It’s finally happening! The Notepad app for Windows Insiders has officially ditched Copilot branding in favour of a subtler “Writing tools” icon. Earlier, Notepad had a very prominent, colorful Copilot logo near the top-right corner, which everyone despised, despite the ability to disable it.
Snipping Tool also had a Copilot icon that showed up after selecting an area with Quick markup enabled. But now, it seems even the regular version of Snipping Tool for all users has quietly removed the Copilot logo. Unlike Notepad, there was no option to manually disable Copilot in the Snipping Tool, which makes this a remarkable change.
About three weeks ago, on March 20, the President of Windows and Devices, Pavan Davuluri, published a blog post for Windows Insiders titled “Our commitment to Windows quality”. It was basically Microsoft admitting that they went too far with the AI push, along with a clear roadmap to fix Windows 11.
One of the highlights of the blog was Microsoft’s decision to reduce “unnecessary Copilot entry points, starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets, and Notepad.”
Although last in the list, Notepad has now removed the Copilot logo from the toolbar and replaced it with a new pen icon, which, when hovered over, shows “Writing tools” with no mention of the dreaded AI word.
And just like before, you can also turn off this AI tool in the Notepad settings. However, the option is now under “Advanced Features” and not “AI Features.”
Windows Notepad removed Copilot branding
In Notepad v11.2512.28.0, Microsoft removed Copilot branding completely from the Write, Rewrite, Summarize tools section and Notepad settings.
Note that Microsoft didn’t completely remove AI from Notepad. It is just the Copilot logo and branding that was removed.
There might be skeptics and critics who say that the company could’ve removed AI completely, but I beg to differ because there is no going away from AI. All of big tech has already invested too much in AI, and it’s only fair to treat Microsoft with the same respect, or disrespect, depending on how you see AI.
The good news here is finally seeing Copilot branding go away, which was what really started all the hatred that Microsoft is dealing with now, including the “Microslop” monicker.
Plus, the AI that still exists in Notepad can be turned off with the flick of a button. Also, funnily enough, the tool doesn’t even mention AI anymore.
To be honest, I didn’t expect Microsoft to be steadfast in removing a branding that they spent a lot of resources convincing users it was the future, like the rebranding of Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Copilot in Notepad is renamed to Writing tools
Notepad settings had an “AI Features” section, with only Copilot under it. Now, it’s renamed to Advanced Features, with Writing tools the only feature. From the looks of it, there seems to be no change in functionality, and it’s only a rebranding.
Turning off Writing tools will also remove the AI pen icon near the top-right corner.
Notepad turned from a simple text editor to a full-fledged text editor with formatting, spell check, tables, and markdown support, which was even responsible for an 8.8 rated security issue in Notepad. The app is also getting image support, as reported first by Windows Latest. Fortunately, most of these features can be manually turned off if you don’t need them.
Snipping Tool doesn’t show the Copilot icon anymore
A few months ago, while testing the Visual Search with Bing feature in the Snipping Tool, there was a rather distinguished Copilot icon that showed up every time after selecting an area to capture and markdown.
Although a regular user of Snipping Tool, I didn’t notice the lack of this Copilot icon in the app until now. It just goes to show how ignorable the Copilot icon has become, as it was seen everywhere in Windows…
Also, unlike Notepad, there is no sign of AI anywhere in the Snipping Tool as of now.
Either way, the removal of Copilot from Notepad and Snipping Tool is a sign that Microsoft wasn’t bluffing about scaling down Copilot integration throughout Windows. But don’t be fooled into thinking that the Company is removing AI. It’s just the approach that is changing.
