- Everyone on Windows 11 is now getting a new AI ‘Rewrite’ feature for Notepad
- It’s rolling out now, although Microsoft hasn’t officially announced this
- The catch is you need a Microsoft 365 subscription to use the functionality (beyond a very limited trial in certain regions)
Windows 11’s Notepad app is getting an AI-powered Rewrite ability, a feature previously seen in testing, going by a new report.
Windows Latest noticed the development, observing that rather oddly, Microsoft hasn’t yet declared that the ChatGPT-powered Rewrite feature is out of testing.
Rewrite does exactly what you’d expect, using AI to rejig any selected piece of text in Notepad (using various parameters that can be adjusted).
As noted, Microsoft’s official documentation still says this functionality is in testing (in the Canary and Dev channels for Windows 11), but in actual fact, it’s rolling out to finished versions of the OS.
The latest release of the full version of Notepad (v11.2412.16.0) has the Rewrite feature, according to Windows Latest, bringing it to all regions globally. It’s also worth noting that when in testing, this was a US-only feature, so its rollout has been swiftly progressed here, to say the least.
How it works – and the limitations of Rewrite
Rewrite in Notepad works similarly to the other incarnations you might have seen this AI-powered option offered in (such as Word, or indeed Copilot on the web).
You select some text, invoke the ability, and then the AI (ChatGPT in this case) will present you with a differently worded version of those sentences, based on certain selected options for tone, length and format. You can then check out three different possible versions of the rewrite and choose the one you prefer.
It’s a relatively simple, but still useful, implementation of text rewriting here, but with a notable catch – you can’t use Rewrite without a Microsoft 365 subscription (and you need to be signed in to use the ability, which has caused some confusion recently).
I say you can’t use it without paying, but that’s not strictly true, because as Windows Latest points out, Rewrite works on a system of paying ‘credits’ and in the US and Canada, along with the UK, you get a limited number of free credits. That limited amount is basically only enough to give you a teaser of how Rewrite works, really.
So, this is effectively a subscriber-only piece of functionality for Notepad, though some might not want it, anyway. I’ve already covered the arguments about Notepad suffering from feature-bloat more and more – moving the app away from its traditional design as a streamlined little text editor – and Rewrite isn’t going to help placate those who feel that Microsoft has lost its way with this piece of software.
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