Microsoft Write is a basic

word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current word ...

included with Windows 1.0 and later, until Windows NT 3.51. Throughout its lifespan, it was minimally updated. "Microsoft Write" also shares the name of a commercial retail release of

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor program, word processing program developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platf ...

for the

Apple Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

which is otherwise separate from this program. Early versions of Write only work with Write Document (.wri) files, which are a subset of the

Rich Text Format ) As an example, the following RTF code would be rendered as follows: This is some bold text. Character encoding A standard RTF file can only consist of 7-bit ASCII characters, but can use escape sequences to encode other characters. ...

(RTF). After

Windows 3.0 Windows 3.0 is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, launched on May 22, 1990. It introduces a new graphical user interface (GUI) that represents applications as clickable icons, instead of the list of file names in its predecessors. ...

, Write became capable of reading and composing early Word Document (.doc) files. With Windows 3.1, Write became

OLE OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

capable. In

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...

, Write was replaced with

WordPad WordPad is a word processor software designed by Microsoft that was included in versions of Windows from Windows 95 through Windows 11, version 23H2. Similarly to its predecessor Microsoft Write, it served as a basic word processor, positione ...

; attempting to open Write from the Windows folder will open WordPad instead. The executable for Microsoft Write (write.exe) still remains in later versions of Windows, however it is simply a compatibility stub that launches WordPad. Being a word processor, Write features additional document formatting features that are not found in

Notepad A notebook (also known as a notepad, writing pad, drawing pad, or legal pad) is a book or stack of paper pages that are often Ruled paper, ruled and used for purposes such as note-taking, Diary, journaling or other writing, drawing, or scrapbooki ...

(a simple

text editor A text editor is a type of computer program that edits plain text. An example of such program is "notepad" software (e.g. Windows Notepad). Text editors are provided with operating systems and software development packages, and can be used to c ...

), such as a choice of font, text decorations and paragraph indentation for different parts of the document. Unlike versions of WordPad before Windows 7, Write could justify a paragraph. Write is comparable to early versions of MacWrite.

How to open Microsoft Write documents (.wri)

LibreOffice LibreOffice () is a free and open-source office productivity software suite developed by The Document Foundation (TDF). It was created in 2010 as a fork of OpenOffice.org, itself a successor to StarOffice. The suite includes applications ...

5.1 and newer releases can open most versions of Microsoft Write documents (.wri). After opening a Write document it can then be saved in OpenDocument Format which is the default file format for LibreOffice or saved in another file format. LibreOffice is able to open most Microsoft Write documents by use of an import filter called libwps, this import filter is included with LibreOffice by default. Microsoft applications cannot open Microsoft Write documents. Microsoft stopped shipping Write when Windows 95 was introduced in . Write was replaced with Microsoft

which a few years later stopped supporting all the Write document (.wri) formats; this occurred when Windows XP Service Pack 2 shipped in .

References

{{Authority control 1985 software Atari ST software Discontinued Windows components

Write Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

Windows word processors

How to open Microsoft Write documents (.wri)

See Also

References