Microsoft is distributing new preview versions of the rudimentary text editor Notepad in the Insider channels. It now learns advanced text formatting and also allows Markdown-style input.

We all have to handle plain text files from time to time, and we know that printing files with the built-in Notepad applet in Windows should be called “pain text.” Fortunately, I’ve found a ...

Microsoft has added bold, italics, lists, hyperlinks, and even Markdown to the Windows Notepad app, making it look more and more like the now-defunct WordPad.

Notepad also now supports hyperlinks and bullet-point lists. A toggle button in the status bar at the bottom of the window allows users to switch between formatted Markdown and raw Markdown syntax.

Microsoft is busy fleshing out a number of the higher-profile default apps in Windows 11, and Notepad is the latest application to get some attention with the addition of a very useful feature.

And Notepad defaults to margin settings that don’t accommodate a typical 80-column text file. If you want a quick hard copy of your plain text files, the formatting change may distract from ...

You can continue to use Notepad and Paint without a subscription, but you won’t get these new features. It’s surprising because Microsoft has never put anything in these apps behind a paywall ...

Notepad saw barely any major changes for decades following its arrival in 1983, but the editor has undergone several upgrades in recent years.