# Open Live Writer: a desktop blog editor for Windows and macOS > Open Live Writer is the open source fork of Windows Live Writer, a WinForms desktop client that writes, previews and posts to a blog. It is a good fit if you want a local editor with a WYSIWYG view of your theme, and the wrong fit if you need a maintained cross-platform tool with a signed macOS build. **OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter** — An open source fork of Windows Live Writer - Repository: https://github.com/OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter - Website: http://OpenLiveWriter.com - Stars: 2,539 · Forks: 490 - Language: C# - License: NOASSERTION - Published: 2026-09-28 · Updated: 2026-09-28 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/openlivewriter-openlivewriter ## What Open Live Writer solves, and for whom Blogging through a browser means writing in a text box, saving drafts on a server, and guessing how the result will look until you hit publish. Open Live Writer takes the opposite approach. It is a desktop application that lets you "write, preview, and post to your blog", in the README's words, with the preview rendered against your actual blog theme rather than a generic editor style. The intended user is someone who publishes long-form posts regularly and wants a local file, a real editor window, and a draft list that does not depend on a browser tab staying open. The project is a fork, not a new design. The README's history section explains that the product began with a small team including JJ Allaire, Joe Cheng, Charles Teague and Spike Washburn, was acquired by Microsoft in 2006, and shipped as Windows Live Writer until Windows Live Writer 2012. A group of about half a dozen Microsoft engineers revived it in their spare time from January 2015, Microsoft donated the code to the .NET Foundation in December 2015, and the first open source version followed. That lineage explains both the strength and the constraint: the editor behaviour is mature, the architecture is old. So the audience is narrower than "bloggers". It is Windows users with an existing blog on a platform the app supports, who value offline authoring and theme-accurate preview over a web dashboard. If you publish from a phone, or your platform's API has moved on since 2015, this is not aimed at you. ## How the editor, drafts and publishing fit together The repository layout tells you most of the architecture. The solution lives at src/managed/writer.sln, the main program at src/managed/OpenLiveWriter/ApplicationMain.cs, and the topics list names winforms and dotnet. This is a managed .NET WinForms application, not a web app and not an Electron shell. The UI is native Windows widgets, which is why the Windows build behaves like a classic desktop program and why the macOS port is a separate effort rather than a recompile. Around the core app sit packaging and build pieces: OpenLiveWriter.nuspec, OpenLiveWriter.Install.nuspec and OpenLiveWriter.SDK.nuspec for NuGet packaging, a choco/ directory for Chocolatey, an AppxManifest.xml, and build.cmd, build.ps1 and run.cmd at the top level. There is also a SignClient/ directory, which matters for anyone thinking about distributing a build of their own. The data flow is the part that decides whether the tool suits you. According to the README, the core editor, publishing, drafts and account management are the features that work in the macOS preview, which implies the same four concerns exist in the Windows app: you configure a blog account, the editor works against a local draft, and publishing pushes the post to the blog. The README does not document how drafts are stored on disk, whether they sync across machines, or what happens to a draft if publishing fails midway. Those are real gaps if your workflow depends on them. ## Installing Open Live Writer and publishing a first post The README does not give a package manager command. It says to visit http://www.OpenLiveWriter.com to download and install the latest release, and notes that you can install it alongside an older version of Windows Live Writer. So the install path is a download from the project site, not a single shell command, and there is nothing to copy here for that step. The macOS build is different. The README points at the Releases page for the v0.1.1 tag, describes it as an early alpha for Apple Silicon, and warns that it is unsigned, so the first launch needs a right-click then Open. The README states that the core editor, publishing, drafts and account management work, and that it is not yet feature-complete. It does not describe a Homebrew formula or any other macOS package manager route. If you want to build from source instead of installing a release, the README gives this sequence. Run build.cmd from the repository root, then open the solution if you prefer the IDE: ```bash build.cmd ``` The README notes that the solution is in src/managed/writer.sln and that if you see errors in Visual Studio you should run build.cmd from the command prompt first, which should resolve them. To run from Visual Studio, set the startup project to OpenLiveWriter. There is also a run.cmd at the top level, though the README does not document what it does beyond its name. For a first real use, the workflow the README implies is: install or build the app, add a blog account, write in the editor, check the preview against your theme, save as a draft, then publish. The README does not spell out the account setup screens or the supported blog platforms, so treat that as the first thing to verify rather than something the documentation will tell you. ## The macOS alpha is the sharpest limitation The most concrete constraint in the whole README is the macOS build. It is an alpha, it is Apple Silicon only, it is unsigned, and the README says it is not yet feature-complete. Unsigned means Gatekeeper will block a normal double-click on first launch; the documented workaround is right-click then Open. That is fine for a developer testing a preview and awkward for anyone handing the app to a non-technical writer. The version numbers make the gap explicit. The releases list shows v0.1.1 for macOS and v0.7.0 for Windows, with the Windows line previously at 0.6.2.0 back in 2017. A macOS user is not getting the same product with a different window chrome; they are getting an early port whose feature set is still being filled in. There is a second, quieter limitation. The project is a volunteer effort, and the README frames it that way: contributors are described as a passionate community of volunteers, and the contributing guide is the route in. Volunteer capacity shapes what gets fixed. The README points to the GitHub issue list for known issues and to roadmap.md for current plans, which is a signal that the feature set is a moving target rather than a fixed contract. If your blog platform changes its publishing API, the fix depends on someone having time. ## Open Live Writer compared with a static site workflow The obvious alternative for a technical writer is not another desktop blog client but a static site generator plus a text editor. The difference is where the post lives and what renders it. Open Live Writer holds a draft in the app, renders a preview against your blog's theme, and publishes through the blog's account connection. A static site workflow keeps posts as files in a repository, renders them with a build step, and deploys the output. That changes what you can verify before publishing. With Open Live Writer, the preview is the check, and the README does not describe a diff or version history for drafts. With a file-based workflow, the check is the build and the diff, and the repository is the history. If you already keep posts in Git, Open Live Writer adds an editor but takes the posts out of version control unless you copy them back. The repository's own topics list includes static-site and static-site-cms, which suggests the maintainers see static site publishing as a scenario the app should serve. That is a statement of intent, not a description of a working integration, and the README does not document how a static site target is configured. Treat static site support as something to confirm against the issue list before you plan around it. ## Licence, build cost and what upgrading involves The README states that Open Live Writer uses the MIT License and points at license.txt. The repository metadata reports the licence as NOASSERTION, which is GitHub's way of saying its detector could not classify the file automatically. Those two things are not in conflict so much as one is a claim and the other is a failed automated check. If you are redistributing the app or shipping a modified build, read license.txt yourself rather than relying on either signal, and note that the repository carries a key.snk and a SignClient/ directory, so signing is part of the release machinery. This is not legal advice. The build cost is low on Windows if you have the toolchain the project expects: build.cmd is the documented entry point, and the README treats Visual Studio as the normal development environment. The upgrade story is where the cost sits. Releases are published as tags, the README sends you to the website for the latest Windows release, and there is no documented auto-update mechanism or migration note for drafts between versions. The 0.6.2.0 release in 2017 and v0.7.0 in 2026 are far apart, so anyone who installed years ago is jumping across a long gap with no documented upgrade path. The README does not document rollback either, which is worth knowing before you move a working install. ## Conclusion Adopt Open Live Writer if you write on Windows and want a local WYSIWYG editor that previews your theme before publishing. Do not adopt it if you need a signed, feature-complete macOS client or a cross-platform toolchain, since the macOS build is an unsigned alpha for Apple Silicon. Before committing, check the roadmap and the GitHub issue list for the state of your blogging platform, and confirm which release you are installing, because the Windows line reaches v0.7.0 while the macOS line sits at v0.1.1. ## FAQ ### What is Open Live Writer? It is an open source fork of Windows Live Writer, described in the README as a tool that makes it easy to write, preview and post to your blog. It is a .NET WinForms desktop application, with an early alpha build for Apple Silicon macOS. ### How do I install Open Live Writer? The README says to visit http://www.OpenLiveWriter.com to download and install the latest release, and notes it can be installed alongside an older version of Windows Live Writer. For macOS, the README points at the v0.1.1 release on the Releases page, an unsigned Apple Silicon alpha that needs a right-click then Open on first launch. ### What is the Open Live Writer alternative for people who used Windows Live Writer? Open Live Writer is itself the continuation of Windows Live Writer: Microsoft donated the code to the .NET Foundation in December 2015 and volunteers shipped the first open source version. If you want a different approach entirely, a static site generator with a text editor keeps posts as files and renders them through a build step instead of through the app. ### Does Open Live Writer work on macOS? Yes, as an early alpha. The README describes an Apple Silicon build available from the Releases page, with the core editor, publishing, drafts and account management working, and states it is unsigned and not yet feature-complete. ### How do I build Open Live Writer from source? The README says to run build.cmd in the repository root, and that the solution is at src/managed/writer.sln. If Visual Studio shows errors, the README advises running build.cmd from the command prompt first, and setting the startup project to OpenLiveWriter to run it. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter/issues) - [OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter on GitHub](https://github.com/OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter) - [Project website](http://OpenLiveWriter.com) - [README](https://github.com/OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/openlivewriter-openlivewriter