Microsoft to remove iconic WordPad from Windows after nearly 30 years

An official support note from Microsoft states:

“WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt.”

Around the same time, Microsoft added several new capabilities to its free-tier Notepad, which now supports auto-save and auto-restore of tabs. However, unlike WordPad, Notepad does not support rich text document formats and is limited to .txt. Therefore, anyone planning on doing serious work should opt for Microsoft Word.

The last major update for WordPad was during the Windows 7 release, where the dated UI was replaced with the Ribbon UI, giving it a whole new and futuristic look. However, since then, Microsoft has shifted its focus away from WordPad in favour of Microsoft Word.

Microsoft recently deprecated the standalone Cortana app, the virtual assistant, possibly in favour of Bing Chat, powered by ChatGPT. According to reports, the Redmond giant is currently working on Windows 12 OS, the successor to Windows 11, which is expected to be released in early 2024.