Microsoft will ship Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 without WordPad, according to an updated support document. Previously, Microsoft did not clearly indicate the date of removal of this popular application from new versions of Windows.
“WordPad will be removed from all editions of Windows starting with Windows 11 version 24H2 and Windows Server 2025,” Microsoft said.
In test builds of Windows 11 24H2, searching for WordPad in the Start menu doesn't show anything. In the Accessories subfolder inside the Windows NT folder, the wordpad.exe and wordpadFilter.dll files no longer exist. This confirms that WordPad is no longer part of Windows 11 24H2.
There are several workarounds to allow you to continue using WordPad on your Windows PC. Currently, Windows 11 23H2 still has WordPad, just like 22H2. Windows 23H2 consumer editions will be supported until November 2025, while support for 22H2 will end on October 10, 2024.
You can continue to use Windows 11 23H2 for another 20 months with the original WordPad. Another workaround is to copy the wordpad.exe and wordpadfilter.dll files from the Accessories folder in Windows 11 23H2 and save them on disk in a separate location, and then copy them to the new version of the OS at the path "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories" .
This way, you'll be able to run and use WordPad even after Microsoft removes it in the next Windows 11 update. But remember that WordPad is no longer in active development, so don't expect any updates from Microsoft if you stick with it.
In early September 2023, Microsoft announced that it would soon end support for WordPad. This will happen after 28 years of the application's appearance. As part of a future Windows 11 update, this application will be removed from the OS on users' PCs. The free text editor WordPad first became available in 1995 as part of the Windows 95 operating system.
Users of Windows 11 OS wrote messages to the company in reviews of the Microsoft Feedback Hub complaining against the removal of WordPad, since “this application is faster than MS Word.” Users believe that it is too early to write off WordPad, since this application is convenient, familiar, and it loads RTF files much faster than MS Word in Windows 11 or another version of Windows.
In January 2024, Microsoft released a new Windows 11 Canary Build without the WordPad app. Microsoft clarified that it is ending support for WordPad because the project is no longer in active development. The company recommends replacing WordPad with Microsoft Word for documents in doc and rtf formats, as well as Notepad for simple text documents, such as files with the txt extension.
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