Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

They’re turning Notepad into what Wordpad was (or was supposed to be). Now everyone looking for the light weightiest *.txt editor must find a new tool...

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#5

Post by baal80spam » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 5:27 PM UTC

Uh oh... https://www.laws-of-software.com/laws/zawinski/

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#6

Post by awakeasleep » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 5:27 PM UTC

tencentshill wrote: post #3

It's becoming Word-lite, like Wordpad used to be. Paint is becoming Photoshop-lite, and now has conflicting functionality with the Photos app.

What happened to WordPad? Is it still a thing?

I hope they give notepad a keyboard shortcut to transition to ascii only like textedit has on the Mac

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#7

Post by CivBase » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 5:28 PM UTC

Is the value add for Notepad not that it is litterally the most bare bones graphical text editor available in Windows?

Microsoft has already positioned VS Code as its code editor and OneNote as its notetaking app. Why should Notepad compete with these offerings?

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#8

Post by Fervicus » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 5:28 PM UTC

Stopped using notepad when they added co-pilot. Stop shoving AI down our throats.

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#9

Post by rideontime » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 5:29 PM UTC

awakeasleep wrote: post #6

tencentshill wrote: post #3

It's becoming Word-lite, like Wordpad used to be. Paint is becoming Photoshop-lite, and now has conflicting functionality with the Photos app.

What happened to WordPad? Is it still a thing? I hope they give notepad a keyboard shortcut to transition to ascii only like textedit has on the Mac

Gone since Windows 11 24H2, according to Wikipedia.

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#10

Post by zer0zzz » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

Longhanks wrote: post #4

They’re turning Notepad into what Wordpad was (or was supposed to be). Now everyone looking for the light weightiest *.txt editor must find a new tool...

All we wanted back in the day was Unix line ending support, and they would give even that.