{"id":151313,"date":"2026-03-12T00:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T04:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/?p=151313"},"modified":"2026-03-12T00:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T04:20:11","slug":"how-to-restore-the-old-notepad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/how-to-restore-the-old-notepad\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Restore The Old Notepad"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"daves-2493948651\" class=\"daves-single-post-before-content daves-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div><p>Microsoft has been adding more and more features to Notepad in Windows 11, perhaps in an attempt to compensate for scrapping <a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wordpad-gone-full-ai-integration-planned\/\">WordPad<\/a>. For whatever reason, many users are unhappy that Notepad has been turned into a more sophisticated word processor and would prefer the old, simple, and clean Notepad.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that you can easily restore Notepad to its former self as a distraction-free, plain-text editor simply by adjusting three settings from within Notepad itself.<\/p>\n<h2>Restore The Traditional Notepad<\/h2>\n<h5><strong>Setting #1: Turn formatting OFF<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Turn-Off-Formatting.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-151326\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Turn-Off-Formatting.png\" alt=\"notepad-turn-off-formatting\" width=\"513\" height=\"191\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Turn-Off-Formatting.png 513w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Turn-Off-Formatting-350x130.png 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Turn-Off-Formatting-150x56.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Many users view the lack of formatting as a huge plus, especially when using Notepad for chores such as stripping formatting from web text or compiling clean code. Toggling the<a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/notepad-adds-controversial-formatting-feature\/\"> formatting setting<\/a> to OFF will eliminate the unwanted formatting.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Setting #2: Change Notepad&#8217;s startup behaviour<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Change-Notepad-Startup-Behaviour.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-151327\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Change-Notepad-Startup-Behaviour.png\" alt=\"change-notepad-startup-behaviour\" width=\"513\" height=\"171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Change-Notepad-Startup-Behaviour.png 513w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Change-Notepad-Startup-Behaviour-350x117.png 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Change-Notepad-Startup-Behaviour-150x50.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know about you, but whenever I <a title=\"Stop Notepad Opening Previously Saved Files\" href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/stop-notepad-opening-previously-saved-files\/\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"245\">open a new instance of Notepad<\/a>, I prefer to start from a clean state. To achieve that, <a title=\"How To Enable Hidden \u2018End Task\u2019 Option In Windows 11\" href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/how-to-enable-hidden-end-task-option-in-windows-11\/\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"246\">enable the option<\/a> to <strong>Start new session and discard unsaved changes<\/strong> under &#8220;<em>When Notepad Starts<\/em>.<\/p><div id=\"daves-3296365729\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content daves-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<h5><strong>Setting #3: Disable Copilot (AI) features<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Disable-Copilot.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-151328\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Disable-Copilot.png\" alt=\"notepad-disable-copilot\" width=\"513\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Disable-Copilot.png 513w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Disable-Copilot-350x64.png 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Notepad-Disable-Copilot-150x27.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am so fed up with Microsoft&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/will-copilot-pcs-become-the-only-choice\/\">AI (Copilot)<\/a> everywhere policy; this one is a no-brainer for me. You&#8217;ll find the &#8220;Copilot&#8221; switch at the very bottom of Notepad&#8217;s settings, toggle it to OFF.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s it, all done. Welcome to the old Notepad.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<div id=\"daves-2846634518\" class=\"daves-after-content daves-entity-placement\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"3225321574\" \ndata-ad-format=\"autorelaxed\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft has been adding more and more features to Notepad in Windows 11, perhaps in an attempt to compensate for scrapping WordPad. For whatever reason, many users are unhappy that Notepad has been turned into a more sophisticated word processor and would prefer the old, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[10797],"tags":[5846],"class_list":["post-151313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-win11","tag-notepad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}