Windows shipped with two built-in text editors for decades: Notepad and WordPad. Most users opened one or the other without thinking too hard about why. But they serve completely different purposes — and picking the wrong one can cause real problems.

Here is a clear breakdown of what each one does, when to use it, and what to use now that WordPad has been removed from Windows 11.

The Core Difference

Notepad is a plain text editor. What you type is what the file contains — no formatting, no fonts, no colors. Every character you see is saved literally. Open a Notepad file in any text editor on any operating system and it looks exactly the same.

WordPad is a rich text editor. It supports fonts, bold, italic, colors, bullet lists, images, and paragraph alignment. It saves documents in formats like RTF or DOCX that preserve that formatting. Open a WordPad file in Microsoft Word and your formatting comes with it.

This is the essential distinction: Notepad produces plain text, WordPad produces formatted documents.

Feature Comparison

When to Use Notepad

Notepad is the right tool when you need pure plain text with no formatting at all. That includes:

• Writing or editing code. HTML, Python, JavaScript, CSS — all plain text files that must not contain invisible formatting characters.
• Config and settings files. Files like .env, .ini, .yaml, and .json must be saved without any RTF or DOCX formatting or they will break.
• Simple logs. Quick notes, timestamps, and records where formatting is irrelevant.
• Copying text to strip formatting. Paste rich text into Notepad and you get clean plain text to paste elsewhere.

The key rule: if the file needs to be read by software, a server, or a developer, use Notepad.

When to Use WordPad

WordPad is the right tool when your document needs to look formatted when printed or shared. That includes:

• Letters and correspondence. A properly formatted letter needs a readable font, paragraph spacing, and maybe a signature line.
• Simple reports. Section headers, bold text, and organized paragraphs make reports readable.
• Resumes and basic documents. When you need something that looks like a word-processed document but you do not have Microsoft Word.
• Opening .rtf or .docx files without a full office suite installed.

The key rule: if a human being is going to read the output and presentation matters, use WordPad (or an equivalent).

An Online Alternative That Does Both

Online WordPad is a browser-based rich text editor that covers the WordPad side of this equation — and then some. It adds features the original never had:

• Tables — insert and format multi-column tables with a / slash command
• Export as plain text — strip all formatting and download a clean .txt file, just like Notepad would produce
• Export as .docx — compatible with Microsoft Word and Google Docs
• Works on any OS — Mac, Windows, Linux, Chromebook, no installation needed

If you need Notepad-style plain text output, Online WordPad can export your document as a plain .txt file with all formatting removed. So it covers both use cases in a single browser tab.

One thing to note: for editing code or config files, you should still use a dedicated code editor like VS Code or Notepad++. Online WordPad is a document editor, not a code editor.

Need a fast, browser-based editor that handles formatted documents? Open Online WordPad — it works instantly, no account required.