u/aaclavijo

Back in the day when I used a Windows machine, I’d hit **Win+R**, type `notepad`, and instantly have a place to dump raw text. It served two main purposes: it kept me from cluttering my hard drive with temporary Word documents for throwaway notes, and it acted as a formatting sanitizer. Copying text straight from a browser into Word often brought along mess, weird styles, and layout headaches that took forever to clean up. Running text through Notepad stripped away all the styling, leaving pure, plain text ready to paste anywhere.

When I switched to a Chromebook, I lost that instant Notepad shortcut. This was back before Google Keep existed, and I hated clogging my Google Drive with dozens of "Untitled Document" files.

Eventually, I stumbled on a trick on Reddit: pasting `data:text/html, <html contenteditable>` into the browser address bar turns any blank tab into an instant, lightweight text editor. *Voilà*—a scratchpad that stripped formatting and allowed me to save as a `.txt` file.

Today, hotkeys like `Ctrl+Shift+V` strip formatting natively, and cloud apps like Google Keep handle quick notes. But every now and then, a browser-based scratchpad is still the fastest tool for the job.

Recently, I decided to upgrade that old browser trick using AI. I expanded the original snippet to add a few actual features: **Light/Dark/Matrix theme cycling**, plus built-in **Open** and **Save** options for `.txt` files.

### How to Install

Copy the code block below, paste it into your browser's address bar, press **Enter**, and bookmark the page:

`data:text/html,%3C%21DOCTYPE%20html%3E%3Chtml%3E%3Chead%3E%3Cstyle%3Ebody%7Bbackground%3A%231e1e1e%3Bcolor%3A%23d4d4d4%3Bfont-family%3Amonospace%3Bfont-size%3A18px%3Bpadding%3A40px%3Bline-height%3A1.6%3Bmargin%3A0%3Btransition%3Abackground%200.2s%2Ccolor%200.2s%3B%7D.light-mode%7Bbackground%3A%23f4f4f9%20%21important%3Bcolor%3A%231a1a1a%20%21important%3B%7D.matrix-mode%7Bbackground%3A%230d0d0d%20%21important%3Bcolor%3A%2300FF41%20%21important%3B%7D%23editor%7Boutline%3Anone%3Bmin-height%3A80vh%3B%7D.controls%7Bposition%3Afixed%3Btop%3A15px%3Bright%3A20px%3Bdisplay%3Aflex%3Bgap%3A10px%3B%7D.btn%7Bbackground%3A%232d2d2d%3Bcolor%3A%23d4d4d4%3Bborder%3A1px%20solid%20%23444%3Bpadding%3A8px%2014px%3Bfont-family%3Amonospace%3Bfont-size%3A14px%3Bfont-weight%3Abold%3Bcursor%3Apointer%3Bborder-radius%3A4px%3Btransition%3A0.2s%3B%7D.btn%3Ahover%7Bbackground%3A%233e3e3e%3Bborder-color%3A%23666%3Bcolor%3A%23fff%3B%7D.light-mode%20.btn%7Bbackground%3A%23e0e0e0%20%21important%3Bcolor%3A%23222%20%21important%3Bborder-color%3A%23ccc%20%21important%3B%7D.light-mode%20.btn%3Ahover%7Bbackground%3A%23d0d0d0%20%21important%3B%7D.matrix-mode%20.btn%7Bbackground%3A%2300FF41%20%21important%3Bcolor%3A%230d0d0d%20%21important%3Bborder%3Anone%20%21important%3B%7D.matrix-mode%20.btn%3Ahover%7Bbox-shadow%3A0%200%2010px%20%2300FF41%20%21important%3B%7D%3C%2Fstyle%3E%3C%2Fhead%3E%3Cbody%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22controls%22%3E%3Cbutton%20id%3D%22modeBtn%22%20class%3D%22btn%22%20onclick%3D%22cycleMode()%22%3EMode%3A%20Dark%3C%2Fbutton%3E%3Cbutton%20class%3D%22btn%22%20onclick%3D%22document.getElementById(%27fileInput%27).click()%22%3EOpen%20.txt%3C%2Fbutton%3E%3Cbutton%20class%3D%22btn%22%20onclick%3D%22saveFile()%22%3ESave%20.txt%3C%2Fbutton%3E%3C%2Fdiv%3E%3Cinput%20type%3D%22file%22%20id%3D%22fileInput%22%20accept%3D%22.txt%22%20style%3D%22display%3Anone%22%20onchange%3D%22openFile(event)%22%3E%3Cdiv%20id%3D%22editor%22%20contenteditable%20spellcheck%3D%22false%22%3E%3C%2Fdiv%3E%3Cscript%3Elet%20modes%3D%5B%27Dark%27%2C%27Light%27%2C%27Matrix%27%5D%3Blet%20currentModeIdx%3D0%3Bfunction%20cycleMode()%7BcurrentModeIdx%3D(currentModeIdx%2B1)%25modes.length%3Bconst%20mode%3Dmodes%5BcurrentModeIdx%5D%3Bdocument.body.classList.remove(%27light-mode%27%2C%27matrix-mode%27)%3Bif(mode%3D%3D%27Light%27)document.body.classList.add(%27light-mode%27)%3Bif(mode%3D%3D%27Matrix%27)document.body.classList.add(%27matrix-mode%27)%3Bdocument.getElementById(%27modeBtn%27).innerText%3D%27Mode%3A%20%27%2Bmode%3B%7Dfunction%20openFile(e)%7Bconst%20file%3De.target.files%5B0%5D%3Bif(%21file)return%3Bconst%20reader%3Dnew%20FileReader()%3Breader.onload%3De%3D%3E%7Bdocument.getElementById(%27editor%27).innerText%3De.target.result%3B%7D%3Breader.readAsText(file)%3B%7Dfunction%20saveFile()%7Bconst%20text%3Ddocument.getElementById(%27editor%27).innerText%3Bconst%20blob%3Dnew%20Blob(%5Btext%5D%2C%7Btype%3A%27text%2Fplain%27%7D)%3Ba%3Ddocument.createElement(%27a%27)%3Ba.href%3DURL.createObjectURL(blob)%3Ba.download%3D%27notes.txt%27%3Ba.click()%3B%7D%3C%2Fscript%3E%3C%2Fbody%3E%3C%2Fhtml%3E`

Any ideas what is the best way to utilize this button?

What do you use multiple ThinkPads for?

Like I give...

Thinklight isn't working and I can't figure out what's the problem.

Banned from commenting on r/trump for reporting hate.

Not really a problem but do your ThinkPads run hot?

Browserbase Notepad for Chromebooks

Why are my USB 3.0 ports not colored blue. Is this a fake docking station?

I'm sure this has been answered here a lot but where is the best place to buy parts for your Lenovo?

Just found out that Belgium had KDB, Doku, and Lukaku on the bench. KDB didn't even play. Team USA was literally beaten by the Other Guys.

T480s TIL