What to know

  • Microsoft has updated Notepad for Windows 11 with new text formatting options.
  • You can now use bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough in Notepad.
  • The update also introduces basic markdown support.
  • These features are available to Windows Insiders and will roll out more widely soon.

Microsoft has released an update for Notepad on Windows 11. The new version introduces text formatting options that users have requested for years. Now, you can apply bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough styles to your text directly in Notepad.

This update also brings basic markdown support. Markdown is a lightweight markup language that lets you format text using simple symbols. With this feature, you can type markdown syntax in Notepad and see it rendered as formatted text. For example, typing **bold** or *italic* will display the words in bold or italic style.

To use the new formatting options, you can select text and choose the formatting from the toolbar or use keyboard shortcuts. The update aims to make Notepad more useful for quick notes, code, and simple documents.

Currently, these features are available to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels. Microsoft plans to roll out the update to all Windows 11 users after testing. This marks one of the biggest changes to Notepad in years, making it more modern and flexible for everyday tasks.