Microsoft Paint is Getting a Background Removal Tool

Microsoft just can’t stop messing with Paint: the software giant is now testing a background removal tool for the Windows 11 app in the Windows Insider Program’s Canary and Dev channels.

“Today we are beginning to roll out an update for the Paint app to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels,” Microsoft’s Dave Grochocki announced. “With this update, we are introducing background removal. With background removal, you can now remove the background of any image automatically in just one click leaving a smooth cutout of the subject. Background removal can detect the subject from the entire canvas or from a selection using the selection tool.”

If you’re familiar with Photoshop or similar desktop image editing tools, you get the idea. Why this needs to be in Paint is unclear, and based on the screenshot, it looks like Microsoft is modifying Paint’s non-collapsable faux-ribbon (really a gigantic toolbar) and moving existing commands around, to accommodate this new tool. But at least it’s an image editing function, unlike the ridiculous changes Microsoft has been making to this app since the initial release of Windows 11.

I wrote about my issues with these haphazard changes in Great, Now We Need to Talk About Microsoft Paint Too (Premium) back in March. But I am happy to report that the issues I had then have been fixed, well, at least for those in the Insider Program. (Others will need to wait for Windows 11 version 23H2, I guess.) That is, the app is no longer just stark white, as it now supports a proper Dark mode too. And the keyboard shortcut and focus placement issues I noted then are also mostly fixed now. (Navigating the Paint menu system with the keyboard is still not quite there, but it’s better.)

So it only took them two years to fix the mistakes they made in this app, but at least they finally came through.