AI Unleashed: Microsoft Reinvents Notepad and Paint for 2026

Microsoft has refreshed Notepad and Paint for 2026, with Notepad (version 11.2512.10.0) gaining enhanced Markdown formatting, including strike-through text and nested lists, along with a new Welcome Screen accessed via a megaphone icon in the toolbar. Paint (version 11.2512.191.0) introduces a Coloring Book feature that can generate AI-driven coloring pages from textual prompts, though it is exclusive to Copilot+ PCs and requires a Microsoft account authentication.

The Paint update also adds a Fill Tolerance slider to the Bucket Fill tool, allowing selection from precise to more expressive colour applications. Both apps are being rolled out to Windows Insider participants in the Canary and Dev channels, with detailed documentation available on the official Microsoft development blog. The updates also note improvements in the integrated AI’s performance, delivering results more quickly and incrementally.

These refinements are part of Microsoft’s ongoing ecosystem updates for Windows native applications, announced this week without nascent preview builds for general insiders. according to the official Microsoft development blog.