the folder and run wordcraft.exe.

The portable version keeps its settings in the same place as the installed one (see below), so it isn’t completely self-contained.

Open Word documents with WordCraft

The installer adds WordCraft to the Open with list for .docx, .docm, .dotx, .dotm, .doc, .dot, .rtf, .odt, .md and .txt files. It doesn’t make itself the default app.

• To open one file, right-click it and choose Open with → WordCraft.
• To make WordCraft the default for a file type, choose Open with → Choose another app, select WordCraft and tick Always use this app.

Where settings and logs are kept

Paste %APPDATA%\WordCraft into the File Explorer address bar to open the folder. The log file is what to attach to a bug report. Each start moves the previous log to wordcraft.1.log, so the log of a session that crashed survives the next launch. WordCraft never writes the text of your documents to the log.

Uninstall

• Installed version: open Settings → Apps → Installed apps (on Windows 10, Apps & features), find WordCraft and choose Uninstall.
• Portable version: delete its folder.

Neither removes %APPDATA%\WordCraft. Delete that folder too if you want your settings and logs gone.

If WordCraft doesn’t start

Start-up problems on Windows usually come from graphics drivers. The fixes below are the ones the WordCraft README recommends.

The window never appears, or WordCraft closes right after it starts. WordCraft draws with DirectX 12 by default, and some graphics drivers fail before the window opens. Try the Vulkan backend: open PowerShell in the folder that contains wordcraft.exe and run the two lines below. The installer puts it in C:\Program Files\WordCraft, or C:\Program Files (x86)\WordCraft for the 32-bit build.

$env:WGPU_BACKEND = "vulkan"
& .\wordcraft.exe

The setting lasts only for that PowerShell window. Don’t use "gl" instead: the README warns that it can bring the driver crash back.

It quits as soon as the window appears, and the log says “Parent device is lost”. WordCraft already ignores the DirectX shader compiler files that other programs sometimes put on your PATH, which used to cause this. If you still see it, start WordCraft with the Vulkan backend as above.

It’s very slow on an older PC. When a graphics chip has no DirectX 12 driver (for example Intel 4th-generation graphics on Windows 11), DirectX 12 falls back to drawing everything on the processor. WordCraft detects this and switches to OpenGL on its own. The log records the choice in lines that start with graphics:.

The 32-bit version always uses OpenGL, because DirectX 12 fails on 32-bit Windows.

Still stuck? Report it on GitHub Issues and attach your log file.

Updating

Download the newer .msi and run it. It replaces the installed version, so you don’t need to uninstall first. For the portable version, unzip the new release into a fresh folder. Your settings carry over either way, because they live in %APPDATA%\WordCraft.

Before you rely on it

WordCraft is alpha software. Its developers estimate it is about 60% of the way to replacing Word for real work, and crashes and freezes reported by users are high on their own list of gaps. Keep copies of important documents, and check a file in Word or another app before you send it. The features page lists what isn’t supported yet.