Jun 02, 2025 10:50:00

Windows 11 Notepad finally supports formatting and Markdown, and you can switch back to the original Notepad in Settings

Microsoft has announced that on May 30, 2025, it will provide a notepad with basic formatting such as bold, italics, and hyperlinks, as well as support for the lightweight markup language

Markdown , to the Windows Insider program, which allows users to try out new Windows features early.

Text Formatting in Notepad begin rolling out to Windows Insiders | Windows Insider Blog
https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2025/05/30/text-formatting-in-notepad-begin-rolling-out-to-windows-insiders/

Microsoft now testing Notepad text formatting in Windows 11
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-now-testing-notepad-text-formatting-in-windows-11/

Windows 11 Notepad gains Markdown and formatting tools | Windows Central
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/we-got-markdown-in-notepad-before-gta-vi

Dave Grochocki, principal group product manager at Microsoft, said in a post on the official blog on May 30, 'With this update, we're introducing lightweight formatting capabilities to Notepad, giving you more flexibility in structuring content across your files. This experience supports Markdown-formatted input and files for users who want to work directly with Lightweight Markup Language (LMT). First, you can use the new formatting toolbar to apply formatting such as bold and italic styles, hyperlinks, simple lists and headings to text as you type or to selected text.'

According to the announcement, if you want to revert text containing formatting back to plain text, you can clear all formatting at any time from the formatting toolbar or edit menu. You can also switch whether to show formatted Markdown and Markdown syntax from the View menu or the toggle button in the bottom status bar, or if you don't need this feature, you can disable formatting support completely in the app settings.

Microsoft has been redesigning Notepad for Windows 11 since 2021, adding autosave andword count features to Notepad in 2023, and spell check and AI generation features in 2024.

Microsoft adds AI features to Paint and Notepad, allowing you to add objects to the canvas, erase objects, rephrase text, adjust tone, and change the length of content - GIGAZINE

On the other hand, WordPad, which has basic text formatting functions, will no longer receive updates in 2023 and will be officially removed in Windows 11 24H2 in 2024, and some users have been calling for alternative applications.

Windows Central, a media outlet specializing in Microsoft-related news, commented, 'We expect Notepad's Markdown support and lightweight formatting features will be well-received. In fact, many people have requested these features or have used alternative apps such as Notepad that support Markdown.'

The new Notepad formatting feature is available in Notepad version 11.2504.50.0, which is deployed to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels.

Microsoft has also released an open source tool to convert PDF and Office files to Markdown.

GitHub - microsoft/markitdown: Python tool for converting files and office documents to Markdown.
https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown