Windows 11 Notepad version with tabs appears in a Microsoft employee’s tweet ahead of official announcement

Microsoft appears to be working on adding tabs as a new feature to another built-in app on Windows 11. An online post reportedly made by an employee of the company indicated that similar functionality is planned for the Notepad.

Windows Central first spotted a post reportedly from a Microsoft employee, who shared a screenshot of the new version of Notepad for Windows 11. While the original tweet has been deleted, the report includes a copy of the image showing a window of the built-in app with two tabs open simultaneously.

However, the screenshot of the updated Notepad app contains a “Confidential” label with a reminder, “Don’t discuss features of take screenshots.” This should explain why the original tweet has been removed, but it also indicates that the tabs feature is currently in the works for the Notepad app on Windows 11.

Microsoft has yet to announce the feature as well, but the leak suggests it could be released in a Windows 11 update sometime next year. This also suggests that the Notepad app could be the next built-in Windows app to receive a new tabs feature after it was added to the Files Explorer last October.

The new Notepad feature will likely be one of the exclusive updates coming to Windows 11 devices. This has been a long-requested feature for a more organized experience on Windows devices. So Notepad users should soon be able to open various .txt files and other supported formats in a single window.

It is worth noting, though, that Windows 10 users do not have to wait for the said update. The third-party source code editor Notepad++ already supports opening various files in separate tabs in a single window.

It remains to be seen when the Notepad tabs feature will go live, but there is a chance for it to happen earlier than usual. Microsoft announced in September that it will still release an annual feature update for Windows 11, which typically rolls out in the second half of the year. But the company also said some features would be released “when they are ready”, so they would not have to wait for the usual feature update in the fall.

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