Microsoft Write

Microsoft Write

Screenshot of Windows Write
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	1985
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Successor	WordPad
Type	Word processor

Microsoft Write is a basic word processor^[1] included with Windows 1.0^[2] 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 for the Apple Macintosh and Atari ST which is otherwise separate from this program.^[3]

Early versions of Write only work with Write Document (.wri) files, which are a subset of the Rich Text Format (RTF).^[3] After Windows 3.0, Write became capable of reading and composing early Word Document (.doc) files. With Windows 3.1, Write became OLE capable. In Windows 95, Write was replaced with WordPad;^[4] 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 simple text editor), 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.