Windows 11: The editor will probably get tabs

Admittedly, it’s just a leak, but it’s perfectly reasonable: the Windows editor, also known as notepad.exe, should soon support tabs. This was suggested by a screenshot that a Microsoft employee posted to Twitter and then removed shortly thereafter. Tweet, though, thanks to the Wayback Machine Still watching. Ironically, the screenshot itself contains an explicit warning of confidentiality and a request not to take screenshots.

It will be clear that the tabs for the editor will appear on the PC in a similar way to the recent File Explorer in Windows 11 version 22H2: as part of a “moment” update, where Microsoft will provide small packages of new features via cumulative updates and/or Store app updates distributed. Unless Microsoft discards the tab feature again for some unknown reason, it should appear in the foreseeable future first to the “Windows Insider” beta test community.

Better late than never

Adding tabs to basic Windows tools sometimes leads to a certain amusement, because not only many Linux and other desktop environments, but also alternative Windows editors like Notepad++ have supported tabs for eons. However, tabs are a small but welcome improvement, simply because there are likely to be a number of (company) computers on which alternative editors are not allowed to be installed.

(youth)