Microsoft provides major revamp to Notepad, adds support for new formatting, hyperlinks and more

Mint

2 days ago

Microsoft is providing a much-needed upgrade to Notepad, allowing the vintage Windows app to format text in various styles such as bold and italic, while also adding support for hyperlinks and Markdown. The new update has rolled out to Notepad Canary and the Dev Channel, though there's no confirmation yet on when it will be available for stable users. You may be interested in
Dave Grochocki, Principal Group Product Manager – Windows Inbox Apps, while announcing the update in a blog post wrote, 'Microsoft is adding text formatting to its Windows Notepad app. The significant Notepad update is available for Canary and Dev Channel testers on Windows 11, and introduces bold and italic styling, alongside hyperlinks and even Markdown support.'
The new lighweight formatting options are part of a new format tab that is located at the top alongside the File, Edit and View options. Apart from choosing styles like Bold and Italic, there is also an option to add lists for Headings and that too in different sizes. Formatting on Notepad
The new options will definitely go a long way in helping users write in a more structured manner. However, given that most Windows users are accustomed to writing in plain text, Microsoft also offers the option to clear all formatting or fully disable the new feature by heading to the Notepad settings.
Notably, the announcement about the new formatting feature comes almost a week after Microsoft revealed it is bringing the power of generative AI to Notepad. Users can now write new text using AI or improve their existing text directly within the Notepad app.
With these updates, Notepad is beginning to look eerily similar to Microsoft Word and even Google Docs, which has become a popular free alternative to Microsoft's service. While the Notepad experience remained unchanged for years, Microsoft now seems determined to overhaul it with new functionality in this era of generative AI.