Windows 11 has rolled out to customers around the world and has received all kinds of interesting updates since it came out. For example, version 22H2 of Windows 11 (the first big update to the operating system) added tabs to File Explorer, enabled drag-and-drop support for the taskbar, and more.
After adding tabs to File Explorer, it looks like Microsoft is planning to bring the “tabs” feature to the Notepad app. This wouldn’t be the first time Microsoft has tried adding tabs to apps like Notepad. In 2017, Microsoft experimented with a feature called “Sets,” adding tabs to different apps and eliminating the need to open multiple windows of the same app.
Windows 10’s tab idea groups windows into a tabbed window, allowing you to have multiple instances of Notepad and other apps in a single window. The feature was officially put on hold in 2019 due to technical issues Microsoft encountered internally, according to people familiar with the matter.
According to screenshots posted by a Microsoft engineer, Microsoft now appears to be working on bringing “tab” support to the Notepad app. The feature appears to be in an early stage of development, and there is an in-app warning about a non-disclosure agreement not to discuss or share this feature with the public.
It’s great to see the “tabs” feature making its way into popular apps like Notepad. This may not sound like a big deal to many users, but being able to use tabs to manage multiple contents of Notepad, rather than relying on a single window to view one file at a time, will improve productivity.