Win11 Notepad

Windows 11 ships a reimplemented Notepad built on WinUI3 and distributed as an MSIX packaged app. It looks like the classic Notepad but exposes a different UIA tree — notably, it added tab support and changed how the editor control is identified.

Launching

// Simplest form — Flawright auto-resolves the alias on Windows 11
await using var fw = await Flawright.LaunchAsync(new LaunchOptions
{
    ApplicationPath = "notepad.exe"
});

On Windows 11, Flawright detects that notepad.exe resolves to an AppExecutionAlias for the packaged app and automatically calls Application.LaunchStoreApp("Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App"). You never need to specify the AUMID manually.

To launch by AUMID directly (e.g., if auto-resolution is disabled or you want to be explicit):

await using var fw = await Flawright.LaunchAsync(new LaunchOptions
{
    Aumid = "Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App"
});

Selector cheat sheet

Element Selector Notes
Editor (newer tabbed builds) [name="Text editor"] Name-based; confirmed Win11 22H2+ tabbed Notepad
Editor (older Win11 non-tabbed) #RichEditBox AutomationId; still works on some Win11 builds
Menu bar controltype:MenuBar Always present
File menu item name:File Top-level menu
Edit menu item name:Edit Top-level menu
View menu item name:View Top-level menu
Tab bar controltype:Tab Only present in tabbed Notepad builds
Individual tab controltype:TabItem Each open file is a TabItem
Title bar controltype:TitleBar Window chrome

Gotcha — tabbed Notepad dropped RichEditBox

The tabbed version of Win11 Notepad (shipped in Windows 11 22H2 and later updates) no longer exposes AutomationId = "RichEditBox" on the editor. Use [name="Text editor"] instead. On earlier Win11 builds without tabs, #RichEditBox still works. If you need to support both, try #RichEditBox first and fall back to [name="Text editor"] — or inspect the live UIA tree with Accessibility Insights to confirm which your build uses.

Worked example

using Flawright;
using Xunit;

public class NotepadTests : IAsyncLifetime
{
    private Flawright? _fw;

    public async Task InitializeAsync()
    {
        // Configure DismissDialogCloseBehavior so CloseAsync handles the
        // "save changes?" dialog that Notepad shows when exiting with unsaved content.
        _fw = await Flawright.LaunchAsync(
            new LaunchOptions { ApplicationPath = "notepad.exe" },
            new FlawrightOptions
            {
                CloseBehavior = new DismissDialogCloseBehavior() // handles Win10 + Win11 Notepad
            });
    }

    [Fact]
    public async Task TypeAndVerifyText()
    {
        var page = await _fw!.Browser.NewPageAsync();

        // Use the name selector — works on tabbed and non-tabbed Win11 builds
        await page.FillAsync("[name=\"Text editor\"]", "Hello from Flawright!");

        var text = await page.Locator("[name=\"Text editor\"]").InnerTextAsync();
        Assert.Equal("Hello from Flawright!", text);
    }

    [Fact]
    public async Task OpenFileMenu()
    {
        var page = await _fw!.Browser.NewPageAsync();

        await page.ClickAsync("name:File");

        // After clicking, the File menu expands; wait for a known item
        await page.Locator("name:New").Expect().ToBeVisibleAsync();
    }

    [Fact]
    public async Task SaveAsDialog_Opens()
    {
        var page = await _fw!.Browser.NewPageAsync();

        // Type something so there is content to save
        await page.FillAsync("[name=\"Text editor\"]", "test content");

        // Open Save As via keyboard shortcut
        await page.PressAsync("[name=\"Text editor\"]", "Ctrl+Shift+S");

        // Wait for the Save As dialog
        var dialog = await _fw!.Browser.WaitForPageAsync(
            "Save As",
            timeout: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));

        Assert.NotNull(dialog);
    }

    public async Task DisposeAsync()
    {
        if (_fw != null)
        {
            // Runs the configured DismissDialogCloseBehavior — dismisses the
            // "save changes?" dialog if it appears, then waits for exit.
            await _fw.Browser.CloseAsync();
            await _fw.DisposeAsync();
        }
    }
}

Gotchas

Editor selector varies by Notepad version The tabbed Notepad (Win11 22H2+) uses [name="Text editor"]; older Win11 builds without tabs expose #RichEditBox. Classic Win10 Notepad uses controltype:Edit. Always inspect with Accessibility Insights or inspect.exe on your target machine.

Packaged app — process is not notepad.exe The actual running process is under C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_*\. The alias notepad.exe is a stub that launches the packaged app. Flawright handles this transparently from v0.2.9+; earlier versions required specifying Aumid directly.

Multiple tabs Each open file is a separate TabItem in the tab bar. To get the content of a specific tab, click its TabItem first, then interact with the editor. There is no per-tab editor locator — the single editor panel updates when the active tab changes.

Auto-save Win11 Notepad has an auto-save / auto-restore feature. If a previous test left content, Notepad may restore it on next launch. Open a new tab (Ctrl+N) or clear the editor at the start of each test that needs a clean state.

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