- Windows 11 Notepad app has some new features in testing
- The application now supports creating tables quickly and easily.
- There are also additional AI powers in the form of on-the-fly previews for text creation and rewriting capabilities.
Microsoft is beefing up Notepad again in Windows 11, giving the increasingly lightweight editor new power in terms of table support and beefed-up AI capabilities.
This is present in the new Notepad preview that will be rolling out to Windows 11 testers in the Canary and Dev channels, as Microsoft explains in a blog post.
The big step is that tables came to Notepad, and the option to create them was added to the formatting toolbar.
They work just as you’d expect and you can quickly insert a table into a document, choosing the size in a visual grid interface. As Microsoft points out, right-clicking on a table gives you quick editing options to add or delete rows or columns.
On the AI front, the new twist here is ‘result streaming’ for the Write, Rewrite and Summarize functions, which do what they say on the tin (create new text, rewrite existing copy, or provide a summary of something).
‘Transmit results’ means that the text the AI is writing (or rewriting) appears on the fly in a preview window, allowing you to start reviewing (or changing) it more quickly.
Analysis: Bloating and Performance Concerns
This is certainly a useful touch for those using the AI capabilities now provided in Notepad, although there is a small catch: namely that streaming results for Rewrite is only possible on a Copilot+ PC (using the NPU for local processing on the device), at least for now. You’ll also need to sign in to a Microsoft account to use any of these AI features in Notepad.
Tables can also be useful to some people, and the way they are implemented with that grid interface is quite similar to how they work in Microsoft Word.
However, adding more features to Notepad is sure to draw the ire of those who just want this editor to be completely minimalist, to keep it optimized and running (and loading) as responsive as possible. I personally use Word, so I want Notepad to be left as a truly lightweight alternative (its original design concept), although I realize that won’t be true for everyone, of course.
Still, there’s no shortage of people complaining that Notepad is in danger of becoming bloated (or, indeed, that this is already the case, as has been made clear in the past), but it doesn’t look like Microsoft is done adding features.
In fact, having preserved WordPad, which was the middle ground between Notepad and the full Word experience, in 2024, Microsoft appears to be slowly making Notepad look like its now-defunct brother.
The best computers for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
