We probably should have known something was up when they didn’t give WordPad a dark mode.
Just before the long holiday weekend, Microsoft added WordPad to its list of “Deprecated Features” for Windows, signaling the upcoming demise of an application that has been built into the operating system since Windows 95.
“WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows,” the company’s explanation reads, without specifying a timeline for removal. It continues, “We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt.”
The explanation illustrates how WordPad has become the third wheel of document editing on Windows, stuck in the middle without the full functionality of Microsoft Word or the sweet simplicity of Notepad.
However, Microsoft has been steadily updating the Notepad app in recent years, with features including the aforementioned dark mode. An upcoming Notepad update will add autosave functionality.
At least one famous former WordPad user is lamenting the loss.
Going way back into the archives, Windows on Windows has this look at a predecessor, Write.
Will you feel the loss of WordPad? Email me: todd@geekwire.com.
