Does a word processor with AI send my document away?
In Write by Zaweba, only when you ask: the text plus instructions go to your own AI provider, and a local model keeps it all on your PC.
Not unless you ask it to. Write by Zaweba has no AI of its own and sends nothing by default. If you connect your own AI account and choose an AI action, Write sends the selected text, or the whole document's text when nothing is selected, plus its instructions for that action, to the provider you connected. Choose a local model through Ollama and the text stays on your own computer.
Why the question matters
Documents hold private things: medical letters, legal papers, salary details, a CV with your address on it, a draft resignation. Many apps with AI features send text to their own servers as you work, sometimes in the background, and it is not always clear what goes where. It is reasonable to want to know before you type anything sensitive.
How Write handles it
Write is an offline word processor. Opening, editing, spell checking, saving and exporting all happen on your PC, with no account and no cloud. The AI features are switched off until you connect an account, and even then they only act when you choose something from the AI menu or the Ask AI panel.
At that moment, Write sends two things: the text the action needs and Write's instructions telling the AI what to do with it. If you have selected a passage, only that passage goes. If nothing is selected, the whole document's text goes, trimmed to 24,000 characters. Nothing else in the document is sent unless it is part of that text.
Seeing exactly what was sent
Write has a Context sent view that shows what went to the AI for a request. Use it the first few times to get a feel for what each action shares. It is also a good way to check, after the fact, that a request only included the paragraph you meant.
Choosing where your text goes
Because you bring the account, you choose the provider and its terms. Write connects to Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, Azure, Mistral, Grok, DeepSeek and others, and to local models such as those run with Ollama. Read your provider's terms if privacy matters to you, as they differ.
For the most private documents, a local model is the strongest choice. Ollama runs AI models on your own computer, so the text goes from Write to a program on the same machine and no further. A local model needs a reasonably capable PC, and its answers may be simpler than those of the big online services, but it lets you proofread or summarise something sensitive without it leaving the house.
Keys for online providers are stored encrypted with Windows DPAPI, the protection Windows gives to saved secrets.
Simple habits for sensitive documents
Select before you ask. With a passage selected, only that passage is sent, which is almost always all the AI needs. Leave out names, addresses and account numbers where the task does not need them. And remember you do not have to use AI at all: Write's own UK spell check, find and replace, word count and the rest work entirely on your PC.
The short version
Write by Zaweba sends nothing on its own. When you ask an AI for help, it sends what that request needs to the provider you chose, shows you what it sent, and with a local model sends nothing beyond your computer.
