Insider Text Formatting in Notepad begin rolling out to Windows Insiders on Windows 11



 Windows Insider Blog:

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are beginning to roll out an update to Notepad to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels on Windows 11.

Notepad (version 11.2504.50.0)

Notepad window open showing formatted content.
Notepad window open showing formatted content.

With this update, we are introducing lightweight formatting in Notepad, providing additional flexibility in how you structure content across your files. The experience supports Markdown style input and files for users who prefer to work directly with the lightweight markup language. To get started, use the new formatting toolbar to apply formatting as you type or to selected text, including bold and italic styling, hyperlinks, and support for simple lists and headings.

If at any point you want to return to plain text, you can clear all formatting from the formatting toolbar or from the edit menu. You can switch between formatted Markdown and Markdown syntax views in the view menu or by selecting the toggle button in the status bar at the bottom of the window. If you prefer, you can disable support for formatting entirely in app settings.


FEEDBACK: Please share your feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Notepad.

As always, we love getting feedback from the community and we will be looking out for your thoughts and suggestions on this update!

Thanks,
Dave Grochocki, Principal Group Product Manager – Windows Inbox Apps


 Source:

 
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To enable lightweight text formatting support in Notepad 11.2504.50.0 without waiting for the gradual rollout, run:

vivetool /enable /id:41073112


 

My Computers

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    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
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Gradually morphing notepad into wordpad 🤪
 

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My Computer

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    HP
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    Intel Ultra 7 155H
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    16gb
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    Intel Arc integrated
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Interesting addition! But the question is, which file formats were added to Notepad to support text formatting, in addition to plain TXT (ANSI/UTF-8/UTF-16)? I suppose this may be HTML and RTF (as in old WordPad). If someone has already tested it, please add a note.
 

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    Lenovo Legion 5-15ARH05
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    AMD Rysen 5 4600H
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    32 GB
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    GeForce GTX 1650 Ti
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    1920x1080
In 2026 Microsoft is apparently rewriting Word to be a basic text based simplified note taker. And it’s about bloody time too. Get out of the way for Notepad, already..
 

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    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 Build: 22631.4249
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    LENOVO Yoga 7i EVO OLED 14" Touchscreen i5 12 Core 16GB/512GB
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    16GB LPDDR5 RAM
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    Optimized with Dolby Atmos®
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    M.2 512GB
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    Defender / Malwarebytes
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    …still on a horse.
More details for the new Notepad is shown in the video starting at 5:03

If you’re not a fan of the lightweight formatting options, you can also fully disable this new support in the Notepad app settings.


nn1.webp

An . MD is a file extension built on a lightweight mark-up language, used to create plain-text documents that contain no other elements. . MD files are popular amongst technical writers and web developers to easily format text for the web.

nn2.webp

nn3.webp

Here is an example using the online "md" editor Dillinger. Note the text for the file was generated by Google AI.

mysample.webp
 
Last edited:

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    AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D
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    ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi II
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    ASUS ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-08G-V2-GAMING (RTX 3060-Ti, 8GB RAM)
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    ASUS Blu-ray Burner BW-16D1HT (SATA) || Western Digital Easystore 20TB USB 3.0 external hard drive used with Acronis True Image 2025 backup software || HP OfficeJet Pro 6975 Printer/Scanner
An . MD is a file extension built on a lightweight mark-up language, used to create plain-text documents that contain no other elements. . MD files are popular amongst technical writers and web developers to easily format text for the web.
Thank you! I never worked with this format (don't have any program supporting it), but looking at the example, it's very close to format of Wikipedia articles. No need to learn another language :-)
 

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    Windows 11 Pro
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    Lenovo Legion 5-15ARH05
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    AMD Rysen 5 4600H
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 1650 Ti
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
An . MD is a file extension built on a lightweight mark-up language, used to create plain-text documents that contain no other elements. . MD files are popular amongst technical writers and web developers to easily format text for the web.

Yes, because we needed another markup language like we needed another USB connector.

MS should just use HTML in the background for Notepad instead of investing in yet another language of the month.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2
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    Laptop
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    HP
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    Intel Ultra 7 155H
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Arc integrated
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    SSD
Yes, because we needed another markup language like we needed another USB connector.

MS should just use HTML in the background for Notepad instead of investing in yet another language of the month.
Markdown is used almost everywhere. Reddit uses it, Github does, even Discord uses it! The cool thing about it is that its open source as well!
 

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    Windows 11
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    HP Pavilion Laptop 15-cw1xxx
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 3500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
    Memory
    8.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 Graphics
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    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
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    LITEON CV8-8E128-HP (SSD)
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    Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
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    Proprietary HP Pavilion Laptop 15 shell
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    Active Fan Cooling
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    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
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    ELAN Clickpad
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    35.50 Mbps download 23.44 Mbps upload
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    Windows 11 24h2
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    Apple iMac "Core i5" 2.7 21.5" (Late 2012)
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    Intel® Core™ i5-3330S Processor
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    NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M
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    1920x1080
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    APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 (Hard Drive 1TB)
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    90.8 Mbps download 23.4 Mbps upload
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Markdown is used almost everywhere. Reddit uses it, Github does, even Discord uses it! The cool thing about it is that its open source as well!

Every one of those interfaces is horrific.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel Ultra 7 155H
    Memory
    16gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Arc integrated
    Hard Drives
    SSD
What we need is a simple text editing tool without any fancy frills. I know - notepad as it was for decades before it was changed!

If we want something fancier for editing/formatting why not wordpad as it was for decades.

Soometimes MS's changes are self backslapping bs to make out their 13 year old developers are intelligent!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Zenbook 14
    CPU
    I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB soldered
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop OLED screen
    Screen Resolution
    2880x1800 touchscreen
    Hard Drives
    1 TB NVME SSD (only weakness is only one slot)
    PSU
    Internal + 65W thunderbolt USB4 charger
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois (UK pint cans - 568 ml) - extra cost.
    Keyboard
    Built in UK keybd
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wireless dongled, wired
    Internet Speed
    900 mbs (ethernet), wifi 6 typical 350-450 mb/s both up and down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0, 2xUSB4 thunderbolt, 1xUsb3 (usb a), 1xUsb-c, hdmi out, 3.5 mm audio out/in combo, ASUS backlit trackpad (inc. switchable number pad)

    Macrium Reflect Home V8
    Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
    Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)

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  • OS
    Windows XP,10,11 Linux (Fedora 42&43 pre-release,Arch Linux)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
    Screen Resolution
    4KUHD X 2
What we need is a simple text editing tool without any fancy frills. I know - notepad as it was for decades before it was changed!

If we want something fancier for editing/formatting why not wordpad as it was for decades.

Soometimes MS's changes are self backslapping bs to make out their 13 year old developers are intelligent!
If you liked the old Notepad better then just download and install Notepad Classic. The same for Paint. You can download and install Paint Classic.

BTW, I have and use both the new and classic versions of both Notepad and Paint.

2025-06-02 03_30_36-NVIDIA GeForce Overlay.webp

Old Classic Notepad for Windows 11

Classic Paint (mspaint)

While you're at it you might as well bring back the old WordPad too!

WordPad for Windows 11
 

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    Windows 11 Pro 24H2
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    Laptop
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    ASUS TUF Gaming A15 (2022)
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with Radeon 680M GPU (486MB RAM)
    Memory
    Crucial DDR5-4800 (2400MHz) 32GB (2 x 16GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA RTX 3060 Laptop (6GB RAM)
    Sound Card
    n/a
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6-inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 300Hz
    Hard Drives
    2 x Samsung 990 Evo Plus (2TB M.2 NVME SSD)
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    n/a
    Mouse
    Wireless Mouse M510
    Internet Speed
    2000Mbps/300Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2
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    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi II
    Memory
    G.SKILL Flare X 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4
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    ASUS ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-08G-V2-GAMING (RTX 3060-Ti, 8GB RAM)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung G50D IPS 27"
    Screen Resolution
    1440p/180Hz
    Hard Drives
    2TB XPG SX8200 Pro (M2. PCIe SSD) || 2TB Intel 660P (M2. PCIe SSD)
    PSU
    Corsair RM750x (750 watts)
    Case
    Cooler Master MasterCase 5
    Cooling
    Scythe Mugen 6
    Mouse
    Logitech M310 (MK540 keyboard/mouse combo)
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520 (MK540 keyboard/mouse combo)
    Internet Speed
    2000 Mbps down / 300 Mbps up
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes (Premium)
    Other Info
    ASUS Blu-ray Burner BW-16D1HT (SATA) || Western Digital Easystore 20TB USB 3.0 external hard drive used with Acronis True Image 2025 backup software || HP OfficeJet Pro 6975 Printer/Scanner
If you liked the old Notepad better then just download and install Notepad Classic. The same for Paint. You can download and install Paint Classic.

BTW, I have and use both the new and classic versions of both Notepad and Paint.

View attachment 135729
The old wordpad is still installable if you want a slighly better text editor than notepad -- otherwise I agree - notepad was (is) fine in the classic version --just does what it needs -- no bells and whisles.

Sometimes I wish people would just leave stuff alone without always over-engineering or bloating them with "featur-itus" -- most of which are probably never used by 99.9999% of the Windows community.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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The old wordpad is still installable if you want a slighly better text editor than notepad -- otherwise I agree - notepad was (is) fine in the classic version --just does what it needs -- no bells and whisles.

Sometimes I wish people would just leave stuff alone without always over-engineering or bloating them with "featur-itus" -- most of which are probably never used by 99.9999% of the Windows community.

Cheers
jimbo
If you called AI in Notepad bloating and over engineering, I would definitely agree. But basic formatting via Markdown as well as native MD file support is the complete opposite. Formatting can also be completely turned off as stated in the blog post. If you don't want to use it, all you really need to do is disable it and move on.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion Laptop 15-cw1xxx
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 3500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
    Memory
    8.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    LITEON CV8-8E128-HP (SSD)
    WDC WD10SPZX-60Z10T0 (Hard Drive)
    PSU
    Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
    Case
    Proprietary HP Pavilion Laptop 15 shell
    Cooling
    Active Fan Cooling
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Mouse
    ELAN Clickpad
    Internet Speed
    35.50 Mbps download 23.44 Mbps upload
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 24h2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Apple iMac "Core i5" 2.7 21.5" (Late 2012)
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-3330S Processor
    Motherboard
    Ivy Bridge (LGA 1155)
    Memory
    8.00 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M
    Sound Card
    Cirrus Logic CS4206B (AB 90)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic Monitor (iMac)
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 (Hard Drive 1TB)
    PSU
    Integrated
    Case
    iMac Aluminum Body
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Lenovo
    Keyboard
    HP SK-2085
    Internet Speed
    90.8 Mbps download 23.4 Mbps upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender

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