Proudly Canadian

Choosing Quillsoft means partnering with a company that invests in Canada's future: supporting schools, advancing learning equity, and delivering reliable innovation from coast to coast. Proudly Canadian. Unapologetically focused on every learner.

We are Canadian-founded and Canadian-owned—rooted in a nation that values equity, inclusion, and opportunity for all.

In assistive technology for education, that means building tools that empower every student, without exception.

Choosing Quillsoft means partnering with a company that invests in Canada's future: supporting schools, advancing learning equity, and delivering reliable innovation from coast to coast. Proudly Canadian. Unapologetically focused on every learner.

Based in the St. Lawrence neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, Quillsoft was established in 2000. In partnership with Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Quillsoft grew out of a pioneering research group focused on accessible technology for children with disabilities. Early innovations included software that allowed non-verbal children with cerebral palsy to communicate and draw on computers, and the development of WiViK—the first commercial onscreen keyboard for Windows, now standard in today’s operating systems.

Our flagship product, WordQ, was created through close collaboration with academic and clinical experts. It supports learners with learning and physical disabilities—and anyone who faces challenges with writing. Our development process is evidence-based and shaped by ongoing input from educators, clinicians, and long-serving developers, some of whom have been with us for over 20 years.

Today, in partnership with the Nisai Group, Quillsoft is expanding globally, evolving from a leading assistive technology provider into a comprehensive education partner. Guided by the values of inclusion, confidence, and achievement, we remain dedicated to making written communication accessible for everyone.

    • Automatic display of English or French user interface based on system language

    • State-of-the-art in-context word prediction: Supports both offline and online applications (e.g., Office 365 and Google apps); automatically adapts to your word usage

    • High quality text-to-speech feedback: Listen to high quality speech to help choose predictions and read aloud as you type to help you catch mistakes. Acapela voices are individually downloaded for flexibility in choosing voices/dialects

    • Read website text selections: Includes word-by-word highlighting and ability to pause, restart, move a single word at a time backward and forward using arrow keys

    • Homonym usage examples: See examples of how a close-sounding words are used

    • Abbreviation-expansion: Use short forms to expand out to phrases

    • Proofreading mode: Use a unique proofreading strategy alongside word prediction to help you review and refine your writing so that the result sounds like what you had originally intended

    • Pronunciation exceptions: Customize how unique words are spoken

    • Exam Mode: Turns off WordQ features that may not be allowed during exams/assessments

    • PDF viewer/editor: Open PDF documents for accessible reading and writing using all WordQ features; fill in form fields or add your own text boxes; add sticky notes; and mark up text with annotations

    • ThoughtQ Dynamic Topics: Automatically create a topic list (word bank) of words/phrases on any subject by simply entering a keyword; use this list to influence word prediction and as "thought triggers" to help you search the web more effectively, with less effort and time, while gaining greater knowledge.

    • Static Topics/Word Banks: Easily create and use static topics (word banks), that consist of a list of words or short phrases that you might use when writing about a topic and influence word prediction accordingly.

    • Speech recognition: Work alongside of Microsoft Voice Typing (Win 10 or 11; online) or Voice Access (Win 11; offline); you have the choice of typing with the keyboard, using word prediction, or speaking straight into your text

    • Profanity-free

    • Online help: Complete user help is available online

    • Compatible with WordQ 5: Import and use previous WordQ 5 user profiles.

  • Improved spelling accuracy: Studies have shown that word prediction can significantly reduce spelling errors

    Increased writing fluency: Some research indicates that word prediction can help increase the rate of text production

    Reduced keystrokes: Word prediction typically reduces the number of keystrokes needed to type words,

    Enhanced vocabulary use: Word prediction may encourage users to employ a wider variety of words

    Improved confidence and independence: Many users report feeling more confident in their writing abilities

  • WordQ fully supports both English and French across all its versions, providing state-of-the-art word prediction and text-to-speech features in each language. Users can switch between English and French vocabularies, making it ideal for bilingual environments or for those learning either language.

    WordQ offers customizable vocabularies and proofreading modes in both languages, helping users catch errors and improve writing quality.

    WordQ’s support extends to all platforms-Windows, macOS, iPadOS, and Chrome-ensuring consistent bilingual functionality for students, professionals, and anyone seeking accessible writing and reading support in English and French

  • WordQ Standard

    Language Support

    • One version for both English and French with automatic display of the appropriate user interface based on system language.

    • Available dictionaries/vocabularies include:

      • Canadian English (Elementary, Intermediate, Secondary)

      • US English (Elementary, Intermediate, Secondary)

      • UK English (Elementary, Intermediate, Secondary)

      • Canadian French (générale, nouvelle orthographe)

      • European French (générale, nouvelle orthographe)

  • WordQ 6 is available in either Standard or Pro versions. The Standard version includes vocabulary templates and a dictionary suitable for elementary, intermediate and secondary students. The Pro version contains an advanced academic and professional vocabulary template and dictionary suitable for higher education (e.g., grade 12, post-secondary), and the workplace.

Important

    • WordQ for Windows v6: Windows 10(v22H2) - 11(v24H2), desktop and web applications, PDFs (built-in reader/editor)

    • WordQ for Windows v5: Windows 10(v22H2) - 11(v23H2), desktop applications, PDFs (built-in reader/editor)

    • WordQ for macOS v6: macOS 11 (Big Sur) desktop applications, PDFs (built-in reader/editor) (Arriving Feb 5, 2026)

    • WordQ for macOS v5: macOS 10.13.6 - 15.1, desktop applications, PDFs (built-in reader/editor)

    • Internet connection required for software activation

    • Version 5 Windows Users: ARM-based computers are not supported. WordQ is not currently supported on ARM-based computers running Windows ARM, e.g. Microsoft Surface with Snapdragon processor, or Windows emulation on MacOS with M1-M4 processors

    • WordQ for Windows v6: 6.2.8 (Feb 2, 2026)

    • WordQ for Windows v5: 5.4.30 (Aug. 1, 2023) Note: We do not have any plans for future updates past WordQ 5 v5.4.3 as improvements have been included in WordQ Standard/Pro for Windows v6.1.x.

    • WordQ for macOS v6: 6.0.10 (Feb 5, 2026)

    • WordQ for MacOS v5: 5.5.7 (July 17, 2025)

  • WordQ functionality (e.g., word prediction, speech feedback, and abbreviations) is not supported when using onscreen keyboards, eyegaze, system speech recognition, and screenreader software, although it does not interfere with such assistive technology. Other 3rd party assistive technology may interfere with the operation of WordQ beyond our control. While we have evaluated WordQ with the most common commercial applications such as Microsoft Word and Google Docs, new operating system and application updates by Microsoft, Google and Apple may introduce incompatibilities with WordQ beyond our control. While we will endeavour to address these within a timely fashion we cannot guarantee functionality with all future updates by 3rd parties.

    WordQ’s PDF reader/editor requires PDF documents to be accessible, i.e., searchable text.

    Compatibility may vary within different versions of operating systems and applications. Some may not support all features of WordQ. Please contact us for a 30-day free trial download of the full version of WordQ Desktop to allow for testing within your own environment.

    Please read the EULA for further limitations on the deployment/use of WordQ.

“If you are looking for a software whether you have a disability or because you are not good at writing, WordQ is a great option for you.”
— Olivia Barr, WordQ User