Windows 11 insider preview brings dark mode to notepad

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Windows 11 Logo
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Windows 11 became available just a few months ago but it’s been a bit of a rocky launch for Microsoft’s newest operating system. It had a fair few bugs on launch, many of which have been patched, but other general issues are still bothering users.

The Windows 11 Insider Preview builds are like public test servers for an operating system. New features roll out there to limited users and are tested before being added to the main release. These preview builds give us a bit of hope as to what Windows 11 could become, even if a lot of these things probably should’ve been baked in from launch. Small but simple conveniences, like having a clock visible on both monitors in a dual screen setup. 

According to Computer Base, the Windows 11 22518: Insider Preview is testing a new version of Notepad which features dark mode. Notepad is a simple text app built into the desktop on Windows PCs. It’s pretty commonly used, and now it won’t randomly blind you if you open it on your darker themed setup. This new version of Notepad is said to be designed with Windows 11 in mind, and will not only adapt to your visual settings, but also has changeable fonts for readability. 

Nightmode for Notepad isn’t the only colour change Windows 11 has brought. The new OS featured a black screen of death, as opposed to the usual blue. Thankfully this is being restored back to the natural order of things. 

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Windows 11 Square logo

(Image credit: Microsoft)

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This update also brings what Microsoft is calling the Spotlight Collection. This allows you to set a curated collection of desktop backgrounds which you can be rated and skipped over at will. 

Other accessibility features like voice access, and improvements to menus are also available in this insider preview. There were also upgrades and fixes for the Windows Subsystem from Linux (WSL), which is available on the Microsoft Store, and if you are looking to run a Linux gaming PC, we can help with that.

You can find the full list of features in this preview build on the official Windows Insider blog. 

Hope Corrigan
Hope Corrigan
Hardware Writer

Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast right here. No, she’s not kidding.