the classic program for Windows is reborn with a big update

The first time we start our new computer we will find a series of programs that we did not have installed, but which are present by default in Windows 11. Although Microsoft has already removed several classic Windows programs that were taking up space in installation, there some still argue that they are absolutely necessary; in fact, it even improves them.

We had a good example of this with Paint, Windows’ default drawing program for almost 40 years. This experience worked against it and Microsoft was on the verge of abandoning it completely, after several versions in which it had made almost no changes. But Microsoft did a 180-degree turn last year, announcing that Paint development would restart and that it would receive new features, many of them AI-based.

Now history repeats itself with another classic Windows program: Notepad, or Notepad in its original name. This is another Windows essential, a simple text editing program that doesn’t do much more than save what we’ve written to a plain text file; but with the next update it will do much more.

Microsoft has announced that the new development version of Notepad now includes the text rewrite function that we wrote; It’s called Rewrite and is a lot like Copilot’s text generation features in Word, except it can’t create files from scratch.

With Rewrite, we can ask the AI ​​to change the text that we have already written in various ways; For example, we can indicate that it lengthens or shortens the content so that it fits the length we need. We can also change the tone of the text, for example, to make it more casual if we think we’ve made it too serious.

Rewriting can be activated in two ways: by selecting the text and right-clicking, or with the key combination Ctrl + I. When active, Rewriting will show three variations of the text selected in different styles and lengths, although we can always return to the original text we wrote. Additionally, Rewrite can be completely disabled in Settings.

Initially, Rewrite will not be available in Europe, although it will be available in other EU countries like Italy and Germany, so there should be no problem for it to reach our country when the update comes out of beta and is released nationwide. world.

This update demonstrates just how much Microsoft has embraced generative AI, but that’s not the only reason Notepad is getting an update. The company confirmed that resumed active development of the programwhich had been practically abandoned in recent years; so from now on you will start receiving new features. For example, the development team has already managed to improve the performance of the program, making it start between 35 and 55% faster.