Microsoft releases first Windows 11 beta without WordPad

Microsoft has released the first Canary build of Windows 11 that no longer includes WordPad. It was already known that the company would remove the word processor from the operating system. This is happening for the first time with the new beta release.

The change is in Build 26020, which was released in the Canary Channel. In a blog post Microsoft writes that WordPad is no longer installed by default with a clean installation. This also applies to the People app, which was used to manage contacts.

Microsoft said last year that it would eventually remove WordPad from Windows, but did not provide a concrete timeline for this. Build 26020 is the first time that the company has definitely done something with this, even though it is still a beta of the OS. The company already said that txt files would now be opened in Notepad and recommends that users use Word as a word processor.

The free word processor WordPad has been included with Windows since 1995. Microsoft gave no reason for phasing out WordPad, but also never really prioritized further development of the tool.