Apple Intelligence is now available on supported devices with the latest operating system updates. It brings new AI features like writing tools, image playground, and Genmoji, while improving existing apps on Apple Silicon devices like Mail and Siri.
Among them, "writing tools" receive the most attention because they simplify daily writing tasks such as proofreading, summarizing, and tone adjustment.
Microsoft attempted to offer similar functionality on Windows, integrating Copilot into Microsoft Word, but its functionality was limited to MSWord. There is also Microsoft Copilot, but it mainly runs as a standalone application rather than a deeply integrated operating system feature.
Fortunately, you can still access Apple Intelligence's writing tools on your Windows machine through a third-party open source app called WritingTools. This tool replicates all the features of Apple's writing tools, such as translation, summarization, proofreading, etc.
You need to connect the writing tool with LLM to use its features. Currently, it supports Gemini2.0 Flash and early Gemini models, but you can also connect it with OpenAI-compatible APIs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, MistralAI, etc. or even locally hosted models.
To use the writing tool, you first need to download and install it on your Windows computer. You can download it directly from the GitHub download page.
Once the download is complete, unzip the file and double-click the WritingTools.exe file. When you launch it for the first time, it will ask you to configure a few things, such as shortcut keys and APIs.
I recommend leaving the trigger key as the default key (i.e. CTRL+Space) to avoid conflicts with system-level shortcut keys, and using the GeminiAPI for simple configuration.
Once completed, click the "Complete AI Setup" button to complete the configuration.
Once configured, the writing tool is very easy to use. Select the text on the page, press CTRL+Space on your keyboard to trigger the "writing tool", and then select the "Summary" option.
It provides us with a short and easy-to-understand summary of the article.
Writing tools can also help you complete a range of other tasks. For example, you can ask it to proofread your article, adjust tone, summarize and extract key points, and even write custom prompts for desired actions.
Best of all, it runs seamlessly on Windows. We tested it on different browsers, GoogleDocs, Word, Notepad and even Telegram and it worked fine.
If provisioning using Gemini or other cloud-based LLM, an internet connection needs to be activated. However, you can also use it offline by setting up a local LLM.
Overall, it's a great alternative to Windows writing tools that eliminates the need for Grammarly or other writing and note-taking assistants.