The notebook has learned to…calculate

It took a while but Microsoft did it. The laptop, known as Notepad, will get some new features that will make it easier to use.

In a post on the company’s blog, the Windows Insider team announced that in Windows 11 “when text is selected, the status bar will show the character count for both the selected text and the entire document.” If no text is selected the character count will be displayed for the entire document, ensuring you always get a clear picture of the document’s length.

The announcement came in the new Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26010 released on the Canary Channel.

And other changes

This is the latest addition in a series of changes to Notepad this year along with the updated version (11.2311.29.0) that brings more improvements such as easier access to file edits directly from File Explorer, which is a fast and streamlined way to open and edit files in Notepad.

It also added dark mode tabs and a virtual fidget spinner

Note that the app recently got a new auto-save option that allows you to close it without seeing the save pop-up every time.

According to the Verge, Microsoft has also added dark mode tabs to Notepad, and even a virtual fidget toy.

In addition to the changes in the latest beta of Windows 11, there will be other improvements in the future such as hiding widgets (such as news and articles) from your computer screen.