Microsoft released a re-designed Notepad app specifically for Windows 11 on December 7, 2021. This re-designed Notepad has been rolling out to all Windows Insider in Dev Channel.
This re-designed Notepad for Windows 11 come with a number of changes that I believe most of Insiders being wait for so long. The major change is that UI has been completely updated to aligns with Windows 11, including rounded corners, Mica, and more. Which makes it even better to match the Windows 11 design philosophy.
Compare with the current version of Notepad app on Windows 11, the another advantage is dark mode made available on this new Notepad. This is highly demand feature to have a Notepad adapt OS theme preference. And you can change this option via Setting inside of this app.
And the third major changes is that finding character or specific keyword more convenient. Especially when you open a large text file or logs you can easily to locate the keyword. Take an example of searching Windows 11 CBS log as shown on below screenshot, I can very easy and quickly locate the “virtual edition” on the line 26.
When I scroll down the text file the search box does not bother me to view rest of context like the previously version of Notepad. And the “Match case” & “Wrap around” still exists within this new version.
The “Replace” option being integrated to Find by clicking the down arrow icon like the one shown below.
So you might probably asking how do I get this re-designed Notepad app on my Windows 11 device? Well, as long as your device running Windows 11 with Insider Preview Build in Dev Channel you can get this new version by open Microsoft Store > search “Notepad” or “Windows Notepad” > then click Install. Once it completed it will take over the previous version of Notepad app.
As you may notice that this re-designed Notepad app have a “PREVIEW” tag on the window, which you might potentially encounter some issues or bugs when you operate files with this new Notepad app. Currently known issues are: when switching between different input languages or while using Japanese IME, and under certain circumstances have unexpected behavior when using shift-click to select text or when scrolling. But for sure Microsoft will continuing to improve performance and addressing these issues then release update version.
If you have any better ideas or encountered a problem you can provide your feedback via Feedback Hub app to Microsoft for further checking.
