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RIP Microsoft WordPad

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Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#81

Post by layer8 »

canucker2016 wrote: post #69

Here's a story from the trenches in the last days of RichEdit development (the Windows rich text control at the heart of WordPad): https://news.microsoft.com/2000/09/05/excerpts-from-inside-o... This may have been after win95 shipped, but before Exchange 4.0 shipped

“Eric Michelman wired a joystick to the zoom setting in Excel to make it easier to navigate large spreadsheets. He called it the ZoomLever. He demoed it at one of our team meetings and asked if anyone had any ideas for what we could use instead of the joystick. I had just bought a new VCR that had a remote with a wheel on it, and I brought it in the next day to show him. Eric asked if he could borrow it, showed it to the hardware guys, and soon we were playing with IntelliMouse prototypes with wheels on them.”

So this is how the mouse wheel came about.

Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#82

Post by lotsofpizza »

_nivlac_ wrote: post #78
lotsofpizza wrote: post #18

This is slightly off topic but might be helpful to some people who use both Notepad on Windows and TextEdit on Mac but are tired of the open document screen that starts by default when opening TextEdit. For example, I take calls while at my Windows based workstation. When I'm starting a phone call, I instinctively open notepad and jot down notes while on the phone. I don't usually save the file but I will complete th…

I use this workflow on my Mac all the time and don't remember having to change this setting. Could it be because I don't have iCloud set up?

It seems like it is related to iCloud settings, as mentioned in another comment.

Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#83

Post by xattt »

GuB-42 wrote: post #77
z_open wrote: post #3

Man people are nostalgic about the most bizarre things sometimes. My experience with WordPad was accidently opening something with it and having to change the default app for some extension.

It is not just nostalgia. Windows used to have a built-in word processor. Not anymore. If I wanted to write a letter on a Windows computer I was unfamiliar with, I could use WordPad, I knew it was there, like Notepad and the calculator. WordPad is not the best word processor, by far, but it was there. Now, there is no word processor I know is there. There is that useless trial version of Office 365, or maybe the real…

> LibreOffice, that I am not very comfortable with

You still can gain that comfort.

Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#84

Post by lotsofpizza »

safeimp wrote: post #32
lotsofpizza wrote: post #18

This is slightly off topic but might be helpful to some people who use both Notepad on Windows and TextEdit on Mac but are tired of the open document screen that starts by default when opening TextEdit. For example, I take calls while at my Windows based workstation. When I'm starting a phone call, I instinctively open notepad and jot down notes while on the phone. I don't usually save the file but I will complete th…

I was a longtime Windows user and used Notepad similarly. When I eventually transitioned to Apple I shifted to Notes, curious why you’d not use this in lieu of TextEdit?

I can open TextEdit and immediately start typing within a few milliseconds. Notes opens the last note used and takes a few seconds to load. Then I have to manually create a new blank note. Also, I have to remember to delete the note when done because they're saved automatically. When I'm done with TextEdit I can easily choose not to save the file. Using TextEdit is more of a seamless process and doesn't clutter up my files while also using less screen space.

Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#85

Post by lotsofpizza »

nntwozz wrote: post #21
lotsofpizza wrote: post #18

This is slightly off topic but might be helpful to some people who use both Notepad on Windows and TextEdit on Mac but are tired of the open document screen that starts by default when opening TextEdit. For example, I take calls while at my Windows based workstation. When I'm starting a phone call, I instinctively open notepad and jot down notes while on the phone. I don't usually save the file but I will complete th…

Nice find, you can also do it like this: System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive ( Options ) > uncheck TextEdit. Starting with macOS Ventura, it is System Settings > Internet Accounts > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options > uncheck TextEdit. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/61406/how-to-make-...

Thank you!

Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#86

Post by dangrossman »

procarch2019 wrote: post #74
tvb12 wrote: post #68

This is such an annoying change. I work in a production facility and I don't get to choose what is installed on the computers. It's either WordPad, notepad, or open a browser for Word. WordPad is obviously a step up over notepad if you need any sort of formatting. Now imagine a machine is malfunctioning and you need to look up the last known "good" settings to see if anything changed. First open a browser, then go to…

Yes, in the automation world living on level 2/2.5 wordpad is great for doing things like taking screenshots too. In a GMP facility it could take some significant effort to get a screenshot tool or a rich text editor installed. Also, taking pictures with a phone is usually a huge no no. Occasionally, you have to document something with…screenshots. Now, some versions of Windows Server come with snipping tool, which l…

Can't you paste into Paint for the screenshots?

Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#87

Post by eviks »

GuB-42 wrote: post #77
z_open wrote: post #3

Man people are nostalgic about the most bizarre things sometimes. My experience with WordPad was accidently opening something with it and having to change the default app for some extension.

It is not just nostalgia. Windows used to have a built-in word processor. Not anymore. If I wanted to write a letter on a Windows computer I was unfamiliar with, I could use WordPad, I knew it was there, like Notepad and the calculator. WordPad is not the best word processor, by far, but it was there. Now, there is no word processor I know is there. There is that useless trial version of Office 365, or maybe the real…

All three apps you mentioned are awful, the fact that they were there doesn't confer a non-nostalgic benefit to mourn their disappearance

Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#88

Post by hulitu »

dmitrygr wrote: post #33
hulitu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Word was not able to open correctly RTF file until recently.

completely false. I saved and opened RTFs with word97 in school for macOS compat

Yes, RTF files created by Word. Now try to open other RTF files wirh Word 97.

Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#89

Post by eviks »

Someone1234 wrote: post #15
MichaelRo wrote: post #13

Literally never found an use for WordPad. Neither for Notepad, if we're at it. For text files, Notepad is pretty much useless. For short files I'm using Notepad++, I tried using plain Notepad and I can't describe exactly why but it's almost unusable in comparison. And for large files (MBs to GBs) I'm using less. From git bash. And if I need any sort of rich text formatting, there's the free Libre Office which is usua…

I'm indifferent about Wordpad; always surprises me to read people don't regularly use Notepad. I use it as a clipboard scratchpad. It strips RTF when copying between programs since Windows itself has no built-in way of doing so and you can also use it to clean up whatever you're copying. It loads fast and is minimalist. Some programs on Windows vomit all over themselves when receiving RTF information, like Teams for…

It surprises me people using NP++ use NP (and a new tab even in VSCode should be just as fast?)

PS You can use autohotkey or other utilities to make it a Windows feature

Re: RIP Microsoft WordPad

#90

Post by knaik94 »

g-b-r wrote: post #61
knaik94 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use the autosave and take notes plugin in notepad++ which makes it perfect for this use case. I have it set to autosave when the window loses focus. And the take notes plugin lets me set a default filename with timestamp and save directory, which I set to my dropbox. The plugin also has an option to delete all empty text files when notepad++ is closed. It feels as friction free as writing on a physical notepad with…

Just keep in mind that at least in the old versions it had bugs that lead to occasional loss of all the autosaved files. I don't know if they fixed them since, I haven't used it in three or four years.

I've never run in to that issue in the last 10+ years of using notepad++ with these plugins. Since my autosave location is dropbox, it's automatically backed up the moment the file is saved. I've set my control+n to a new note and not an empty file. The take notes plugin doesn't rely on the built in temp auto saves.

If a file is saved and then gets corrupted for whatever reason, I can also use dropbox to grab the previous known good version. I've tested it, but I've never had to actually use it.

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