Microsoft Starts Testing Tabs In Notepad (thurrott.com) 72
Microsoft has started testing Tabs in Notepad with Windows Insiders on the Dev Channel today. Thurrott reports: The update to the Notepad will start rolling out to all Dev Channel testers today alongside the new Windows 11 preview build 25281, which brings a couple of other changes. Tabs in Notepad was "a top requested feature from the community," the Windows Insider team emphasized today. The app now supports dragging a tab out into a separate window, and a new setting also lets users choose whether files should open in a new tab or a new window by default.
"There are also new keyboard shortcut keys to support managing tabs as well as some improvements to managing unsaved files, like automatically generating the file name/tab title based on content and a refreshed unsaved changes indicator," the Windows Insider team explained. Microsoft is still working to fix issues causing some keyboard shortcuts to not work as expected, and performance will also remain a priority for the team.
"There are also new keyboard shortcut keys to support managing tabs as well as some improvements to managing unsaved files, like automatically generating the file name/tab title based on content and a refreshed unsaved changes indicator," the Windows Insider team explained. Microsoft is still working to fix issues causing some keyboard shortcuts to not work as expected, and performance will also remain a priority for the team.
Microsoft Starts Testing Tabs In Notepad (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Microsoft Starts Testing Tabs In Notepad (Score:1)
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In 1996 the headline was "Microsoft Developers Start Using Tabs". If you don't get the pun then you're too pure and innocent.
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Microsoft Developers Start Using Dishwasher Tabs ?
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Yes, in 2023 they should be focusing on making a search & replace window that doesn't obstruct the content under it.
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Back then you had multiple windows within a window. I can't remember what they called it now.
Tabs didn't become popular until much later than 1996.
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That's the one, Multiple Document Interface. Thanks.
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Should be a headline from 1996
In the 90's you most definitely would have gotten this crap. Picture a modern IDE but with all the panes turned into free floating windows.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Here's a really fugly, but clever, example.
https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page... [tcl-lang.org]
Windows has had at least basic tabbed UI components available forever I think, but you usually used them for settings screens not document display.
Look at this turd, using things I believe from Win98 and up, a document within a tab, tabs in tabs, flat buttons mix
Maybe they should have (Score:1)
Maybe they should have tested editing basic text documents in it first.
Re:Maybe they should have (Score:5, Insightful)
I still find it weird and funny that shitty-ass WordPad can handle larger files than Notepad.
Microsoft should just give up the fight and buy Notepad++, it's so far beyond their dreck..
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It’s absolutely baffling how much Microsoft neglects Notepad. I get that once upon a time they probably made it policy that it and Wordpad could only have the most bare features so people would buy Works or Word and it probably felt sassy not supporting unix style line termination but come the fuck on.
To it’s credit it has crude Unicode support which makes it better than Slashdot.
Re: Maybe they should have (Score:2)
Yeah, has it even been updated since windows 1.1?
"To itâ(TM)s credit it has crude Unicode support which makes it better than Slashdot." ha ha ha! :)
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It needed support for Unix line termination by at least 2010. I’m sure it was a deliberate snub by Microsoft for a period of time but the time has long passes where it makes any sense to introduce compatibility challenges. Also seeing as Microsoft was a Unix vendor back when notepad was first released it’s pretty lazy to begin with.
Re:Maybe they should have (Score:4, Interesting)
They could be preparing to offer it on subscription. $10.99/month for a text editor that can now handle tabs.
In other news, downloads of Notepad++ have gone through the roof.
Once again, MS proves that it does not have a clue.
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... not simply a subscription, but built as a new Advertising Delivery Platform
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Microsoft should just give up the fight and buy Notepad++, it's so far beyond their dreck..
Am I seeing this right? Someone on Slashdot is suggesting Microsoft buy out a competitor, buy out an open source one at that point, promoting reduced competition and the acquisition of software we all love? And on top of that your UID is low enough that you should know better.
People have fallen on their swords after writing far smart things than that. Shame on you.
No, Microsoft should continue to ship a completely independent and simple editor and leave it up to users to install what they want.
Re: Maybe they should have (Score:2)
Yeah, good point. Ow, swords hurt.
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Notepad++ suffers from the same problem that IntelliJ Idea has historically had - too much up front. Thankfully, the most recent updates of Idea have provided a vastly streamlined UI - I enabled it immediately and there is no going back. I hope Notepad++ undergoes the same transformation.
Re: Maybe they should have (Score:2)
Too much up front? I see a blank editing window with a menu up top. Why's that too much?
Notepad++ (Score:5, Funny)
is checking its calendar to see if it's April 1st.
Amazing. What a day to be alive. (Score:4, Informative)
(*) Some bugs may remain.
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Fixed it for you.
Tabs suck ass for real work (Score:1)
Tabs seem to have come about at about the same time that stupid fucking touch interfaces were pushed on everyone along with other phone style UI crap. Like apps preferring full screen and other shit that works like ass for real work and multiple monitors. That and many other idiotic UI choices like pinned apps that do different things when you click on them rather than the same thing every time when it used to be simple quick launch. Quick launch opens the app each and every time you click on it. Pinned app
LOL, wut? (Score:2, Insightful)
I use Notepad to jot stuff. It's not an IDE. I want it to come up fast, virtually instantaneously. What is this "community" and what's it smoking? I guess whatever it is that makes you want to stick with Windows at this point, and be their product.
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I suppose if you can't install anything on your machine at all like say notepad++, this would be some sort of improvement over "classic" notepad
Re:LOL, wut? (Score:4, Interesting)
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oh, I completely agree though, I suppose if you're at some company and you have slightly more than zero tech skills and want np++ but aren't allowed to install anything since corporate IT is often terrible, this would be an upgrade though knowing microsoft the new notepad will be a downgrade
what they should do, instead, is just add tabs to "wordpad" since that's their more "mature" product
large files and *nix line endings (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd be happy if Notepad could handle even not so large files, its hangs on large files. I'd also be happy if it could properly display *nix text files with LF line endings instead of Windows style CRLF endings.
I mean basic functionality should come way before UI garbage like tabs. An how old is Notepad anyway? Basic functionality is way over due.
Re: large files and *nix line endings (Score:1)
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Notepad has supported Unix line endings since 2018: https://devblogs.microsoft.com... [microsoft.com]
As for large files, they are a difficult problem for a text edit. When opening one there is no way to determine the number of lines other than to scan the entire file. While memory mapping can help reduce the amount of RAM used, it then gets tricky to edit the file because inserting text either needs massive amounts of copying or a complex linked list system. I don't know of any text editors that handle really large files w
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I don't know of any text editors that handle really large files well.
Look there's "large" files and there's "LARGE" files. We're only talking about "large" files here. There are plenty of cases where you open something in Notepad and it completely locks up, so you just close it an open it in Wordpad, or Notepad++ instead.
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Yeah, although it depends on the version of Windows. Notepad uses the standard text box control, so newer versions of Windows that optimized that perform better. Still, it's on the slower end, that's for sure.
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I'd think Notepad's niche is small simple text files. If you need to edit something larger than 40k or so, perhaps a different editor like notepad++, up to a few hundred MB. If you need to edit text files over 1GB, then some specialised editor is probably the way to go. Things like counting lines and such in a large file is not straightforward (at least, you need to read the entire file). Probably for text files over GB you want an editor-friendly way of storing them in e.g. tiles that whose size is a multi
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On Windows Server sometimes you just want to look at a log file. Open anything even slightly big and Notepad hangs.
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I'd also be happy if it could properly display *nix text files with LF line endings instead of Windows style CRLF endings.
For that you'll need to finally let go of your old Windows 7 system and move to a current version of Windows. Or heck the previous one. Both of them have versions of Notepad supporting LF line endings just fine.
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Fair enough, have not tried in a long time. Notepad is pretty much useless.
Who uses Notepad? (Score:5, Insightful)
Who uses Notepad? I would expect that everyone who regularly uses a text editor like Notepad would download something a little bit more sophisticated. I use Notepad++ myself and can't really imagine doing my work with something like Notepad, even if they added in tabs.
Re: Who uses Notepad? (Score:2)
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Notepad is ideal as a utility which lets me create and manipulate unformatted text which might then go into another system (e.g. web-based management console or email). I regularly end the day with multiple Notepad windows open which I have neglected to close after use (and they always prevent my computer from restarting or shutting down because I didn't save them!)
Of course, Win+R -> Ctrl+V -> Ctrl+A -> Ctrl+C is a much simpler option for removing formatting from a single line of plain text. :-)
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I use notepad, a lot, precisely because it isn't sophisticated. It loads instantly, and if I want to dump a few lines of text somewhere, notepad is ideal. Likewise, drafting thought-out comments to copy/paste into social media I do in notepad. Compiling lists of urls for whatever, I do that in notepad. For those many small tasks for which notepad is good enough, notepad is idea precisely because there is no clutter. My next choice, or first choice on Linux, is vim in a terminal. I often use notepads as defa
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Notepad is not used for editing (Score:3)
It's used as a raw plain text buffer.
Jef Raskin, designer of the Macintosh, said that a computer should treat input user as sacred, never losing any text typed.
He even designed a prototype computer which would always be in text-input mode, never ignoring what you type because 'the window has no focus".
MS Windows doesn't have that feature, but Notepad is the second best; it opens instantly, and then you can type anything or paste anything from the clipboard, knowing that you will not have to wait several sec
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Who uses Notepad?
Nearly every person touching another machine, some server, or some locked down vendor provided piece of equipment. In many computers around the world it along with wordpad are the only thing installed, on a system where you have no rights to even download Notepad++ much less install it.
This kind of amazing thought leadership (Score:2)
Really shows you why Microsoft is THE thought leader in software. A truly brave, bold move to show the competitors who's their boss!
This is the cloud (Score:2)
Re:Visual Studio 2022 NOW HAS (fanfare blaring!!!) (Score:5, Funny)
Y0UR M1ND 15 R34D1NG 7H15 4U70M471C4LLY W17H0U7 3V3N 7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17.
Such innovation. (Score:2)
Wow, something we have been doing with gedit, pluma, and kate for years and years and years...
Pluma also allows you to rip tabs off for new windows.
Just buy Sublime and replace Notepad (Score:2)
How many editors do we need from Microsoft? You could buy Sublime and bundle it with Windows for us all or hey why not just install vscode by default or is that the idea?
Notepad-plus-plus (Score:1)
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Corporate or school IT department has installed software restriction policies on non-developer computers that block unapproved executables from starting, and IT hasn't approved your request to install Notepad++.
Something Notepad++ has had for at least 10 years (Score:2)
Like someone else already said this should be a headline from 10-15 years ago
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Maybe the headline is that MS is only 10-15 years behind for a change.
why (Score:1)
notepad and mspaint are the 2 applications microsoft got right, leave em alone there is vscode for people who want more and notepad++ for people who want something inbetween
Innovation! (Score:2)
It seems this is about the level MS can do these days. At least they seem to not break things or make them worse this time because nobody uses notepad for real work anyways.
Wrong direction (Score:2)
MS starts trying out tabs on Notepad. At this breakneck speed, we should arrive at the function level of Notepad++ around 2095.
The function level of today, mind you.
A more sensible improvement to Notepad would be the ability to remove it altogether so typing "note" in the start menu would instantly result in Notepad++ being selected ... oh wait, it does, because Notepad is called "Editor" in Windows.
Never mind. Carry on. Don't care anymore, everything's good. At least as long as they're working on this, the
Joke? (Score:2)
Isn't notepad one of those joke applications like ms solitaire or minesweeper. The purpose of it to show users how to move windows around and how to enter text into a space. I didn't think it was meant to be have any real application.
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What it's supposed to be is a simple verbatim text editor with no special features to confuse anyone who support is having to walk through editing a file. And now they are fucking it up, shock amazement, because that's what Microsoft does.
Tabbed editors are good, they should make one, and leave Notepad the fuck alone.
We already have for every app (Score:2)
It's called the taskbar.
Clippy is Coming (Score:2)
First they fixed Windows terminal, and the crowd cheered. Now they're fixing notepad, and the crowd is going wild! But the real pandamonium will hit next year, when they drag Clippy from the bit bucket and spruce it up with a little chatGPT. Don't laugh - Clippy is coming, and it wants to talk to you.
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It doesn't even follow the design patterns of the rest of their apps.
Too late and too bad (Score:2)
Plus it doesn't matter. This will be like Edge and Explorer. The tabs are in the wrong spot.
jeopardy (Score:2)
I'll take "things none of your customers want" for $200, Alex
meh (Score:2)
So it'll be like notepad++ without all the features.