MS Paint Is Getting a New Look in Windows 11

Windows 11 is arriving later this yr, and with it, a brand new refreshed model of MS Paint and Photos. Initially noticed by Windows Latest, Microsoft has quietly posted pics of the 2 refreshed apps on Unsplash.

As you may count on, the refresh updates the MS Paint app to raised slot in with the general Windows 11 design. That means the outdated ribbon menu goes bye-bye and can be changed by a Fluent header. The simplified toolbar additionally locations the Undo and Redo buttons up on the prime subsequent to the File and View choices. And after all, the entire thing has rounded corners and WinUI controls as properly. It doesn’t, nevertheless, seem that there are any further features. Let’s be actual, MS Paint was by no means a full-featured graphics editor within the vein of Photoshop. It was and eternally can be, a sentimental program for making crude drawings and rapidly cropping or resizing pictures on a budget. Or in some circumstances, creating a Junji Ito-inspired nightmare horror sport.

As for the Photos app, it seems prefer it’ll get a revamped modifying expertise that echoes cellular picture modifying apps, together with a brand new interface. It’s not simply Paint and Photos that may get a Windows 11 makeover. Other Windows apps like Clock, Office, Notepad, amongst others, may also be refreshed within the coming weeks.

Still, for Paint lovers, the refresh at the least indicators Microsoft isn’t planning to kill the beloved program. Back in 2017, Microsoft put Paint on a list of deprecated features, that means it might now not be actively developed. At the time, it sparked fears that Microsoft deliberate to ax Paint solely. However, Paint remained a fixture in Windows 10, although there was a quick interval between variations 1803 and 1809 where the company sent removal notices. There was additionally one other scare final yr, the place some customers discovered updating to model 2004 eliminated Paint, Notepad, and Wordpad.

Listen, man, nostalgia is highly effective and that’s very true with MS Paint—a truth Microsoft is properly conscious of provided that it lately posted a Teams weblog that includes backgrounds of Clippy, Solitaire, and old school MS Paint.

“A product of the 1980s, Paint was first introduced in November 1985 as part of the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0,” Microsoft writes within the weblog. “And while the original paint is still loved by many artists in the making, its successor Paint 3D was eventually released in 2017.”