Microsoft adds automatic file saving feature to Notepad on Windows

Over the years, the Notepad application has been regularly updated after each new Windows release with additional features, or some interface tweaks to enhance the user experience. However, Notepad has a major shortcoming that has not been fixed until now.

If you regularly use Notepad, you're no stranger to always having to save your text file before closing. If all the changes that have been made since the last save will disappear completely. Microsoft is overcoming this inherent drawback with a new automatic file saving feature, which is about to be added to the Notepad application in Windows 11.

Microsoft is releasing a new update for users of the Windows Insiders program on the Canary and Dev channels of Windows 11. This update comes with an autosave feature for the long-standing text editor Notepad. The company said in a blog post:

With this update, Notepad will start automatically saving session state, allowing you to close Notepad without any dialog boxes interrupting you. Then when you come back, Notepad will automatically restore the previously opened tabs, as well as the unsaved content and edits you made on those open tabs.

It's important that changes aren't automatically saved to the file, so you don't have to worry about accidentally overwriting important data. Instead, Notepad retains the text and only saves changes to the file if the user explicitly decides to save it. That way, your edits won't be lost forever in the event of an unexpected PC crash or power loss, but the file remains in its previous state until you save it. If you prefer the old way of working, you can completely disable this feature in Notepad's settings menu.

It is not clear when Microsoft will roll out this new feature on a mass scale. The company needs more feedback from the Windows Insiders testing community before making a final decision. Although just a basic text editor, Notepad is a popular choice for many Windows users.

Jessica Tanner

Update 06 September 2023