- Notepad is getting light text formatting abilities but only in testing
- These allow you to use bold and italics, headings, and lists
- Some folks appreciate those formatting extras, while others see them as further bloat – though in this case, the functionality can be turned off
Notepad is getting light text formatting abilities in testing, in yet another move to extend the feature set of the app which has proved predictably divisive.
Microsoft wrote a blog post describing the changes which have started to roll out to Windows 11 testers in the Canary and Dev channels via an update to the Notepad app (version 11.2504.50.0).
The formatting capabilities are a light sprinkling of support for bolding and italics, hyperlinks, as well as headings (in a more prominent font) and basic lists (using bullet points and the like).
Microsoft explains that the ‘markdown’ formatting syntax is used, meaning that this keeps the implementation simple and streamlined. Furthermore, this formatting support can be turned off in Notepad settings if you’re not going to use it, and don’t want it hanging around.
Analysis: Light (formatting) and shade
This sounds like a straightforward enough potentially useful move, so why is it divisive as I indicated at the outset? If you peruse a few Reddit threads on this addition for Notepad, while you’ll see there are some users who approve of this plan, it won’t be long before you come across someone who isn’t pleased about the introduction of text formatting here.
The reason some folks have beef with what Microsoft is doing with Notepad, in terms of adding more and more features – which has been the case for a while now – is that it’s supposed to be a lightweight, quick to load and responsive text editor. The fear is that unnecessary bloat is going to encumber the app and slow it down.
In this case, though, the added formatting options are going to be quite useful for some (especially those folks who miss WordPad, the other more fleshed-out text editor that Microsoft canned a while back). And as they’re implemented in markdown, as noted, any performance impact should be minimal (or hopefully non-existent). On top of that, with it being possible to turn off the formatting, this isn’t a feature that should be contributing to any worries around bloat.
AI-powered extras, on the other hand, well, that might be a different kettle of fish, but it’s clear enough that Microsoft is set on continuing to travel down the road of providing fresh functionality for Notepad.
