Microsoft Notepad Starts Rolling Out Text Formatting to Windows Insiders

Microsoft has started testing text formatting in Notepad. Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels received the update today, bringing long-requested features to the decades-old app.

Users can now apply bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and highlight to their text. The formatting toolbar sits at the top of the window and supports font size and type changes too. You don’t need to switch to Word for basic styling anymore.

Microsoft tied the new formatting features to individual files. That means a plain .txt file will stay unformatted, but opening a .rtf or similar file unlocks the toolbar. You can also start a new formatted document by switching file types manually.

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This update follows a string of changes to Notepad, which now supports tabs, dark mode, autosave, and character counts. The team clearly wants to make Notepad more useful without turning it into another bloated app.

Text formatting will roll out gradually to testers before heading to the public build. Microsoft hasn’t confirmed the timeline for general availability.

After decades of minimalism, Notepad is picking up a few modern tricks, without losing its simple, distraction-free layout.