How to Clear Notepad's Tab State on Windows 11

Greetings. 👋

Straight to business then.

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Through File Explorer

On Windows 11, the path for Notepad tab state is:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\TabState

The Steps:

1. Close the Notepad.
2. Open File Explorer.
   File Explorer = Windows Explorer.
3. Copy and paste that into the address bar. ➡️ Hit enter.
   
4. Delete all .bin files inside that folder.
   ⬆️ It won't break the Notepad. Promise.
5. Open again Notepad. Cleared. Sorted. ✅

We can set Notepad's start-up option to Open in a new window (instead of "Open in a new tab") after that, optionally. Click the top-right gear icon in Notepad, and we would see this:

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Through Script

We can do it from PowerShell:

$folder="$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\TabState"; if(Test-Path $folder){Remove-Item "$folder\*" -Force}

Or CMD (Command Prompt):

set folder=%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\TabState && if exist "%folder%" del /q "%folder%\*"

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Background

I was helping a friend to fix an office application installation on her laptop. When I tried to open the Notepad to save my steps so she could do it herself, it hung. The Notepad froze. The laptop then was also unresponsive. I did a hard reboot afterwards.

It was because a tab in that Notepad opened a nonexistent file. It was already deleted. On normal computer, it would be — well — normal. But on that HP brand — 8 GB RAM, broken graphics diagnostics, and powered by Celeron — the subroutine never completed.

Therefore, I barged into the folder above, deleted all files, and reopened the Notepad. The Notepad then started a fresh session.

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8wekyb3d8bbwe

Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe, that 8wekyb3d8bbwe is specifically on Windows 11 — it does look like someone smashed their face on the keyboard after naming the folder. That's actually Microsoft's package family name gibberish for the modern UWP (Universal Windows Platform) version of Notepad (and other Store apps). They all have these face-smashed-on-keyboard alphanumeric tails, same pattern for Calculator, Photos, etc. All have 8wekyb3d8bbwe tails.

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Celeron Bit

Celeron actually is taken from Latin celer (swift or quick), same root as "accelerate" (ac-celer-ate) — and they bolted the -on suffix to the term.

Celer + on = Celeron. It looks like a Greek word, but it's not.

Right then, so Celeron = Hellenised celery.

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Cheers. 👋