WritingTool

What WritingTool is

WritingTool is a LibreOffice extension for creating and editing extensive texts, including literature, scientific writing and business writing. It checks spelling, grammar and style through LanguageTool, applying rules across paragraph boundaries and caching results to speed repeat checks on long documents. Writers can turn rules on or off, adjust some parameters, customize rule colors and styles, and create profiles for different document types. Text statistics can identify items such as frequently used words and filler words, with analysis available for individual languages. Optional AI support can check, edit and create text, including generating, rewriting, expanding and translating paragraphs; it can also generate images and provide text-to-speech. Text APIs support OpenAI-compatible services such as Ollama, and localAI is supported; image and text-to-speech APIs currently support localAI only. The project says it runs locally without requiring a remote server, while remote servers, including LanguageTool Premium, are also supported. WritingTool is free and open-source software for Linux, macOS and Windows. It requires Java 17 or higher and, from version 26.7, LibreOffice 24.2 or higher.

Who it suits

WritingTool suits people creating long documents in LibreOffice, including writers of literature, scientific work or business material. It is also suited to users who want configurable proofreading and optional AI support, provided they meet its Java and LibreOffice requirements.

Limits

WritingTool is free and open-source software. It requires Java 17 or higher and, from version 26.7, LibreOffice 24.2 or higher; image and text-to-speech APIs currently support localAI only. Extensive AI stylistic changes are experimental and not recommended, and paid AI servers can incur high costs when checking extensive texts.

Getting started

1. Install WritingTool as a LibreOffice extension.
2. Use Linux, macOS or Windows with Java 17 or higher.
3. From version 26.7, use LibreOffice 24.2 or higher.
4. Configure proofreading rules, rule styles or a document-type profile.
5. Optionally configure an AI text API, such as an OpenAI-compatible API or Ollama; image and text-to-speech APIs currently support localAI only.

Verdict

Choose WritingTool if you work with extensive texts in LibreOffice and want configurable LanguageTool proofreading, with optional AI functions. Look elsewhere if you need OpenOffice support from version 26.1, or if the Java and LibreOffice requirements do not suit your setup.