_images/novelwriter-icon.svg

novelWriter#

A markdown-like editor for novels

A markdown-like text editor designed for writing novels and larger projects of many smaller plain text documents.

It is designed to be a simple text editor that allows for easy organisation of text files and notes, with a meta data syntax for comments, synopsis, and cross-referencing between files, and built on plain text files for robustness.

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novelWriter is Free and Open Source, and runs on Linux, Windows and MacOS

Latest Release#

Version 2.6.1 – Released on February 2, 2025 – Read the Release Notes

Linux

Download
AppImage
Debian Package
_images/linux.svg

Windows

Download
Setup Installer*
Install Help
_images/windows10.svg

MacOS

Download
DMG Image (Intel)
DMG Image (M1)
Install Help
_images/macos.svg

* Free code signing on Windows is provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation. See Code Signing Policy.

Other Install Options#

ubuntu-logo Add the Ubuntu PPA to your system#
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vkbo/novelwriter
sudo apt update && sudo apt install novelwriter
pypi-logo Install from the Python Package Index#
pip install --user novelwriter

  • For more download options, including pre-releases, see the Downloads page.

  • You can also use the Ubuntu PPA on other Debian-based distros. See Setup and Installation for more details.

  • Ubuntu pre-releases are available on the Pre-Release PPA, by adding ppa:vkbo/novelwriter-pre instead.

Sha256 Checksums#

  • Linux AppImage: novelWriter-2.6.1.AppImage
    Sha256: bc173f93be03c7566bcbd2aaf01bfef689db601d46da8e524cc28c8d89310cd1 ShaSum File
  • Debian Package: novelwriter_2.6.1_all.deb
    Sha256: e840e16ae1e99f67800ac269604e373fb409b9647e89bef31bb6d8e9c2271b4f ShaSum File
  • Windows Installer: novelwriter-2.6.1-amd64-setup.exe
    Sha256: 1bf0f01d1cc7ee59d415b18e1b82c352f9bffdf7d5db44aa46f05b1be33e2780 ShaSum File
  • MacOS DMG Image (Intel): novelWriter-2.6.1-x86_64.dmg
    Sha256: a501901a1049e032c9f726e154ffac83e54cd858127650ff0a8c87e2305c367f ShaSum File
  • MacOS DMG Image (M1): novelWriter-2.6.1-aarch64.dmg
    Sha256: ace2e1cd3333cf4bb7b9c69cbf8763627a984106fa697e1f1cc42e617aafe973 ShaSum File

Verify the Checksum

Download the corresponding ShaSum File to the same location
Run one of the commands below in a terminal window in the same folder
shasum -c novelWriter-2.6.1.AppImage.sha256
shasum -c novelwriter_2.6.1_all.deb.sha256
Run the following command in PowerShell from the same folder
Check the Hash value against the value displayed above
Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 novelwriter-2.6.1-amd64-setup.exe | Format-List
Download the corresponding ShaSum File to the same location
Run the command below in a terminal window in the same folder
shasum -c novelWriter-2.6.1-x86_64.dmg.sha256