How to Get Classic Notepad Back in Windows 11 

Windows 11 has brought with it many changes, and one such example is to the Microsoft staple, Notepad. This multi-purpose text editor has been the go-to for no-frills text editing, with minimal interface and formatting.

Windows 11 has rolled some of the features of Wordpad, Notepad ++, Visual Studio, and AI functionality into the new Notepad, enhancing the experience in some ways, but radically altering or eliminating it in others. If you hate the changes and just want things back to normal, this article will show you how to get back the classic Notepad on Windows 11.

A Tale of Two Notepads

As is often the case with a great changeover in Microsoft programs or apps, there’s still a chance to go back to the way things were. Such was the case for many Windows games back in Windows 7, Picture Viewer in Windows 10, and Notepad in Windows 11. Doing so just requires a little bit of setup.

In fact, the old Notepad is most likely still installed on your machine; it’s just that Windows 11 defaults to the new app every time you search for “Notepad.”

Get Classic Notepad Back in Windows 11

The good news is that you don’t need to uninstall the current Windows 11 Notepad in order to use the new one, unless you want to, that is. Both versions can run side by side, which can be useful for some workflows.

Making this happen is a two-step process, the first of which requires that you tell Windows 11 not to use its version of Notepad every time you search for it. Here’s what to do:

Step 1. Open up Settings (Win + I) and navigate to “System” in the sidebar.

Step 2. Scroll down to “Optional features” in the main window and click it.

Step 3. Look through the list that appears for “Notepad (system).” If it’s there, then you have the classic Notepad available on your machine.

Step 4. Click “Apps” in the sidebar and click on “Advanced app settings” in the main window.

Step 5. In the next screen, click on “App execution aliases.”

Step 6. Scroll down to “Notepad” and drag the slider to Off. This will ensure that the newer Notepad won’t be opened by default.

With the app execution alias disabled, you’ll now be able to run both versions of Notepad. Now it’s a simple matter of finding the old Notepad executable file. Here’s how:

Step 1. Open up “This PC” on your Desktop or in the search bar, and click your main system hard drive (typically “C:”).

Step 2. Click on the “Windows” folder and search through the folder until you find “Notepad.exe.”

Step 3. Double-click this, and the old Notepad should run.

Step 4. If you can’t find Notepad in this folder, head into the sub-folder “System32” (also inside the “Windows” folder) and search there.

You can now pin classic Notepad to your Taskbar or send it to your Desktop as a shortcut, both operations done by right-clicking the file and choosing the option. Now you can access this Notepad whenever you need.