Image courtesy of Microsoft
Notepad has been around for years as a simple text editor. No more. Microsoft continues to add new features, including a recent update that includes features that you would have expected from WordPad, another Windows application.
Microsoft It was announced on Friday that “lightweight formatting” will be added to Notepad. This includes markdown input, file support, bold and italics, and even hyperlinks. All of these options are accessible through a new toolbar.
Microsoft did not indicate that they were testing the new Notepad, or offering these features as a preview. So it’s likely these updates will be arriving on your Windows PC shortly.
It seems that two things are going on. Microsoft killed WordPad in 2023, the rich text editing program that was a poor man’s alternative to Microsoft Word. There is a way to bring WordPad to life, but you would need to have an older version Windows that still had WordPad. Notepad is the Windows equivalent of a simple text editor for coders and writers. However, there are more sophisticated alternatives, such as vim.
Microsoft seems to be adding more features in an attempt to help these users, while moving toward a WordPad alternative.
Microsoft is bringing a WordPad replacement. The Edit app is also available for Windows . Edit is a free open-source application that was designed to be a command-line-interface, or CLI. Microsoft made a specific reference to how difficult vim could be to use when they announced it. It doesn’t matter which way you look at it, Notepad is getting a boost – heck, even Copilot! Windows offers a number of lightweight text-editing and CLI interfaces by adding the Edit option and the CLI.
Mark Hachman, Senior Editor at PCWorld
Mark is a technology writer with over 30 years experience. He has been writing for PCWorld since the last decade. He has written over 3,500 articles, covering PC microprocessors and peripherals, Microsoft Windows, and other topics, for PCWorld. Mark has written for PC Magazine, Byte and eWEEK as well as Popular Science, Electronic Buyers’ News and Electronic Buyers’ News. He also shared a Jesse H. Neal Award with Popular Science for breaking news. He recently gave away a collection of Thunderbolt docks, USB-C hubs and other accessories because his office is simply too small.
