The updated app is the latest effort by Microsoft to reshape its software for the Windows 11 platform. Announced a month ago, the new Notepad app – a simple text editor – is designed to fit the latest version of Windows. Notepad gets rounded corners that mesh with the opaque overlays the company is using these days for homegrown apps over the Windows interface. The headline feature, however, is support for dark mode, which has become a standard for apps on mobile and desktop for people who work in the dark. “We have begun rolling out the redesigned Notepad for Windows 11 to all Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel,” Microsoft’s Dave Grochocki said in an updated blogpost. Microsoft has been updating all its core apps to fit Windows 11 and for consistency across iOS and Android. It updated Office apps in December, bringing changes to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. It also updated the classic Paint app for Windows 11 with a modernized toolbar and rounded edges on the app’s window and revamped its Media Player app for the new operating system. At a higher level, Windows 11 was a major change for all of Microsoft’s desktop customers. The update ushered in several hardware requirements that will force customers to upgrade hardware from HP, Dell, Asus and Lenovo. The new look app includes a redesigned find-and-replace feature and Microsoft is also adding support for multi-level undo – a top community feature request. Notepad is one of the apps that falls under what Microsoft calls its “Windows Inbox apps”, which are the apps that ship with each new version of Windows.
