Microsoft employee mistakenly leaks new version of Notepad with tabs

An employee of the American tech giant Microsoft has accidentally announced that Windows 11's Notepad app is getting a tabs feature.

According to The Verge, an American technology news website, a photo of a version of Notepad with tabs was shared by the employee, a senior product manager at Microsoft.

"Notepad in Windows 11 now has tabs!" he enthusiastically announced with a loudspeaker emoji.

The screenshot included a Microsoft internal warning: "Confidential Don't discuss features or take screenshots." It suggested that Microsoft's tabs feature is still in early internal testing.

Minutes later the tweet was deleted but not before Windows Central and several Windows enthusiast Twitter accounts had spotted it.

If Microsoft does implement tabs for Notepad, it will be the first built-in tool to have a tabbed interface, following the addition of tabs to File Explorer earlier this year, reported The Verge.

Microsoft first tried tabs across all Windows 10 apps in a feature called Sets four years ago. This contained tab functionality in Notepad and File Explorer, however, Microsoft halted the project and never released it to Windows 10 customers.

The addition of tabs in Notepad could signal a shift towards tabs appearing in more built-in Windows apps.

Microsoft may have dropped the Sets feature in Windows 10, but that hasn't stopped Windows power users from bringing tabs to life in various parts of the operating system via third-party tools and apps, as per The Verge.