# Vellum for Windows: What to Use Instead

Vellum is Mac-only. InkSpine exports validated EPUB 3 and DOCX for KDP on Windows, macOS, and Linux — with writing and worldbuilding in the same app.

- <https://inkspine.app/vellum-for-windows>
- Published 5 August 2026
- Updated 3 November 2026

> Vellum doesn’t run on Windows. This does.

If you write on a PC and you’ve gone looking for Vellum, you already know how the search ends: Vellum says it is only available for Mac. InkSpine is an offline writing app that exports a validated EPUB 3 and a KDP-ready DOCX (InkSpine Core) from Windows, macOS, or Linux — and, unlike a formatting tool, it’s also where you write the book in the first place.

## What Vellum is good at

Credit where it’s due: Vellum has a deserved reputation for turning a finished manuscript into a handsome book with very little fuss. Its templates are well made, and for Mac-owning authors it’s a reasonable last step in the process.

The catch is the first word of that sentence. Vellum requires macOS — there’s no Windows version, no Linux version, and no browser version. The usual suggestions (renting a cloud Mac, borrowing a friend’s laptop) all end with you formatting your book on a computer that isn’t yours, once per revision, forever.

## What InkSpine does instead

InkSpine isn’t a formatting step bolted onto the end of your process — it’s the whole desk. You draft in a distraction-free markdown editor, keep characters, locations, and lore linked beside the manuscript, and export a validated EPUB 3 and a DOCX (InkSpine Core) when you’re ready. Every project is a plain folder of Markdown and JSON files on your own disk, readable without InkSpine forever, with automatic chapter version history, saved every few minutes.

| Where writers get stuck | Vellum | InkSpine |
| - | - | - |
| Runs on Windows | No — macOS only. There is no Windows build and no web version | Yes — Windows, macOS, and Linux, natively |
| Ebook export | Validated EPUB, on a Mac | Validated EPUB 3, on any of the three platforms (InkSpine Core) |
| Word export for KDP | Not its focus — it outputs finished ebook and print files | DOCX export, which KDP accepts directly (InkSpine Core) |
| Writing the manuscript | Not part of it — you arrive with a finished draft to format | A distraction-free markdown editor is where the project starts |
| Characters, locations, lore | Not a worldbuilding tool | Structured, linked worldbuilding beside the manuscript |
| Where the files live | Inside the app's own project file | A plain folder of Markdown and JSON on your disk |

## Being straight with you

InkSpine is built for writers and shaped by their feedback. It isn’t trying to out-typeset a dedicated print-formatting app. What it does do — write, plan, and export a book you own, on the operating system you actually use — no Mac-only tool can do for you at all.

Keep reading

[InkSpine vs Vellum, feature by feature →](https://inkspine.app/vs/vellum)

[How to export an EPUB for Amazon KDP →](https://inkspine.app/epub-for-kdp)

[A worldbuilding template for characters and lore →](https://inkspine.app/worldbuilding-template)

[The whole Scrivener + Plottr + Vellum stack, compared →](https://inkspine.app/alternatives)

Beautiful books shouldn’t require buying a different computer.