Install The Clerk

Before you start

• Word on Windows or Mac: Microsoft 365, or Office 2016 or later. On a Mac, open Word once before installing.
• A way to run checks: the access code from your pilot invitation (ask for a place), or your own AI provider key, which needs no code.
• The installers are for Word on a computer. Without Word, open The Clerk in this browser to check pasted text.

Download and install

Step by step

From the download to everyday use, in four parts. Names in bold are the ones the pane shows; words in quotation marks are the pane's or the setup's own.

Part 1. Download

There are three downloads. Choose one:

1. Windows: The-Clerk-Setup.exe, the setup for Windows. Choose this one on Windows. Microsoft Word on Windows (Microsoft 365, or Office 2016 or later).
2. Windows, if this computer does not run .exe files: The-Clerk-Pilot-Windows.zip. Some work and university computers block setup files. The zip does the same with Windows' own tools.
3. Mac: The-Clerk-Pilot-Mac.zip. Microsoft Word for Mac (Microsoft 365, or Office 2016 or later), opened at least once.

Part 2. Install

On Windows, with The-Clerk-Setup.exe:

1. Double-click The-Clerk-Setup.exe once it has downloaded.
2. The setup is not signed, so Windows may say “Windows protected your PC”. Click More info, then Run anyway.
3. If Windows Defender or your antivirus blocks it: the installer is not yet code-signed, so Windows Defender or another antivirus may stop it. For now, allow the installer through your antivirus, or turn Windows Defender or your antivirus off just while you install. Turn it back on as soon as the installation has finished.
4. The setup says what it does: “This adds The Clerk to Microsoft Word for your Windows account. It needs no administrator rights.” “Setup copies The Clerk's add-in file to your account's app data folder and adds one entry to Word's list of add-ins. Word reads that list when it starts.”
5. Word can stay open while it runs: “If Word is open, you can leave it open for now: you will close and reopen it at the end.”
6. Click Install, then Finish. Setup adds no shortcut of its own: open Word as usual, and The Clerk (hosted) is on its Home tab.
7. Windows Settings → Apps then lists The Clerk (hosted), from EmpiricQuest.

On Windows, with the zip (The-Clerk-Pilot-Windows.zip):

1. Right-click The-Clerk-Pilot-Windows.zip, choose Extract All, then Extract. Keep the files in the folder that opens together.
2. Close every Word window.
3. Double-click Install The Clerk.cmd. If Windows says “Windows protected your PC”, click More info, then Run anyway; if it says “The publisher could not be verified”, click Run. When the window says Done, press any key.
4. If Windows Defender or your antivirus blocks it: the installer is not yet code-signed, so Windows Defender or another antivirus may stop it. For now, allow the installer through your antivirus, or turn Windows Defender or your antivirus off just while you install. Turn it back on as soon as the installation has finished.
5. Open Word. On the Home tab, click The Clerk (hosted).

On a Mac, with The-Clerk-Pilot-Mac.zip:

1. Double-click The-Clerk-Pilot-Mac.zip to unzip it.
2. Quit Word. Right-click Install The Clerk.command, choose Open, then click Open.
3. If macOS offers only Done and Move to Trash, click Done, then open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. If it asks whether Terminal may access data from other apps, click Allow.
4. Open Word and a document. On the Home tab, click Add-ins, then The Clerk (hosted).

Part 3. First use in Word

1. Close every Word window, then open Word again: Word only finds The Clerk when it starts.
2. Windows: on the Home tab, click The Clerk (hosted). Mac: open a document, click Add-ins on the Home tab, then The Clerk (hosted). The Clerk opens in a task pane beside your document.
3. Enter your access code. The pane opens on its entry screen, “Enter your access code”, until it has an access code or a key of your own. Paste the code from your pilot invitation into the Access code field and click Open The Clerk. This site checks the code first: once it is accepted, the pane saves it in this browser and opens. If it is not accepted, the screen says so and nothing is saved. A code lasts 30 days from the first time this site accepts it; Settings → Access code shows when it expires.
   • Once the code is accepted, and while no key of your own for a model provider is saved, your checks run on this site's own AI keys, and this site chooses the model: ⚙ Automatic, “Automatic — each check uses its recommended model”. There is no model picker. Daily limits protect the shared keys. Saving your own key for a model provider as well brings the model picker back, and a model from that provider runs on your own key.
   • With your own API key instead, click Use my own API key instead on the entry screen: it opens Your own API keys in Settings. No access code is needed and you get the full model choice: the model picker at the top of the pane.
4. Run a first check: select a sentence in your document, then choose a check under Run a check, for example Grammar Only. The result appears in the pane. To see a result first without sending anything, view the example in your browser: a sample passage and its feedback, written in advance; nothing is sent to an AI.

Part 4. Using it day to day

1. Run a check. Select a passage in Word; it appears under Selected text. Choose a check from Improve writing, Sharpen thinking or Pre-submission.
2. Read the findings, then apply or leave them. The result opens on Feedback. Where an issue has a Suggested edit, Apply this fix replaces that wording in Word. A suggestion you don't want needs no action: leave it, and your text stays as it is. Nothing in your document changes until you apply an edit.
3. Sweep a section. Open Section sweep in the tool list. Choose Selection, Section or Document, pick a check and click Run sweep. Each paragraph gets its own row.
4. Settings and data backup. Under Data backup in Settings, ⬇ Download backup saves your profiles, reviewer bank, correction matrix, journal profiles, history, and settings as one file, and Restore from file… brings it back, showing what will be replaced before anything is written. API keys and the access code are never in a backup.

Every part of the pane, step by step: Using The Clerk in Microsoft Word.

Check that it worked

1. Close every Word window, then open Word again: Word only finds The Clerk when it starts.
2. Windows: on the Home tab there is a button, The Clerk (hosted). Mac: open a document, click Add-ins on the Home tab, and The Clerk (hosted) is in the list.
3. Click it. The Clerk opens in a task pane beside your document.
4. Open Settings in the pane, enter your code under Access code and click Save. The pane says “✓ Access code saved.” and then whether this site accepts the code, with today's allowance.
5. Select a sentence in your document and choose a check. The result appears in the pane.

With the Windows setup, Windows Settings → Apps also lists The Clerk (hosted), from EmpiricQuest.

If it did not work

The Clerk is not on the Home tab (or not under Add-ins)

Close every Word window, including any in the background, and open Word again. Word reads its list of add-ins only when it starts.

“Windows protected your PC”

The setup is not signed. Click More info, then Run anyway.

The setup file will not run, or is blocked

If Windows Defender or your antivirus blocked it, the installer is not yet code-signed, so Windows Defender or another antivirus may stop it. For now, allow the installer through your antivirus, or turn Windows Defender or your antivirus off just while you install. Turn it back on as soon as the installation has finished. Otherwise, use the Windows zip instead (under “If this computer does not run .exe files” on the Windows tab).

The zip installer says a file it needs is not in the same folder

It was opened from inside the zip. Right-click The-Clerk-Pilot-Windows.zip, choose Extract All, then Extract, and double-click Install The Clerk.cmd in the folder that opens.

“Windows did not let the installer add The Clerk to Word's list of add-ins”

Some organisations block this on their computers. On a work or university computer, show the message to your IT team, or write to info@empiricquest.com.

macOS says it cannot verify the developer

Right-click Install The Clerk.command and choose Open, then Open. On macOS 15 and later, if it offers only Done and Move to Trash, click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, and click Open Anyway.

macOS asks whether Terminal may access data from other apps

Click Allow: the installer puts The Clerk in Word's own folder. If you clicked Don't Allow, open the installer again and click Allow.

The entry screen says “This site did not accept that code. Check it against your pilot invitation and try again.”

Check the code against your pilot invitation: it must match exactly, with no spaces. Nothing is saved until this site accepts it.

The entry screen says “Your access code has expired. Enter a new code to open The Clerk, or use your own API key instead.”

An access code lasts 30 days from the first time this site accepts it. Enter a new code, or click Use my own API key instead. Questions about your code: write to info@empiricquest.com.

A check says “This site needs an access code to use its own AI keys. Enter your code on The Clerk's entry screen, or add your own key under Settings → Your own API keys.”

The pane has no accepted code and no key of your own. Click Enter access code in that message to return to the entry screen, or add your own key under Settings → Your own API keys.

Still stuck

Write to info@empiricquest.com with what the installer or the pane said.

Updates

There is nothing to update by hand. The add-in runs from this site and updates itself, so you download the installer once, not again for updates.

Remove it

• Windows setup: Open Windows Settings, then Apps, and uninstall The Clerk (hosted), or use Uninstall The Clerk in the Start menu.
• Windows zip: Close Word, then double-click Remove The Clerk.cmd in the folder you installed from.
• Mac: Quit Word, then open Remove The Clerk.command in the folder you installed from (the first time with a right-click, as when installing). Microsoft removes add-ins added this way by clearing Word's add-ins folder, so if other add-ins were added the same way it names them and asks first.

The Clerk disappears from Word the next time Word starts.

More about The Clerk

Which version you get (with an access code or your own keys) and how it works, from installing it to removing it, are on The Clerk page. Every part of the pane, step by step: Using The Clerk in Microsoft Word.