Notepad is slowly becoming Microsoft's version of Apple's "Notes" app, complete with image support and rich text — but should it?

Over the last few years, Windows 11 users have received countless updates to the built-in Notepad app that has transformed it into something new entirely. Gone is the Notepad of old, a simple text editor that was lightweight and basic, and in its place is a fully fledged writing app that rivals the likes of Apple Notes and Google Keep.

In the last year alone, Microsoft has added capabilities to Notepad that nobody ever thought would happen. It gained support for spell check and text formatting, letting you bold, italicize, and hyperlink text. It also added support for headers, bullet points and numbered lists, tables, and soon, maybe even images, as was spotted a few days ago by eagle-eyed users.

That's not to mention the fact that Microsoft has also added AI capabilities to Notepad, leaning on Copilot and local NPUs to summarize, generate or rewrite text directly within the Notepad app. It's a far-cry from what the Notepad app used to be; a basic text editor that only supported a handful of basic text file formats.

Now, Notepad is essentially a fully fledged markdown editor, and I think this change has been driven by the fact that other built-in OS notetaking apps like Apple's Notes and Google's Keep have become fully fledged in their own right over the last few years. Apple Notes especially has a cult following that's well deserved, capable of syncing notes across devices, take pen input, along with rich text formatting and image support.

So it comes as no surprise to me that Microsoft is slowly making Notepad as capable as its rivals, yet it seems every time Microsoft adds something new to Notepad, people online become enraged. Many people don't subscribe to the idea that Notepad should be trying to compete with other notetaking apps. It's supposed to be a basic text editor! But I don't see the harm in making it more capable, either.

Many believe that if Microsoft wanted to compete with Apple Notes and Google Keep, it should be using OneNote to do that. The problem is most Windows users aren't downloading a dedicated notetaking app. A lot of users just want a good, capable, built-in notes app for jotting down things when they need. The Notepad app is perfectly capable of this, and with the added ability of formatting text and image support, it pretty much covers 99% of what users would ever want from it.

And the best thing? You can turn off most of these new additions if you truly believe that Notepad should be as basic as possible. If you don't want Copilot, turn it off. If you don't want support for rich text formatting or spell check, you can turn that off too. If that's not enough, you can restore the classic Notepad app too.

The only thing the modern Notepad is missing for it to be truly useful, for me, is cross device sync. As a reviewer, I switch Windows PCs on a monthly cadence, and being able to seamlessly take my Notepad notes with me via my Microsoft Account would be a godsend.

I find OneNote to be too big and heavy to enjoy as my daily note taking app, which is why I continue to use Notepad for most things. The added capabilities over the last two years have been great, and I hope to see it continue in the future, because it is important for Windows to have a built-in notes experience that does rival what Apple and Google are doing.

Should Notepad become Microsoft's version of Apple's "Notes" app?

I'm curious what your thoughts are on this. Do you think Microsoft is right to add a richer set of features to the Notepad app to bring it up to par with rival built-in OS note taking apps like Apple Notes and Google Keep? Or should Notepad remain in a league of its own as a very basic plain text editor? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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