The once unloved Microsoft Notepad app continues to get new features, with spell checking and autocorrect reportedly set to be the next step in Windows. Originally, Notepad debuted as a very stripped-down version of Microsoft Word, but it’s now starting to look more and more like Word with each successive update.
This latest Notepad update is currently only available in Windows 11 Preview Build 26085, which you can get through the Windows Insider Program, Microsoft’s community for professionals and Windows enthusiasts to try out new Windows versions and features before they arrive. are released to the wider user base.
According to MSPowerUser, the upgraded Notepad app (version 11.2402.18.0) is available in both the Dev and Canary release channels of the Windows Insider program. Apparently, the update will also allow users to customize how these new features are used. This is good news, as Notepad is generally known as a simple text editor, and I’m sure many users would prefer to keep it that way.
Windows Insider @PhantomOfEarth shared the Notepad upgrade on X (formerly Twitter), where he noted that the features are currently being tested by Microsoft ahead of a wider rollout. He also shared a screenshot of what Notepad’s settings page will look like and some of the new settings users can adjust (specifically the ability to turn autocorrect and spell check on and off).
Windows Notepad will soon get spell check/autocorrect! Here are some toggles on the app’s settings page: pic.twitter.com/QKUeTWuI55March 20, 2024
Although not visible in this screenshot, MSPowerUser claims that additional settings will allow users to customize their feature preferences even further by selecting which file types the new features apply to. It also reports that in addition to Notepad, Microsoft is experimenting with new sections in the Windows 11 settings menu and new user interface (UI) animations that will be included in this Windows preview build.
Early user reception of the new Notepad
The introduction of spell check and autocorrect in Notepad follows the recent introduction of Cowriter, an artificial assistant (AI) writing assistant, which was featured in an earlier preview build.
Cowriter didn’t get the warmest response from users, because Notepad is once again Windows’ main “simple text app,” and many users aren’t interested in extra bells and whistles. It’s also a pretty overt attempt by Microsoft to make good on its promise to inject AI into as much of the user experience as possible in Windows, which has rubbed some users the wrong way.
It appears that Microsoft has taken note of this response in its efforts to further develop Notepad, giving users options in the settings to turn the new features on and off, and adjust which file types they apply to are. I think this is sensible and Microsoft would do well to maintain this behavior, especially if it insists on changing and removing apps that users love and have grown accustomed to over the decades. Finally, Microsoft killed WordPad just a few months ago – but that doesn’t mean we all want Notepad to simply replace it. Sometimes simplicity is better.