WordPad is useless in Home windows 11, however Notepad is absorbing its expertise

For years, Notepad has existed as a bare-bones textual content editor. Now not. Microsoft retains including to it, together with a brand new replace that features capabilities that you simply may need anticipated in one other Home windows software, WordPad.

Microsoft mentioned Friday that it’s including “light-weight formatting” in Notepad, together with markdown enter and file help, but in addition daring and italic fonts and even hyperlinks. They’re all accessible through a brand new toolbar that features these new formatting choices.

Microsoft didn’t point out that it’s testing the brand new Notepad or providing these options in preview, so presumably these updates will arrive in your Home windows PC quickly.

Two issues appear to be occurring right here. In late 2023, Microsoft killed off WordPad, the wealthy textual content editor that served as a poor man’s different to Microsoft Phrase. (There’s a solution to convey WordPad again, however you’d want entry to an older model of Home windows the place WordPad nonetheless existed.) Historically, Notepad has been the Home windows reply to a light-weight textual content editor that coders can use or write in, though extra subtle options like vim exist.

Evidently Microsoft is including extra options to attempt to assist these customers, whereas shifting in direction of a WordPad substitute.

Microsoft, in the meantime, is bringing the Edit app to Home windows as nicely. Edit is an open-source app that was mainly designed as a command-line interface, or CLI, and Microsoft particularly references how obtuse vim was to make use of when it introduced it. Both approach, by beefing up Notepad –heck, even with Copilot! — and including the Edit choice as nicely, Home windows is providing a variety of light-weight CLI and text-editing interfaces with out bloating the working system even additional.