Microsoft wedges tables into Notepad for some reason

Microsoft is shoveling yet more features into the venerable Windows Notepad. This time it's support for tables, with some AI enhancements lathered on top. Notepad might predate Windows, but Microsoft is still keen to add features to it. After adding support for Markdown in June, replete with simple text formatting options, …

[cookieMonster]

What’s the point

Seriously, what’s the f€&@ing point of this?

[alain williams]

Re: What’s the point

Microsoft no longer loves you (assuming that it did once) and so has made notepad no longer KISS

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What’s the point

Killing It with Spaghetti, Suckers

[Blackjack]

Re: What’s the point

Big Tech seems to have drunk the AI Cool Aid.

[Lon24]

Re: What’s the point

Maybe after 40 years they had managed to get all the bugs out and need more to maintain compatibility with the mothership?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: What’s the point

>Seriously, what’s the f€&@ing point of this?

They couldn't add AI to edlin ?

[steviebuk]

Re: What’s the point

Yep, its why I moved to Notepad++ years ago, sadly can't get it on Linux.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What’s the point

"sadly can't get it on Linux."

Huh? Running Notepad++ on Linux Mint Cinnamon 22 quite nicely thank you very much.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: What’s the point

Under wine?

[steviebuk]

Re: What’s the point

Really? Was a while ago I looked. When I did was sad to find was no linux version. Assume thats changed, good to know.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: What’s the point

Well, if you're going to support Markdown, then tables support is a reasonable option. I don't use Windows and I haven't seen the new Notepad, but Markdown and tables sound like the least of the problems and anything that stops people switching to Word for "documentation" is to be welcomed.

[ThatOne]

Re: What’s the point

> Seriously, what’s the f€&@ing point of this?

Busywork. They killed WordPad, so they had to turn Notepad into WordPad. So they brought back Edit to replace the original Notepad.

_{"All our developers are very, very busy."}

[Baird34]

For the love of God

Is nothing sacred?

Never thought I'd see the day when I had to look for something more basic than Notepad.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: For the love of God

Next up: Copilot support in Edlin.

There is no escape

[A Non e-mouse]

Re: For the love of God

Notepad++

[Jusme]

Re: For the love of God

> Notepad++

I'm probably going to get some heat for this, but even Notepad++ is getting a bit too big for its boots. At this level I just want a text box that records what I type and doesn't try and format, correct, guess what I want to do next, or otherwise bugger about with my thoughts, however insane they might be. If I want a word processor I'll use a word processor. If I want an IDE I'll use an IDE. If I want an AI chatbot I'll shoot myself.

vi forever :)

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

Re: For the love of God

Naa, you just disable those four or five notepad++ settings that annoy you. For me it is in preferences:

1. I don't like the document switcher (under MISC.)

2. The guessing thing (Auto-Completion) you complain about gets disabled too.

3. Dark mode

(4. I did not like it remembering the last session, now I cannot live without it)

Then take your C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\config.xml , done. But for those three of mine, easy, not worth backing up the config.

vi: I can use it, but I don't like it.

[sammystag]

Re: For the love of God

PFE was a no nonsense text editor - does it work with win 11?

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/~steveb/cpaap/pfe/

[J I]

For some reason, this instantly reminded me of a old Verity Stob column about what happens when software jumps the shark...

https://www.theregister.com/2007/12/20/verity_stob_software_murder/

(I miss Verity Stob)

[Anonymous Custard]

Risk and reward

Microsoft also risks ladling on unnecessary complexity, pushing users to look elsewhere for their text-editing needs.

What do you mean "risks"? It seems to be their entire aim and modus operandi here (and in many other places within 'doze).

Thank $diety for Notepad++

[Bill Gray]

Re: Risk and reward

Thank $diety for Notepad++

Ah, presumably the god of weight loss?

(Really need both the pedant and the coat icon here...)

[Anonymous Custard]

Re: Risk and reward

Looking at my currently expanding waistline, it's a more than Freudian slip, and all too accurate as to where my prayers should be going...

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: Risk and reward

$diety —Ah, presumably the god of weight loss?

Goddess, apparently ;)

echo -n $diety … Anorexia

Although the goddess at whose shrine Microsoft makes regular monthly offerings would be Bulimia.

[Bill Gray]

Re: Risk and reward

Although the goddess at whose shrine Microsoft makes regular monthly offerings would be Bulimia.

Such might be the case if Microsoft bloated its wares and then purged them. It appears only to do the first part.

[Blackjack]

If there wasn't so many great free and open source alternatives this would make me angry.

What's your favourite Notepad replacement? I used to use Metapad but it has not updated in many years.

[Doctor Syntax]

"What's your favourite Notepad replacement?"

Kwrite

"I used to use Metapad but it has not updated in many years."

Isn't that exactly what everyone wanted about Notepad?

[Mike VandeVelde]

re: Isn't that exactly what everyone wanted about Notepad?

I still use metapad. Fit for purpose is I think the technical term. Anyone working on text editing technology in 2025 should just stop, go get on an iceberg already. Unless you are building it inside Minecraft, then proceed.

https://www.pcgamer.com/minecraftception-redstone-pc-chungus/

[Roopee]

TextPad - not FOSS, but I bought a licence over 20 years ago and still use it almost daily, so it has earned its keep!

At the time I needed something for NT4 that would handle much bigger files than Notepad, and REs, to create test files (up to a million lines in some cases).

I think these days your average Linux GUI text editor is just as powerful, but I do like TextPad's UI.

[sindrelspec]

Notepad4

I used to use Notepad2, but that also has not been updated in years. So I switched to Notepad4 which is being regularly updated. https://github.com/zufuliu/notepad4

Lightweight, syntax highlighting, very configurable, it also has a nice CSV mode which changes the text colour for each column, which is very useful.

I also use Notepad++, but if I just want to quickly open a file to view or do a minor edit, I use Notepad4.

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

Re: Notepad4

Wenn ich die downloads von Notepad4 sehe ich der Hauptmaintainer offensichtlich deutsch :D. Dann mal ans testen gehen!

[ThatOne]

SciTE (stands for "SCIntilla based Text Editor"). There is a Windows and a Linux version, and I've been using it for over 20 years. Simple, lightweight, fast.

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

How to make notepad being hated

for having too many features...

(Running Server OS on every computer, notepad still classic, paint, calc too and so on, so worth it)

[has been]

They broke it.

The entire use case for Notepad was:-

1: Shopping lists.

2: pasting in a section of text from a browser or other program in order to remove all formatting from it.

If it starts to understand rich-text buggerations, it will have lost most of its reason to exist.

[DarkwavePunk]

Re: They broke it.

Agreed. If they wanted to do all this bullshit it would have been better to do it to Wordpad. The only useful additions to Notepad was the whole CR/CRLF thing and maybe UTF.

[Simon Harris]

Re: They broke it.

"The only useful additions to Notepad was the whole CR/CRLF thing and maybe UTF."

And putting in a proper Undo/Redo history.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: They broke it.

"Agreed. If they wanted to do all this bullshit it would have been better to do it to Wordpad. The only useful additions to Notepad was the whole CR/CRLF thing and maybe UTF."

Came here to say the same thing. Notepad is the goto for quick bactch/powershell scripts. If you want formatting and AI, bring back and bugger up wordpad or write.exe.

At this rate, the only guaranteed[*] plain text editior left on windows will be to open a command shell and type COPY CON: fred,bat :-)

* as in, you can never be sure of what is installed on a "foreign" box, so need a lowest common denominator that is part of the base install.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: They broke it.

The main use for notepad was (and is) editing batch files, powershell scripts, etc. Removing formatting from a block of text was also useful.

It's basically mostly only used by power users and system admins. There is no need at all to piss around with it.

[slowquery]

If you have grown tired of this encrapification nonsense, The "original" notepad.exe can still be found at c:\windows\system32\notepad.exe.

Remove-AppxPackage the new orwellian version, then pin the above .exe to start/taskbar.

The old version is much faster as well. Double plus good.

Some .REG magic also required for full functionality, see below:

https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/restore-old-classic-notepad-windows/

[John Brown (no body)]

Oh, that's interesting. So, for now at least, Notepad has not been embuggered, it's been replaced with a new pretender.

[Doctor Syntax]

AFAICS the entire objective of Microsoft development is to make all the applications do the same as all the other applications but differently and with added AI.

[FirstTangoInParis]

> .... make all the applications do the same as all the other applications but differently and with added AI.

JUST STOP MICROSOFT. Particularly stop bu33ering around with Outlook app, FFS. Lock the door so the crayons team can't get in. There's only so many times you can keep fiddling with it so everything is different every time you open it. Someone will come visit the dev team in the night.

[John Brown (no body)]

It's almost as if some devs can't think what else to do to justify their salaries and have to keep [re-]inventing stuff.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do people still choose to use Windows

See title.

[ravenviz]

Re: Why do people still choose to use Windows

Many don't choose, it's forced on them.

[John_3_16]

My personal editing choice...

https://www.editpadlite.com/

My long time personal choice for 99.9% of my text editor needs. Live, active, updated & FREE for personal use. I am a user; not a fan or adware purveyor. My only wish is for a Linux version as it is currently Windows only. FYI

[Paul Herber]

Only tables?

Tables? Tables are a subset of spreadsheets and spreadsheets are just like a database! Might need a kernel in there just for good measure/

Just pottering round some ideas in my head.

[John_3_16]

Re: Only tables?

Maybe a job AI can take over since it is obviously NOT fixing the Win11 update problems. Earth to CoPilot; earth to CoPilot; are you there, CoPilot?

[Terry 6]

Re: Only tables?

Win 11. Never mind Win 11 anything. Unless in Win 11 they've finally fixed the recycle bin custom icon bug that's remained unfixed since win 9x

[Anonymous Custard]

Re: Only tables?

Don't forget that it needs a flight simulator in there somewhere...

Icon as being as close as I could find to aviator goggles without stooping to a helicopter, although it's very fitting for CoPilot.

[Paul Herber]

Re: Only tables?

How about adding Vi and emacs as well. And a zip/tar/arc/rar etc.

And systemd.

[steelpillow]

It's difficult to understand where Microsoft is going with Notepad.

Embrace, extend, extinguish.

Notepad is to be the new AI-enabled Wordpad with its own proprietary file format, snuck in under the Notepad radar.

[Steve Davies 3]

And in other news

downloads of Notepad++ increase by an order of magnitude.

Another example of the current 'Lost the Plot' Microsoft.

I guess that KISS is a banned 4 letter word in Redmond Towers these days.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: And in other news

I guess that KISS is a banned 4 letter word in Redmond Towers these days.

Unless applied to certain arses.

[wolfetone]

Dear Micro$oft,

Here is a list of things people care about:

1) Updates that don't break the system

2) Updates that don't stop them printing

3) Updates that protect their PC and data.

Here is a list of things people don't care about:

1) Notepad doing shit WordPad did

2) Crapilot being shoehorned in to everything

3) Fucking everything you're doing that is pushing this AI bullshit because you've spent too much money on it.

Thanks x

[MachDiamond]

Perfection in small packages

I use TextEdit on the Mac all of the time. Small, fast, compatible enough. If I don't need complex formatting, tables, version control and commenting. I don't expect much from it and I'm never disappointed. A bonus is there isn't a boat load of menu items to scan through to find a basic function.

[herman]

VB and ActiveX

They should add Visual Basic and ActiveX to Notepad, then add Email and call it completed.

[katrinab]

Re: VB and ActiveX

Isn't VBA deprecated in all but name now? The last update was in Office 2010 and the only change was 64 bit support. The last meaningful update was in Office 2007.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: VB and ActiveX

Well then! It's the perfect time to wedgie[1] it into something else!

[1] Was a typo but too perfect to correct

[katrinab]

Don't they already have OneNote for that sort of thing?

Personally I use Word Documents saved on the file system for notes, but maybe that is just me.

[chivo243]

Soo...

I don't need a pirated copy of word? Asking for a friend.

[Dwarf]

Understand what IT Pros really need

Basic tools that can be used to fix a broken system, or to tweak a config file are important.

notepad did this really well, since you could guarantee it was always there, you could open basic text files, readme files, tweak config files when needed, make notes for future reference and it would work with virtually any other app installed that has text components.

The new versions makes all of this impossible, it keeps your files open after restarting it - I don't want that.

It auto-saves - I definately don't want that. Only when I choose the save option, do I want to save. Just because I'm working in another app, or because I got called away to fix something else, have lunch or answer the phone, definitely doesn't mean that I want to save.

If you want to make an AI enabled text mangling tool, then bring back Wordpad and screw that up instead and roll back the changes to notepad.

Alternately, install Visual Studio Code on all build and give us a decent editor that you've already got.

[Cessquill]

If they've got the bonnet up...

...can they remove the "handy" Ctrl+Shift shortcuts from notepad?

I don't want every list I write to suddenly be RTL because I've held right Ctrl and shift for a nanosecond while selecting text.

If you must have this feature, relegate it to a less common key combination.