Key Takeaways
- Wordpad may be gone from Windows 11, but you can bring it back by re-downloading the necessary files from Windows Latest’s OneDrive.
- Add the files to the Accessories folder, double-click the Wordpad executable, and you can start using this classic word processor on your PC again.
- While you won’t find Wordpad in Windows Search or the Start menu, you can create a shortcut on your desktop or pin it to the Start menu for easy access.
People really, really want Wordpad back. When Microsoft released Windows 11 24H2, it added a few new features and removed some old ones, including getting rid of the free word processor that has been around for years. Notepad has already superseded Wordpad, and there are plenty of other free word processors out there you can use instead, but people aren’t happy with letting Wordpad go just yet. Someone has found a way to bring Wordpad back onto Windows 11 24H2, and you can do the same if you want this member of the Windows old guard back.
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Getting Wordpad back on Windows 11 24H2
As spotted by Windows Latest, the core files for Wordpad still linger on the operating system. You can find them for yourself by navigating to “C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories”. Unfortunately, the files Wordpad needs to get working again are no longer on the system, but you can fix that by re-downloading them. Windows Latest posted a OneDrive file where you can re-acquire everything you need to bring Wordpad back onto your PC. Just add them all to the Accessories file, then double-click the Wordpad executable, and you’ll be back in.
Resurrecting Wordpad in this way isn’t quite the same as re-installing it, so you won’t be able to search for it on Windows Search or find it in the Start menu. As such, you’re best off sending a shortcut to the desktop or pinning it to Start yourself. And if you’re in the mood to bring back the old ways to Windows 11, why not check out our coverage of Start11 vs StartAllBack? The former has ways to make the Start menu look like Windows 7’s, which is a great way to revisit the designs of yore.
