Microsoft removes WordPad from clean installs of Windows 11 Canary Builds, and you cannot reinstall it
Microsoft has begun the removal of WordPad from Windows 11 Insider Program. The app is no longer available on clean installs of the Canary Channel Builds.
This is not surprising, as the company had previously confirmed in September 2023, that the legacy rich text editor has been deemed a deprecated Windows feature.
Microsoft begins removal of WordPad from Windows 11 Insider Builds
And now it appears that the company has begun the removal of the app from test builds of Windows 11. It is not being deleted for all users immediately. Microsoft's announcement on the Insider Blog says that WordPad will no longer be installed if a user does a clean install of the OS, starting with Build 26020 in the Canary Channel. So, if you format your computer's drive, or try to install Windows 11 (Canary Builds) on a new PC, you will not be able to access the app. The Redmond company has also removed the People app from the operating system.
The announcement mentions that WordPad will be removed for all users in a future build of Windows 11. It might take a while for the app to be removed from the Dev and Beta channels, likely in the coming months, before it is deleted from the Stable version of the operating system, but it is inevitable.
You won't be able to reinstall WordPad
When Microsoft deprecates a feature from Windows, usually you can get them back by reinstalling them from the Settings app > System > Optional features. But, you won't be able to do this method to get WordPad back on your computer. Microsoft says that users WordPad cannot be reinstalled once it has been removed. It remains to be seen whether users are able to find a workaround for this restriction, for example, by copying over the binary files (EXE) from an older version of the operating system.
Neowin reports that Microsoft is also discontinuing Step Recorder, but it is not being removed from Windows 11 yet. The app displays a banner that it is no longer being actively developed.
As for moving away from WordPad, Microsoft is recommending users to switch from the app to Notepad for plain TXT files, and to Microsoft Word or Microsoft 365 for editing RTF documents. Of course, you can also use something like Google Docs or Word Online for free if you prefer a cloud-based document editor.
Notepad isn't a bad option per se. The Silicon Valley giant has been improving the app over the past few years by adding features like dark mode, multi-level undo and redo, tabs and auto-save for documents. Notepad recently gained a character count on the status bar. But it cannot handle other file types such as RTF (Rich Text Format).
If you are interested in a proper Microsoft WordPad alternative, I would suggest taking a look at Libre Office. It is a free, open source office suite that works offline, and supports a wide range of formats. You can also consider using apps like NotePad++.
Do you use WordPad? Which app do you plan to switch to?
It really seems like Microsoft’s strategic aim is to piss off its users and break down things which work perfectly well. Why the hell does it need to discontinue Word Pad ? As a simple word processor handling rich text, it fits the bill quite well. I use it all the time.
Notepad is not a replacement, since it does not handle .rtf files. A text editor is a programmer’s tool ; it’s not a simple word processor.
None of the versions of Word are an adequate replacement either ; it’s ridiculous on Microsoft’s behalf to suggest so.
Word is a huge, bloated and expensive beast. Plenty of users, especially home users, need something far simpler. Too many features can be a drawback, actually.
Libre Office cannot replace Word Pad. Apart from being free, it has all the drawbacks of Microsoft Office or Word, minus a number of its positive assets.
Once upon a time, backwards compatibility used to be a religion at Microsoft. And for good reason. Now the airheads which have taken over cannot bother to remember what happened yesterday morning.
“Do you use WordPad? Which app do you plan to switch to?”
Rarely, but if a user needs a rather cool portable program for .rtf files, I would recommend “Jarte”:
https://www.jarte.com/
Even the program layout is funky retro!
Major Geeks lists loads of alternatives:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortdate/text_editors.html
Note: Atlantis Lite is on the list!
Even if the Wordpad application is no longer available, the Rich Edit DLL will still be available so that applications that use it will continue to work.
Similarly, the Internet Explorer application is no longer available, but the IE Browser Helper Object certainly is.
This sounds like something that Winaero would make a replacement installer for like they did for the Windows 7 games, classic calculator, and Paint. I would just keep an eye on their website and see.
I honestly didn’t know wordpad still existed. It was never useful.
Wordpad was useless due to its lack of compatibiliy. Indeed it wasn’t able to save a single file as *.doc neither *.dot/*.pdf/*.docx or any other kind of useful file types formats widely used. Furthermore I can’t recommend Notepad++ because it’s useless out of some special tasks. Nobody will remember Wordpad ever, and I also recommend Atlantis like user @WCS.Tony has recommended at first comment. For serious work just try the beta1 version of Libreoffice 24.2, it works like a charm in all the ways than an experienced user would need. :]
WordPad can save as .docx, though?
@bruh Wordpad can save as .docx like a potato can save an egg in the fridge.
There is a MUCH better product …
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Can you insert images? Can you change font size of just one line?
“Microsoft says that users WordPad cannot be reinstalled once it has been removed” we’ll fucking see about that, lol.
“As for moving away from WordPad, Microsoft is recommending users to switch from the app to Notepad for plain TXT files, and to Microsoft Word or Microsoft 365 for editing RTF documents”
Notepad is not a replacement, and neither are paid products. Wordpad is supposed to be the free word version basically.
Also recommending Notepad++ is really lazy Martin, can you add pictures to a notepad++ file, or change font size?
Something I’d never recommend but which seems to be able to serve as a replacement would be OneNote? Kinda but not really.
If Microsoft had any balls they’d have kept working on Microsoft Office Picture Manager, Wordpad (of course never letting it step on the toes of mighty Word), WMP, WPP. They throw people at the most retarded projects and ambitions but they let their OS gather dust. UWP is a failure…
Good these legacy programs were developed when Microsoft actually made proper software. The backward compatibility on them are amazing. You can copy and paste the exe from the version in Windows Vista all the way up to Windows 11 and it will still work. There is no need to install it. Unlike the new bloated garbage Microsoft develops that can’t be run on anything than a specific build number.
Wordpad and notepad are not interchangable. Notepad cannot open .doc or .rtf files wordpad can.
This actually looks like a change to increase the sales of the MS Office product be it the full suite or just MS Word.
Personally I have not used any MS Office products for a long time. This will not change that.
Libre Office is the answer to this this, while you cannot just install Libre Offices Writer (which is the MS Word replacement) the entire suite is very good.
Try ATLANTIS https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en/lite.htm a free alternative for Word (or WordPad) that is easy to use, compatible with docx and FAST. You can opt for the free (lite) version or buy the full one. I use it on all my PCs that do not have Word and can easily edit any of my documents anywhere.
Note: This is just a word processor if you want a full office suite then of course Libre Office is what you need.