Notepad finally got some much needed attention in Windows 10 1809. It has been around since the first version of Windows and has always been a very simple text editor.
Well, Notepad is still a simple editor, and the user interface is pretty much the same. However, Microsoft has added new features, made performance improvements, and fixed some bugs in Windows 10 1809 to create an overdue boost.
What you need to know about the improved Notepad in Windows 10 1809 The best new Windows 10 features in the October 2018 update The best new Windows 10 features in the October 2018 update The October 2018 update of Windows 10 is here. Here are the best new features you should know about. Read more .
Zoom in and out
Before Windows 10 1809, if you wanted to display larger text in Notepad, you had to change the font size of the text.
Now you can zoom in and out of text without changing the font size.
Go to View> Zoom in and select Zoom in or Zoom out.
You can also use the Ctrl + + (plus sign) and Ctrl + – (minus sign) key combinations to zoom in and out, respectively. Shrink. To return to the default setting of 100%, press Ctrl + 0 (zero).
You can also use a combination of keyboard and mouse to quickly zoom in and out. Hold down the Ctrl key and scroll the mouse wheel up to zoom in or down to zoom out.
Wrap, Find and Replace and Search AutoFill
If you started searching in the middle of a text file in Notepad, the search will go to the end of the file or to the beginning of the file (depending on the selected direction), but not the entire file.
In the new improved editor, Microsoft has added an option to wrap the search so you can search the entire text file from wherever the cursor is in the file.
When you press Ctrl + F and type a word or phrase in the Find what Check the Wrap box to search the entire file.
Notepad also remembers the options you select now Wrap The checkbox remains selected the next time you use Find dialog box to find.
Microsoft has also added another handy feature-Autofill search.
Suppose you want to find other occurrences of specific text in your file. Select the text you want to search and press Ctrl + F. The editor automatically inserts the selected text into the Find what box on the Find dialog, where you can quickly start your search.
Displays the status bar with line break enabled
Previously, when you were enabled line break on the format menu in Notepad, the status bar disappeared when you would have enabled it. You could not display both at the same time. When line break was enabled, the status bar option on the view menu was grayed out and unavailable.
Now you can enable newline and show the status bar at the same time. You can disable both of them if you want.
Support for Linux and Mac text files
Before Windows 10 1809, Notepad only supported line endings for newlines (CR) and line feeds (LF) (CRLF) for text files. If you opened text files created on Unix, Linux or Mac, the line endings were not displayed correctly. The file would be a mess, and the lines would end in unexpected places. You had to open the file in WordPad, save it there and then open the file again in Notepad.
Notepad still uses Windows Carriage Return (CR) and Line Feed (LF) (CRLF) line breaks by default. Finally, Microsoft has added support for line endings in Unix and Linux (LF) and Mac (CR) in Notepad in Windows 10 1809. Text files created on Unix, Linux or Mac are now displayed correctly when opened in Notepad.
When editing and saving text files created on Unix, Linux or Mac, Notepad retains the line break type of the operating system it was created in.
Search Bing directly from the editor
With Notepad you can now search Bing directly in a text file.
Just select a word or phrase and choose Search with Bing from the Edit menu or press Ctrl + E. Notepad searches the web with Bing and opens the results in Microsoft Edge.
Unfortunately, you can only perform searches through the editor with Bing and Edge. It is not possible to switch to another search engine or browser.
Other changes, improvements and bug fixes
Microsoft has made other small changes and improvements to Notepad. And they have fixed some bugs.
Use a keyboard shortcut to delete the previous word
Notepad already supports the Ctrl + left arrow and Ctrl + right arrow keyboard shortcuts to cycle through entire words at once. You can also use the Shift + Ctrl + Left Arrow and Shift + Ctrl + Right Arrow keyboard shortcuts to select entire words at once.
Now you can also use Ctrl + Backspace to delete the previous word.
Using arrow keys for selected text
If text was previously selected and you move the cursor with the left or right key and deselect the text, the cursor jumps forward or back by one character.
Now, if you move the cursor with the arrow keys while a text is selected, the first keystroke will deselect the text and move the cursor to or in front of the selection location. The cursor is not moved one more character away from the selected text.
Improved performance when opening large text files
If you frequently work with large text files, you'll be glad to know that Microsoft promises improved performance when opening large files in Notepad.
Fixed some display errors
Microsoft has also fixed some display bugs.
Although we did not notice this bug, Notepad now displays lines that do not fully fit on the screen.
When saving a file, the row and column numbers in this status bar are not reset to 1. You still show the correct position of the cursor in the text file.
Increase your productivity with the new notepad
While there are good Notepad alternatives with many more features, Notepad is useful by default for taking notes, editing configuration files, writing scripts and code, and more. There are also some cool tricks you can do with Notepad. With the new features and improvements, you can now be more productive with Notepad.
If you still want a text editor with more features than the improved version of Notepad, we offer a list of Windows Notepad alternatives. The 6 best Windows Notepad alternatives The 6 best Windows Notepad alternatives Windows Notepad is too easy, but Microsoft Office is too much ? If you are looking for a Notepad replacement, here are the leading alternatives. One will be perfect for you. Read more .