Microsoft has confirmed that it has no plans to make WordPad "reinstallable" in Windows 11, meaning the feature will be removed in a future update. When you perform a clean installation of Windows 11 Build 26020 or newer in the Canary channel, you will find that WordPad no longer appears.
Starting from Windows 11 Build 26020, Microsoft has turned off the two functions of WordPad and People. These two applications will no longer be installed on Windows 11 when you perform a "clean installation" of the operating system using Build 26020.
The change is currently limited to Build 26020, but notes in its support documentation indicate that WordPad will also be removed from production builds. It's unclear when Microsoft will remove WordPad from Windows 11, but it's likely to be for the long-rumored Windows Hudson Valley update.
In a support document updated in December 2023, Microsoft clearly mentioned that WordPad has ended its mission and "will no longer be updated and will be removed in future Windows versions."
Microsoft did not explain why it was removing this traditional text editor application, but instead recommended that users use Microsoft Word to process rich text documents (RTF). If you prefer to use a lightweight or free text editor to edit .txt documents, Microsoft recommends using Notepad instead.
"We recommend using Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf, and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt," the tech giant noted.
This shouldn't come as a surprise, since Microsoft has invested heavily in built-in apps like NotePad and Paint.
Microsoft also won't let users reinstall WordPad once it's removed from the operating system. Since WordPad is not available in the Microsoft App Store, users will not be able to access the native App Store and download the app again.
Another app that is about to disappear is the "people" app. The "People" application that was more meaningful in the Windows 10 Mobile era is no longer installed in newly downloaded Windows Canary.
At the time, Microsoft described the People app as an address book, somewhat similar to the Contacts app on your phone, but it also integrated some well-known native social apps into one place. These include Skype, Mail and Calendar apps.
At the same time, Microsoft will also remove other legacy components from the operating system, such as the old taskbar, system tray and P2P services.
When these changes go live in the production channel, some workarounds for editing the Windows registry and re-enabling the legacy taskbar will no longer work.