Windows 11's Paint Gets a Major Upgrade with Layers and a New Project Format

Hot on the heels of the recent update to the Notepad app, Microsoft has begun rolling out a significant update for Paint, finally adding the ability to save projects. The app now lets you save your work in a new .paint format for later editing.

Previously, saving a drawing as a PNG or JPG would flatten all elements into a single layer. Now, by selecting "Save as project" from the menu, you can come back to your image later to move elements around, tweak specific details, and make changes to each layer individually. This works similarly to .PSD files in Adobe Photoshop, but implemented in a much simpler way — without complex features like smart objects or masks.

Besides layers, Paint has also gained a brush opacity slider. This feature is super useful for creating soft shadows, translucent highlights, or complex color blends. These new features — project saving and opacity control — are available now in app version v11.2508.361.0 for Windows Insiders. To get the update, you need to be enrolled in the Dev Channel and check for the latest version in the Microsoft Store.

Some users are also noting that to access certain new features, the app may prompt you to join "Windows AI Labs" through its settings. The final version of this update for all Windows 11 users will be released later, after testing is complete, though an exact timeline hasn't been announced yet.

This isn't Paint's first major modernization. The app previously received a number of large-scale AI-powered innovations. Key additions include Generative Erase for removing unwanted objects from images and Generative Fill to add new elements based on a text prompt. The AI-powered Paint Cocreator tool, which generates images from text descriptions and sketches, serves as the foundation for these new features. It's clear that Paint is steadily evolving into a more capable platform for digital creativity, slowly inching closer to the functionality of giants like Adobe Photoshop.