- With the latest Insider update in Dev and Canary channels, Notepad is getting lightweight formatting support on Windows 11.
- It brings Markdown-style input and supports headers, lists, hyperlinks, bold, and italic text formatting.
- If you want to access it right away, run the ViveTool command mentioned below.
With the latest Windows 11 Insider update, Notepad is getting lightweight formatting support which brings Markdown-style input and hyperlinks. In a way, Notepad is becoming more like Microsoft Word on Windows 11. The latest version of Notepad (11.2504.50.0, or later) lets you structure text using the formatting toolbar.
You can style text in bold or italic, add hyperlinks, insert a header, and include lists as well. If you want to keep your Notepad lean and clean, you can disable formatting entirely in the settings. Recently, Microsoft also added Copilot to the Notepad app, but it can also be disabled easily.
Last year, Microsoft decided to remove WordPad from Windows 11, which had extensive formatting tools. It even allowed inserting images and objects. If you want to restore WordPad on Windows 11, you can still do it by following our guide. However, with the latest update, Microsoft is trying to bring those features directly into Notepad.
If you are on the Dev or Canary channel, you can update Notepad to the latest version via the Microsoft Store to access new formatting options. If you have not received the update, you can follow @phantomofearth‘s suggestion and run vivetool /enable /id:41073112 to enable formatting support in Windows 11 right away.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is preparing a laundry list of new features for Windows 11 in 2025. It includes a redesigned Start menu, an AI agent for Windows 11 Settings, AI Actions in File Explorer, and more.
