Microsoft is redesigning its Paint app in Windows 11. The app will be updated with a new command bar that borrows most of the same options and tools as what exists in the ribbon interface for Paint on Windows 10. It’s the first major update to Paint in years, and it even includes a dark mode.
Microsoft’s head of Windows and devices, Panos Panay, teased the new Paint redesign on Twitter today. The teaser video includes a brief look at improvements to the font picker, brushes, and a dark mode for Paint. The tools look a lot more usable now, with a quick picker that shows all the different brushes and their effects. Microsoft’s font tool for Paint also floats now, with options for size, alignment, and more.
There doesn’t appear to be options for layers, but this is the first major update to Paint since it gained the ribbon interface. Microsoft had been planning to remove Paint from Windows 10 at one point, before reversing course and keeping it as part of Windows. Instead, Microsoft has started removing 3D Paint from installations of Windows 10, a program that was designed to modernize and even replace the traditional Paint app.
It’s not clear exactly when Windows Insiders will be able to test out this new Paint design, but Panay says it will be available to test “soon.”
