Notepads: A Lightweight Windows Text Editor With Tabs, Markdown Preview and a Diff Viewer

What Notepads replaces, and for whom

The README opens with a complaint rather than a feature list: the author waited for a modern Windows 10 notepad app and eventually wrote one. Notepad++, VS Code and Sublime are named as good editors that are "either too heavy or look less appealing." That sentence defines the target user. Someone who wants Windows Notepad's speed for writing notes or editing config files, but wants tabs, a Fluent design and a preview pane.

The project is a UWP application written in C#, published under the MIT licence, and distributed through the Microsoft Store. The homepage is NotepadsApp.com. The repository sits at 0x7c13/Notepads, and the last push was on 2026-04-20. The most recent release listed is v1.5.6.0 from 2025-03-28, following v1.5.5.0 in 2024-04-24 and v1.5.4.0 in 2024-01-09. That cadence matters more than any feature bullet: this is a personal project maintained in free time, and the author says so directly in the README, noting that he works for Microsoft but that Notepads is not a Microsoft-sponsored product.

Who it is for, concretely: Windows users who keep a scratch buffer open all day and want it to open instantly. Who it is not for: anyone who treats their editor as a build tool. There is no plugin API in the README, no language server, no terminal.

Tabs, session snapshots and the diff viewer mechanism

The feature set is small and each item is a distinct mechanism rather than a marketing category. The tab system is built in, with Ctrl+N or Ctrl+T for a new tab, Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to cycle, and Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+9 to jump to a numbered tab. That last shortcut is the kind of thing a browser user expects and Notepad never had.

The diff viewer is the most interesting piece. The README describes it as "preview your changes" and shows a side-by-side view toggled with Alt+D. The dependency list names DiffPlex, a .NET diffing library, which is what produces the change set the viewer renders. So the flow is: you edit a file, press Alt+D, and the current buffer is compared against the on-disk version, with the differences laid out side by side. That is a genuinely useful check before saving, and it is the reason the repository carries the diff-viewer topic.

Markdown preview follows the same pattern. Alt+P toggles a split preview for Markdown files, so the source and the rendered output sit next to each other rather than in separate windows. Syntax highlighting comes from ColorCode Universal, and character encoding detection uses UTF Unknown. Win2D and the Windows Community Toolkit appear in the dependency list, which explains the Fluent look and the handwriting support the README mentions for multi-line input.

Session snapshot and multi-instances are listed as one bullet. The README does not explain how snapshots are stored or where, so treat that as documented behaviour without a documented format.

Installing Notepads and opening your first file

The README gives two installation paths. The primary one is the Microsoft Store, linked from the badge at the top of the README and from the homepage. The second is the Windows Package Manager. Run this in a terminal:

winget install "Notepads App"

The package name is quoted exactly as the README writes it, with the space inside the quotes. After installation, the README states that you can launch the editor from the command line or PowerShell by typing the executable name, optionally followed by a file path:

notepads %FilePath%

On Windows the variable syntax in the README is cmd-style. In PowerShell you would substitute the actual path. Once the window is open, the first real use is the one the project was built for: open a config file, edit it, and press Alt+D before saving. The diff viewer shows what changed against the file on disk, which is the closest thing this editor has to a safety net.

For a Markdown file, press Alt+P instead. The README describes this as toggling the preview split view, so the rendered output appears beside the source. There is no documented build-from-source path in the README beyond the note that the source is open and you can build your own version; the repository has an azure-pipelines.yml and a CI-CD_DOCUMENTATION.md at the top level, but the README itself points users at the Store and winget.

The 1MB file limit and other UWP restrictions

This is where Notepads stops being a general-purpose editor. The README has a section titled "Platform limitations (UWP)" with three items, and all three are hard constraints rather than bugs.

First, you cannot save files to system folders because of UWP restrictions. The README names windows and system32 as examples. If your workflow involves editing anything under those directories, this editor cannot do it.

Second, you cannot associate potentially harmful file types with Notepads. The README lists .cmd and .bat. So batch scripts open in something else, by design, and no setting in the app changes that.

Third, and the one that will bite most people: "Notepads does not work well with large files; the file size limit is set to 1MB for now." The author adds that large file support will come later. Until then, a 5MB log file is out of scope. That single sentence rules out log triage, large CSV inspection and most data-file editing. It also means the editor is a complement to something heavier, not a replacement for it.

The README does not document what happens when you open a file over the limit. Whether it refuses, truncates or degrades is not stated, so test that yourself before relying on the app for anything near the boundary.

Notepads against Notepad++ and VS Code

The README itself names the alternatives and explains why it exists alongside them. Notepad++ and VS Code are described as great editors the author still uses, but "either too heavy or look less appealing." That is the whole comparison, and it is honest.

The difference in approach is distribution and platform model. Notepad++ is a long-standing Win32 application with a plugin ecosystem. VS Code is an Electron application with an extension marketplace, a debugger and a terminal. Notepads is a UWP app with no plugin system documented in the README, installed from the Microsoft Store or winget, and constrained by the UWP sandbox that produces the system-folder and file-type restrictions above.

That trade runs in both directions. UWP gives you clean install and uninstall through the Store, plus the Fluent chrome and the handwriting input the README advertises. It also gives you the sandbox limits. A Win32 editor does not have the 1MB ceiling or the system32 restriction, but it also does not install and update the way a Store app does.

If your work is a 200-line YAML file, a Markdown note or a shell snippet under a kilobyte, the difference between these editors is mostly startup time and visual noise. If your work is a 40MB log, Notepads is the wrong tool and the README says so.

Licence, telemetry and what maintenance costs you

The licence is MIT, stated in the repository metadata and present as LICENSE.txt at the top level. That permits commercial and personal use, modification and redistribution, provided the copyright notice and permission notice are kept. This is not legal advice; read LICENSE.txt for the terms that apply to you.

The privacy section is unusually direct for a small project. The README states that Notepads does not collect user information, does not track IP, does not record typing, and does not read files created in the app, including file names and paths. It also states, in the same section, that the author uses AppCenter to collect basic usage data and minimum telemetry for debugging runtime errors, and links to issue 334 for the discussion. Those two statements sit in the same section, and anyone evaluating the app for a regulated environment should read PRIVACY.md rather than the summary. The source is available if you want to verify the claim or build your own version.

On upgrade cost: releases are infrequent. v1.5.4.0 in January 2024, v1.5.5.0 in April 2024, v1.5.6.0 in March 2025. The last push to the repository was on 2026-04-20, so work continues, but the release rhythm is not monthly. If you install through the Microsoft Store or winget, updates arrive through those channels. If you build from source, you own the toolchain and the dependencies listed in the README, which include the Windows Community Toolkit, Windows UI Library, Win2D, DiffPlex, ColorCode Universal and UTF Unknown. Each is an upgrade surface you take on.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt Notepads if you want a fast, tabbed Notepad replacement on Windows for notes, config files and Markdown drafts under 1MB, and you are fine installing it from the Microsoft Store or winget. Do not adopt it if you need to edit large logs, save into windows or system32, or associate .cmd and .bat files with your editor, because the README lists all three as UWP restrictions. Before committing, verify the current release on the GitHub releases page, confirm the 1MB file size limit still applies, and check the AppCenter telemetry note in PRIVACY.md against your own policy.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. 0x7c13/Notepads on GitHub
2. License: MIT
3. Project website
4. README
5. Releases