Halfway between a plain text editor and a word processor, or what is the same thing, between Windows Notepad and Microsoft Office Word is WordPad, the app that’s always been there but won’t be anymore, as the saying goes. Reason? It has become obsolete… though one wonders if it ever was.

For more information, WordPad is a text editor that, like Windows Notepad, allows you not only to edit files in plain text format (.txt and even .markdown, although without the usual syntax coloring); it did the same with RTF documents, including support for RTF (Rich Text Format) and .doc.

It was actually fun. an application between two worlds like WordPad: it went beyond a simple text note and provided formatting options like bold, italics, alignment, and even inserting images, but nothing else. Those who just needed to jot down a quick note had Notepad and those who needed more functionality had Word. That’s why Microsoft might be getting rid of it.

«WordPad will no longer be updated and will be removed in a future version of Windows. We recommend using Microsoft Word for rich text documents such as .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents such as .txt,” Microsoft’s information note explains.

Goodbye WordPad!

It’s worth noting that WordPad, while still one of the preinstalled tools in every Windows system, has been optional for a long time; but more importantly, or at least it can be understood, given that WordPad’s no-man’s-land position comes from afar, the evolution that both Notepad and Word went through In last years.

First, Notepad, Notepad for Windows, has retained its essence of simplicity, even as it has improved on details and non-details, such as the tab feature. And on the other hand, the once “inaccessible” (yes, villain, that’s why I put it in quotes) Microsoft Office is now available to anyone completely free of charge through a web application. It’s a stripped down version of the office suite, but more than enough for most users.

WordPad is redundant anyway, Microsoft has stopped maintaining it and will subsequently remove it from the center at this point without a specific date, but everything seems to indicate that it will be sooner rather than later. Remember WordPad? When was the last time you used it?