Microsoft is paywalling these features in Notepad and Paint

There’s some bad news for Windows users who want to use all of the built-in features of the operating system and its integrated apps. Going forward, Microsoft is restricting features in two iconic apps, which you’ll need to unlock with a paid subscription.

The two apps in question? Notepad and Paint. Both of these apps have been an integral part of Windows for years, with new features added even in the last few months. While Paint has mainly gotten new AI features like image generation, Notepad got its own spell checker for the first time and could also be getting its own AI features soon.

Windows Insiders were previously able to use these app features free of charge. However, Microsoft is now making it necessary to have a Microsoft 365 subscription for full use of these apps. You’ll see a new overlay that informs you of this before use. In our case, however, the respective features were simply grayed out.

A Microsoft 365 subscription starts at $9.99/month if paid monthly or $99.99/year if paid annually. You can continue to use Notepad and Paint without a subscription, but you won’t get these new features. It’s surprising because Microsoft has never put anything in these apps behind a paywall before.

What exactly isn’t free anymore?

In Notepad, you’ll still be able to spell check in different languages. However, the following features will no longer be available if you don’t have an active Microsoft 365 subscription:

• AI rewriting of text selections.
• AI generation of alternative versions of text selections, with different formatting, tone, and more.
• AI shortening or lengthening of text selections.

In Paint, it’s mainly the Image Creator feature that will be paywalled. Image Creator is based on OpenAI’s Dall-E and can generate AI images according to prompts. The recently added feature to automatically remove backgrounds from images can still be used, though.

Further reading: Microsoft reveals AI roadmap for Windows 11