WordPad

Screenshot of WordPad in Windows 11

Developer(s)| Microsoft
Initial release| August 24, 1995; 30 years ago (August 24, 1995)
Final release|

10.0.19041.6280 / August 21, 2025; 8 months ago (2025-08-21)[1]

Repository| WordPad Sample: MFC WordPad Application (early version)
Written in| C++
Operating system| Windows 95 and higher
Platform| IA-32, x86-64, and ARM
Predecessor| Microsoft Write
Successor| Microsoft Word or Windows Notepad (suggested)
Type| Word processor

WordPad is a discontinued word processor software designed by Microsoft that was included in versions of Windows from Windows 95 through Windows 11, version 23H2. Similarly to its predecessor Microsoft Write, it served as a basic word processor, positioned as more advanced than the Notepad text editor by supporting rich text editing, but with a subset of the functionality of Microsoft Word. Microsoft removed WordPad in Windows 11 24H2[2] and it has no successor.[3]

Earlier versions primarily supported a subset of the Rich Text Format (RTF, .rtf) and Microsoft Word 6.0 formats, although later versions are also capable of saving Office Open XML (OOXML, .docx) and OpenDocument Text (.odt) files.

## Contents

* 1 Features
* 2 History
* 2.1 Discontinuation
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## Features

WordPad running on Windows CE 5.0

WordPad can format and print text, including font and bold, italic, colored, and centered text, and lacks functions such as a spell checker, thesaurus, and control of pagination. It does not support footnotes and endnotes. WordPad can read, render, and save many Rich Text Format (RTF) features that it cannot create, such as tables, strikeout, superscript, subscript, "extra" colors, text background colors, numbered lists, right and left indentation, quasi-hypertext and URL linking, and line-spacing greater than 1. It is simpler and faster than a richly-featured word processor, with low system resource use. Pasting into WordPad from an HTML document, such as a Web page or email, typically automatically converts most or all of it to RTF, depending partly on the Web browser from which the text is copied. WordPad is suited to taking notes; writing letters and stories; and use on various tablets, PCs, and smart phones. It is unsuitable for work that relies heavily on graphics and typesetting, such as most publishing-industry requirements for rendering final hard copy.

A character not on the keyboard can be entered into WordPad by typing its hexadecimal code point in Unicode followed by . Likewise, the code point of a character from another application can be determined by copying it into WordPad followed by .

WordPad does not support all the features defined in the RTF/Word 2007 specification. Earlier versions of WordPad also supported the "Word for Windows 6.0" format, which is forward compatible with the Microsoft Word format.[4]

In Windows 95, 98, and 2000, WordPad uses Microsoft's RichEdit control, versions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, respectively.[5] In Windows XP SP1 and later,[6] and Windows 7, it uses RichEdit 4.1.[7]

A similar word processor, also called WordPad and with simple functionality, is supplied by some vendors on a Windows CE pre-installation.[8] Its icon resembles an early Microsoft Word icon.

## History

Supported file formats  File format  | Description

|

.doc  | Microsoft Word Binary File Format; support for this format was removed in Windows Vista[4]
.docx  | Office Open XML Document formats; added in Windows 7[9]
.odt  | OpenDocument text format; added in Windows 7[9][10]
.rtf  | Rich Text Format
.txt  | Text file
.wri  | Microsoft Write; disabled in Windows XP SP2 unless registry hack is used.[11] Support was removed in Vista.[12] Microsoft Word 2013 can open such files, but may lose formatting.[13]

WordPad was introduced in Windows 95, replacing Microsoft Write, included with all previous versions of Windows (version 3.11 and earlier). The source code to WordPad was also distributed by Microsoft as a Microsoft Foundation Class Library sample application with MFC 3.2 and later, shortly before the release of Windows 95. It is still available for download from the MSDN website.[14]

The default font used in Windows 95 to Windows Vista was 10pt Arial; in Windows 7 it was changed to 11pt Calibri.

WordPad for Windows 2000/XP added full Unicode support, enabling WordPad to support multiple languages, but big endian UTF-16/UCS-2 is not supported. It can open Microsoft Word (versions 6.0–2003) files, although it opens newer versions of the .doc format with incorrect formatting. Also, unlike previous WordPad versions, it cannot save files in the .doc format (only .txt and .rtf). Files saved as Unicode text are encoded as UTF-16 LE. As a security measure Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later versions of Windows and its service packs reduced support for opening `.WRI`.

Windows 10 and later versions support voice typing. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition SP2 and Windows Vista include speech recognition, allowing dictation into WordPad. These and later Windows versions implement the RichEdit control, allowing WordPad to support extensible third-party services built using the Text Services Framework (TSF), such as grammar and spellcheck.[15]

In Windows Vista support for reading Microsoft Word DOC files was removed because of the incorrect rendering and formatting problems, and because a Microsoft security bulletin reported a security vulnerability in opening Word files in WordPad.[4] For viewing older (Word 97–2003), and Office Open XML, documents, Microsoft recommends free-of-charge Microsoft Word Viewer. Native Office Open XML and ODF 1.1 support was implemented in the Windows 7 version of WordPad.[9][16][10]

In Windows 7 the program's user interface was updated to use a ribbon, similar to those in Microsoft Office.[17]

In January 2020, a Windows Insider build of Windows 10 tested an advertisement steering WordPad users to Office web apps.[18]

### Discontinuation

In September 2023, Microsoft announced that WordPad will be removed from "a future release of Windows", recommending Windows Notepad and Microsoft Word.[19][20] In January 2024, WordPad was no longer auto-installed after a clean installation of the OS with the release of the Windows 11 Build 26020 Insider Preview's Canary Channel. Furthermore, Microsoft stated that WordPad will be officially removed in future updates, and it will not be available for reinstallation.[21][22] Microsoft recommended using Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf, while Notepad is suggested for plain text documents like .txt.[21][22]

## See also

* Jarte - a word processor based on the WordPad engine
* TextEdit
* List of word processors
* Comparison of word processors

## References

1. ↑ "KB5063842 (OS Build 19045.6282)". https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/august-26-2025-kb5063842-os-build-19045-6282-preview-0ee815c6-a742-4cae-b669-6978e0bfd425.
2. ↑ Blog, Windows Insider; Team, Windows Insider Program (2024-05-22). "Releasing Windows 11, version 24H2 to the Release Preview Channel" (in en-US). https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2024/05/22/releasing-windows-11-version-24h2-to-the-release-preview-channel/.
3. ↑ mestew (2024-02-09). "Deprecated features in the Windows client - What's new in Windows" (in en-us). https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/deprecated-features.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-010 - Critical". http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-010.mspx.
5. ↑ "RichEdit Versions 1.0 through 3.0 – Murray Sargent: Math in Office". 2010-01-12. http://blogs.msdn.com/murrays/archive/2010/01/13/richedit-versions-1-0-through-3-0.aspx.
6. ↑ "RichEdit versions – Murray Sargent: Math in Office". 2006-10-13. http://blogs.msdn.com/murrays/archive/2006/10/14/richedit-versions.aspx.
7. ↑ "WordPad Numbering Limit – Murray Sargent: Math in Office". 2009-06-19. http://blogs.msdn.com/murrays/archive/2009/06/19/wordpad-numbering-limit.aspx.
8. ↑ WordPad (Compact 7) | Microsoft Docs
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Windows 7: The Top 10 Hidden Features". PC Magazine. Ziff Davis. 30 September 2010. https://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=255105&a=255105&po=3,00.asp.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "[MS-WPODF: WordPad ODF 1.1 Standards Support"]. Microsoft. 30 October 2020. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/wordpad_standards_support/ms-wpodf/b200dcfd-c4de-475d-94d1-bf0223aa8387.
11. ↑ "Error message when you open a document file in Windows XP Service Pack 2". Archived from the original on 2015-08-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20150803155540/http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/883090.
12. ↑ No programme will display old *.wri files correctly
13. ↑ How to open WRI files in Windows 7/8?
14. ↑ "WORDPAD Sample: The Windows Application". 2016-12-26. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/51y8h3tk(vs.71).aspx.
15. ↑ "Enabling Text Correction for Custom Ink Collectors (Windows)". 2016-12-26. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa371122.aspx.
16. ↑ "Using WordPad". Windows portal. Microsoft. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Using-WordPad.
17. ↑ Thurrott, Paul (6 October 2010). "Windows 7 Feature Focus: Scenic Ribbon, Paint and WordPad". Supersite for Windows. Penton Media. http://winsupersite.com/windows-7/windows-7-feature-focus-scenic-ribbon-paint-and-wordpad.
18. ↑ Hruska, Joel (22 January 2020). "Microsoft is Testing Ads in Wordpad You Might Actually Be Glad to See -". https://www.extremetech.com/computing/305131-microsoft-is-testing-ads-in-wordpad-you-might-actually-be-glad-to-see.
19. ↑ Warren, Tom (2023-09-03). "Microsoft is removing WordPad from Windows after nearly 30 years" (in en-US). https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/3/23857331/microsoft-wordpad-windows-removal-end-of-support.
20. ↑ Main, Nikki (4 September 2023). "Three Decades After Launch, Microsoft's WordPad Is Headed to the Trash Bin". https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-is-killing-wordpad-1850805768.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Rashid, Dua (2024-01-06). "RIP Microsoft WordPad. You Will Be Missed". https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-wordpad-gone-windows-11-1851144100.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Kaur, Gagandeep (2024-01-08). "Microsoft bids adieu to WordPad". https://www.computerworld.com/article/3712100/microsoft-bids-adieu-to-wordpad.html.

* v
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Word processors

* List
* Comparison
* of early word processors

Open-source|

* AbiWord
* Apache OpenOffice Writer
* Bean (up to v. 2.x)
* Calligra Words
* GNU TeXmacs
* KWord
* LibreOffice Writer
* LyX
* NeoOffice Writer
* OpenOffice Writer
* ShareLaTeX
* Ted

Freeware|

* Adobe Buzzword
* Atlantis Nova
* Bean (since v. 3.x)
* Google Docs
* IBM Lotus Symphony
* Jarte (standard)
* TextMaker (2008)

Retail|

| Cross-platform|

* Adobe InCopy
* Corel WordPerfect (up to v. 9.0)
* Hangul
* Ichitaro
* Kingsoft Writer
* Microsoft Word
* Scrivener
* StarOffice Writer
* TextMaker

|

Classic Mac OS only
(and Classic Environment)|

* Nisus Writer

MacOS only|

* Apple Pages
* Mellel
* Nisus Writer Express

Windows only|

* Atlantis Word Processor
* Corel WordPerfect (since v. 10.0)
* IBM Lotus Word Pro
* Jarte (enhanced)
* Microsoft Works
* Nota Bene
* MobiSystems OfficeSuite
* PolyEdit
* Scientific WorkPlace
* WordPad
* XyWrite

Hardware word processors (pre-PC)|

* AlphaSmart
* CPT Corporation
* Friden Flexowriter
* IBM Displaywriter System
* IBM MT/ST
* Wang

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Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPad. Read more

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