Microsoft has announced that WordPad will be deprecated in a future Windows update. "WordPad is no longer updated and will be removed in a future version of Windows."
The company recommends Microsoft Word as an alternative for rich text documents such as .doc and .rtf, and Windows Notepad for plain text documents such as .txt. However, the company did not specify the exact timing of this change.
WordPad is a basic text editing application that allows users to create and edit documents with formatted text and include links to images and other files. Included with Windows systems since the release of Windows 95 in 1995, it provides users with a basic word processor and document editor integrated into the operating system.
Since the release of Windows 10 Insider Build 19551 in February 2020, WordPad has been set as an optional feature. Although it is still installed by default on all Windows systems, users can uninstall it using the "Optional Features" control panel. Earlier this year, the Qbot malware also evaded detection by abusing a DLL hijacking vulnerability in the Windows 10 WordPad application to infect computers.
Five years ago, Microsoft announced the deprecation and removal of the classic Windows Paint application. However, considering how much users love it, the company did not completely terminate the app, but made it available through the Microsoft Store. So BleepingComputer believes that if there's enough demand, Microsoft might also move WordPad to its app store so that it can still serve as a less feature-rich alternative to Microsoft Office and similar software.
More details can be found in the official documentation .