If you used to use WordPad to edit text in .txt format, you will have to look for a new option soon.
WordPad came by default on all Windows operating systems since 1995.
Microsoft has announced that it is definitively closing WordPad, a very simple text editor that for almost 30 years has been a fundamental tool for creating and editing text in .txt format.
In fact, it is a tool that came installed by default on all Windows operating systems since 1995. It was not until 2020 that Microsoft made it “optional”, allowing users to remove it, if they so wished.
Apparently, many did. Many others left it forgotten and were not even aware that Windows included this tool. The arrival and popularization of more complete word processors caused WordPad, in many cases, to fall into disuse.
That is why Microsoft has now decided to close the application completely. WordPad will no longer be updated in the future and no improvements will be added to it, not even to solve possible security problems.
In addition, Microsoft will also no longer include WordPad in the next versions of Windows it releases. According to an official statement from the company, users are advised two alternatives: Microsoft Word and Windows NotePad (application certainly similar to the recently withdrawn WordPad).
“We recommend using Microsoft Word for rich text formats such as .doc and .rtf and Windows NotePad for plain text documents, such as those with a .txt extension,” the company said in its official statement.
Best alternatives to WordPad
This being the case, next to Microsoft Word -owned by Microsoft, within its Office package- and Windows NotePad, as we have seen, other text editors could be considered.
For example, OpenOffice’s Apache Open Office Writer and its alternative, LibreOffice Writer. Similarly, the Google Docs word processor.
You could also consider WPS Office Writer or even Text Maker, all text editing programs that allow you to work with the main formats for documents.
