Notepad can read and write plain texts encoded in ASCII, UTF-8, and UTF-16. It can edit text files (bearing the '.txt' filename extension) and compatible formats, such as batch files, INI files, and log files. Notepad is a text editor, i.e., an app specialized in editing plain text. This version had revised menus and an updated Settings page. A third appearance briefly occurred on 9 October 2021. As of October 2021, this preview is still online and incompatible with Windows 11. It runs on the preview versions of Windows 10, build number 19541 or later. Notepad appeared on Microsoft Store for a second time in April 2020, this time, sporting a new logo. During this short-lived presence on the Store, technology news blogs speculated that Microsoft intended to de-couple Notepad's life-cycle from that of Windows 10 and update it more frequently through Microsoft Store. This version required Windows 10 preview build 18963. The first time was in August 2019 it vanished shortly thereafter. Within three years, Notepad has appeared on Microsoft Store thrice. Since the introduction of Microsoft Store in 2012, Microsoft has converted some of the built-in Windows apps into Microsoft Store apps (e.g., Sticky Notes), so that they could be updated independent of Windows releases. Since then, Notepad has been part of Microsoft Windows. (Hanson also convinced Bill Gates to rename 'Interface Manager' to 'Windows' before the release of Windows 1.0.) As a result, the Multi-Tool Notepad and the Multi-Tool Word became Windows Notepad and Microsoft Word, respectively. Hanson's rationale was that 'the brand is the hero' and people wouldn't automatically associate 'Multi-Tool' with Microsoft. On the suggestion of Rowland Hanson, Microsoft dropped the Multi-Tool brand name. The Multi-Tool product line began with expert systems for the Multiplan spreadsheet. Initial sales were modest because it had no use other than running the programs included in the box (a tutorial, a practice app, and Multi-Tool Notepad.) Most visitors had never heard of a computer mouse before. Also appearing at that COMDEX was the Multi-Tool Word, a word processor that Charles Simonyi was developing and supported the mouse.

In May 1983, at the COMDEX computer expo in Atlanta, Microsoft introduced the Multi-Tool Notepad, a mouse-based text editor Richard Brodie had created, along with the $195 Microsoft Mouse.

Microsoft text editor for coding