Latest news with #DevChannel
Mint
6 days ago
- Mint
Microsoft provides major revamp to Notepad, adds support for new formatting, hyperlinks and more
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.
The Verge
6 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Microsoft releases a bold new update for Notepad
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 addition of text formatting in Notepad means there's now a formatting toolbar at the top of the app, alongside the existing File, Edit, and View options. The toolbar includes access to bold, italic, and hyperlink options, but it also includes support for lists and headings. 'The experience supports Markdown style input and files for users who prefer to work directly with the lightweight markup language,' explains Dave Grochocki, principal product manager lead for Microsoft's Windows inbox apps. '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.' Since Notepad is usually used with plain text, you can also easily clear all formatting from the formatting toolbar or from the edit menu in the app. If you're not a fan of the lightweight formatting options, you can also fully disable this new support in the Notepad app settings. This formatting addition to Notepad comes just a week after Microsoft started testing a new feature in the app that can generate text for you using AI. The new Write feature in Notepad can be used to 'quickly draft text based on your prompt,' and alongside these formatting options Notepad is starting to look a lot more like Microsoft Word.
The Verge
20-05-2025
- The Verge
Microsoft is putting AI actions into the Windows File Explorer
Microsoft is starting to integrate AI shortcuts, or what it calls AI actions, into the File Explorer in Windows 11. These shortcuts let you right-click on a file and quickly get to Windows AI features like blurring the background of a photo, erasing objects, or even summarizing content from Office files. Four image actions are currently being tested in the latest Dev Channel builds of Windows 11, including Bing visual search to find similar images on the web, the blur background and erase objects features found in the Photos app, and the remove background option in Paint. Image: Microsoft Microsoft is also planning to test similar AI actions for Office files soon, enabling you to summarize documents stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, or quickly create AI-generated lists from files. These Office AI actions will be limited to Microsoft 365 commercial subscribers with a Copilot license, and consumer support is 'coming later.' It's not clear if these AI actions can be disabled in the context menu, but they also join an 'Ask Copilot' option that Microsoft added to the right-click menu of the File Explorer recently. Alongside the AI-powered shortcuts in File Explorer, Microsoft is also testing some visual changes to the widgets feature in Windows 11, 'with a more organized, personalized, and engaging feed,' according to the Windows Insider team. 'In addition, we are introducing Copilot-curated stories into the feed.' This latest Dev Channel build also includes a new 'User Interaction-Aware CPU Power Management' feature, which Microsoft describes as an OS-level change to reduce power consumption on laptops and tablets. 'After a period of inactivity on your PC, Windows now conserves power by automatically applying efficient power management policies,' says the Windows Insider team. 'This happens seamlessly to save energy while you're inactive, with full performance instantly restored the moment you get back to it.'
