One of the most common utilities you will encounter in Windows is the text editor Notepad. Apart from being the default viewer and editor for text files, it’s also used by Windows to edit several other file format types such as batch files, registry files and scripts etc. It may not be the most advanced text editing utility you’ll come across, but the fact it’s remained almost unchanged for years, including in Windows 8, says it does just enough for most people without over complicating things.
One of the problems with Notepad is it’s very easy to change certain things like the default font, and if you or someone else has changed anything about the font, there is nothing in the program that allows you to reset the setting back to the default. If you have children in the family or like to experiment with various settings yourself, it’s easy to mistakenly set the font to something like Wingdings or Webdings and the words “Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00″ from a .reg file look a little different!
Of course, you’re free to use whatever font you choose that’s on your system, but after using Notepad for so many years, it looks odd with anything other than the default font and you may want it set back.
To set Notepad back to the default font and size in Windows is really very easy, and the issue is more about knowing which font is used as opposed to how to change it. Just follow the simple instructions below.
1. Open Notepad, click on Format in the menubar and select Font…
For Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7.
2. Select Lucida Console for the Font, the Regular Font Style with a Size of 10, followed by clicking the OK button to save the changes. Script type should also be Western.
For Windows 8
2. One thing that has changed in Windows 8 is the default Notepad font. Set the Font to Consolas, a Regular Font Style and a new size of 11. Obviously, if you don’t like this newer font and prefer the old, you can always change it to Lucida Console 10.
Strangely, although Notepad stores whatever font you used last as the new default, Wordpad doesn’t seem to have this problem because whenever you open a new empty document, it will always use the default font which is Calibri with font size 11.
Completely Resetting Notepad Settings to Default
If for some reason you have problems changing the font through the program or other settings seem to be causing issues, there is a way to reset Notepad completely back to all default settings. This simply involves deleting the key for Notepad in the registry and the program will recreate the new defaults when it runs next time. Download the following .reg registry file and import into the registry to delete the key. If Notepad is open, the settings will reset on the next run.
A better font choice would be Consolas :)