Notepad update brings dark mode, multilevel undo for Windows 11 Insiders

Notepad has been updated for Windows 11 Insider Preview Program Developer Channel users. It brings a couple of highly-requested features, including dark mode support and multi-level undo.

The interface of the program has changed slightly, it has a multi-tone finish that distinguishes the title bar, the menu bar and the status bar of the text editor area. The title bar has the word Preview.

The File menu in the new Notepad is identical to the one in the previous version. The new app’s Edit menu doesn’t have a Search with Bing option, but it does have a new shortcut for Font settings. I’ll get to this in a moment.

The View menu lists options for controlling zooming, toggling the status bar, and word wrapping. As a result of this change, the format menu has been removed, likewise, the Help menu has been discarded in favor of an About this application section, which you can find on the Settings page. Speaking of which, there is a new gear button in the upper right corner, which takes you to Notepad settings.

In addition to listing the version number of the application, the page houses 2 settings. The first option allows you to select the theme of the application, you can choose the light theme, which is the default, or the new dark mode, which looks great. Optionally, you can configure Notepad to follow the system theme. The application supports the Mica blur effect.

The other option that is available on the Settings page can be used to select the font used in Notepad. It has the usual Font Family, Style, and Size options, but it also has a preview pane that shows how the text looks based on the current font settings.

The status bar is still similar to the previous version. The right mouse button menu in the new Notepad application has been updated, although it retains the options (except for Search with Bing), the shortcuts in the menu have icons next to their labels. The best feature, in my opinion, is the introduction of multilevel undo. If you mistakenly overwrite something and continue to make changes, you can easily go back to the previous text.

The overall Notepad experience remains the same, but the new options are welcome. According to the official blog post by Microsoft, the new version has some known issues. There is an issue affecting the use of the access keys, which seems to occur when switching between different input languages ​​or when using the Japanese IME. Shift-clicking on text may result in unexpected behavior, scrolling down in text may have glitches.

For reference, the current version of Notepad on Windows 11 stable build is 10.2103.6.0. The version number of the Insider Preview build was 10.2103.6.0 before the update, the version of the new app is 11.2110.64.0. If you’re enrolled in the Insider Program, open the Microsoft Store and check for updates, and you should get the new Notepad app.

Windows 10 had a lot of inconsistencies regarding dark mode. Windows 11 seems to approach it in a better way, it still has a long way to go, Task Manager, for example, does not have a dark theme yet.

Do you prefer light theme or dark mode for your shows?

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