Microsoft has been talking about dropping Wordpad from Windows 11 as it feels that not enough people use it anymore. There are so many MS Word alternatives and similar editors that Wordpad feels a bit redundant when the company wants to focus its resources on what’s most important. So out with the old,l as it focuses on modern features and security.
So with the new update Windows 11 24H2 update, Wordpad will be removed from Windows 11. But if you are a fan of it or simply want to hold onto it for nostalgia, there is a way to save it before it’s too late (assuming you haven’t updated Windows yet).
How to do it!
The process is easy. Make your way over to the “C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories” directory and copy wordpad.exe (file), WordpadFilter.dll (file), and en-US (folder) to another directory or drive. That’s it!
You can open Wordpad.exe from anywhere using Windows, so you can treat it as a portable version and archive it to a USB thumb drive if you’d like.
When you install the new update, the original files will be gone but your new copy will be saved and ready for use anytime you want to use it or reminisce.
No more updates!
The only thing to keep in mind is that there will no longer be any updates to the program. It is fully deprecated, so this means security patches and all. So if there are any bugs or other things that need squashing, it won’t be happening.
Thankfully, Wordpad has been around for so long, that it would be pretty sad if there were any remaining bugs hanging about. And there really shouldn’t be any security concerns when it comes to the related files. So you should be good for as long as Windows is capable of opening 64-bit applications (which should be quite a long time).
