getting rid of Win11 Notepad - reverting back to the no-tab version

[ChrisGreaves]

This web page did the trick.
I especially liked the introduction to the original question "I am a blind user who frequently uses the Notepad application."

Me? I followed the instructions in the post, got it working the first time :miracle: and have now pinned the shortcut to the task bar.

I have found the WEin11 Tabs feature most confusing.
Had their been an option to limit the number of tabs (to one) I might have stayed with the Win11 Notepad.

I use Notepad as a fast filter to strip most formatting from copied text: paste the clipboard, select all, Ctrl+X ^[1] to cut, then Alt+Tab to paste the raw text in place.
Cheers, Chris
This is tested and working, no uninstallation necessary.
Open Settings > Apps
In the centre pane select Advanced app settings > App execution aliases
Toggle off Notepad
Then go to the old Notepad at C:\Windows\Notepad.exe and right click > Pin to the taskbar/Pin to start/Send to Desktop
Launch the old Notepad from the shortcut you just created

^[1] I especially like that the Ctrl+X does NOT leave Notepad "dirty", so that eliminates one more prompt "Do you want to save ..." C

[stuck]

...Had their been an option to limit the number of tabs (to one) I might have stayed with the Win11 Notepad...

Did you not try this in Win 11 Notepad?
* click on the cog wheel icon in the top right, to get into Settings
* Under the heading 'Opening Notepad', find 'Opening files
* Click on the dropdown and chose 'Open in a new window'

End result, you only get one tab at a time.

If you didn't try that, I suggest you do and see if you can live with it because it's a safe bet that, while you can revert to the original version of Notepad for now, eventually MS will remove the original version.

Ken

[ChrisGreaves]

Did you not try this in Win 11 Notepad?

Thanks Ken; no I did not try it because I did not know about it. I will fit a test of it into my busy schedule ( I AM retired, you know! )

I will test it to to see if closing Notepad wraps up all activity in the edited file; I am left with a feeling that Win11 Notepad did not close out the file(s) but kept them in Notepad memory until the next time that Notepad was opened. I'll swear that quite a few "edits" got lost that way.
But what do I know?

As for Microsoft dropping things in future, well that has been true since at least the time they dropped the Win 3.1 keystroke recorder - which I still miss!
Thanks again, Chris

[HansV]

When you close the Notepad app, the text in all open tabs is saved to disk, and automatically reloaded next time you start Notepad.
When you close a tab in Notepad, it will prompt you to save the text if appropriate. The tab will not be reopened next time.

[ChrisGreaves]

... and automatically reloaded next time you start Notepad

Thank you, Hans. This is behaviour that I don't appreciate/like.
For all of my "Windows" life, closing a document has mean saving-and-closing, but with Win11 Notepad can be closed and the next time I open Notepad, the edited text pops up again.
I see this as a change in the philosophy of what "closing an application" has meant tor the past 35 (?) years, and it is this abrupt change that I find disturbing.
Cheers, Chris

[stuck]

Further to Hans comment about closing Notepad vs closing a tab in Notepad...

My simple testing shows that, providing you've set the 'open in a new window' option then, closing a tab and closing Notepad is the same thing, i.e. in both cases Notepad prompts you to save your work. When you then reopen Notepad you just get an empty tab, previous files are not reopened.

Ken

[ChrisGreaves]

I will test it to to see if closing Notepad wraps up all activity in the edited file; ...

The suggestions by Ken and Hans both work. So I am back to the "tabs" version with "open in new window" set ON.

There was a small transitional hiccough that disappeared once I had closed, tab by tab, a two-tab version, one tab at a time. Until then, a call to Notepad restored the previous text - which confuses me. It makes me suspect that my material was NOT saved.

I still think that enhancing what, for thirty years is arguably the simplest remaining original Windows application (that is, application of the Windows OS) is a mistake. I believe that years ago, a lot of folks migrated to Notepad+, and giving a different version of an ap a different name seems to be like a smart move. A trained psychologist might have a better way of describing the confusion.

I suppose too that since there is at least one web page that describes how to back OUT of the enhancement, apart from the Ken/Hans method, that shows that other folks have been confused or un comfortable. I now think that a simple "do not show this again" hint pane might have saved a great deal of time across the globe.

Thanks again, guys.
Cheers Chris
Thanks again to Ken and Hans.