Wordpad wants to open with Word 2016 instead as a WordPad document

Wordpad wants to open with Word 2016 instead of as a WordPad document





I'm setting up a new Dell Inspiron 15 (x64) laptop. Windows 10 Home (x64). And want to have WordPad to open as a WordPad document.
--- The top of the document shows Word (Unlicensed product)
--- The user does not want to install Microsoft Office 2016.

Is it possible to have WordPad open as WordPad in this situation?

I have 2 Windows 10 computers that were upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 without any Microsoft Office or a Microsoft account on either one of them.
--- I use WordPad on them and I don't recall having problems installing & using WordPad.
--- Is the above issue because modern Windows 10 systems require Word 2016 in order to use WordPad which in turn would require a Microsoft account?

Right click an .rtf file and make the following changes:

If you don't plan on buying Office then I would just uninstall it so as to avoid confusion later. The trial version was pre-installed by Dell but is in no way required to be there.

MeAndMyComputer said:

--- I use WordPad on them and I don't recall having problems installing & using WordPad.
--- Is the above issue because modern Windows 10 systems require Word 2016 in order to use WordPad which in turn would require a Microsoft account?

As a slight aside, Wordpad has been included with every version of Windows since Windows 95. There is no need to install it, it is unconnected to Word, Office or whether you use a Microsoft account - it is just there as part of what comes with the operating system. Like Notepad.

I'd go with the comment above and uninstall Office (which contains Word but not Wordpad) if you don't want it. You might still have to reset default program for .rtf files as Edwin mentioned.

Uninstalling Office isn't easy - you should check this Microsoft site Uninstall Office from a PC - Office Support. Choose your version (2016) and then download their "easy fix" uninstaller tool. That is the easiest way to get rid of it.

I've been using WordPad since Windows 7 but I don't recall seeing what I've seen on this computer. On researching what I saw I found a couple of websites that showed how to install WordPad from the Microsoft Store so I thought maybe there is something new on today's modern computers but I sought help here instead of following any of those websites. When I help someone on their computer I use WordPad to record what was done so the user can know what was done including what they refused to follow through. For example, in Windows 10 I want to create a USB Recovery drive and also recommend creating system image backups but that usually doesn't happen. Thanks everyone for your answers.

Wordpad.exe is where it always was - "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe". You get it automatically when you install any version of Windows.

There is a app in the Microsoft Store called WordPad but that is made by a company called Quabber not Microsoft and is something completely different. I've no idea if it is good or not.

lx07 said:

[I] There is a app in the Microsoft Store called WordPad but that is made by a company called Quabber not Microsoft and is something completely different. I've no idea if it is good or not.

There was something I didn't like about when I saw that, don't know why, but I was trying to use the naturally installed WordPad already, and I'm glad I came here to get the right information.