Microsoft has confirmed that if you do a clean install of Windows 11 Build 26020 or later, the WordPad app won't be there.
Starting with Windows 11 Build 26020, Microsoft removed two of its apps – WordPad and People. Both apps are no longer installed on Windows 11 if you do a “clean” fresh install of the operating system using Build 26020.
For now, this change is only limited to Build 26020, but a note from the company says that WordPad will be removed from production builds as well. In a support document updated in December 2023, Microsoft clearly states that WordPad will be removed and "will no longer be updated in future versions of Windows."
Without explaining why the company is removing the word processing application and suggesting that users use Microsoft Word for rich text documents. If you prefer a lightweight or free text editor for .txt documents, Microsoft recommends switching to NotePad.
"We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents such as .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents such as .txt," the company says.
We again strongly recommend the open source word processing application NotePad ++.
Microsoft will also not allow users to reinstall WordPad after it is removed from the operating system, since WordPad will not be available in the Microsoft Store.
