An easier way to create presentations
After 10 months of testing, Microsoft today announced that its digital storytelling app, Sway, is moving out of Preview form and into general availability. And the timing couldn't be better, with the back-to-school season coming into view.
Sway joins Microsoft's Office suite and is available as a free download in the Windows Store for Windows 10 and for Office 365 subscribers. It's important to note that Microsoft isn't billing Sway as a replacement to PowerPoint, and instead it's supposed to be a supplementary offering. That said, we suspect Sway won't have trouble finding an audience, particularly among users who don't enjoy fussing with the formatting in PowerPoint.
Sway's strength is its simplicity. It's built-in design engine ensures that when you're adding content, it will look right on different devices. It has a less intimidating interface, and as you add items and shuffle them around, Sway automatically centers, crops, and makes sure you don't end up with a convoluted mess.
"Sway helps you create professional designs in minutes. You bring your ideas and raw content, and Sway’s intelligent design engine creates a polished, cohesive layout that helps your images, text, videos and other media flow together in a way that enhances your story," Microsoft explains. "Sway makes sure your creations look great no matter what device they’re being viewed on—phones, tablets, laptops, PCs or even the largest Microsoft Surface Hub!"
Being a modern day product, Sway is comfortable in the cloud. That's where presentations are stored, and you can pluck online content like images, Twitter posts, and YouTube videos for use in your presentation -- just drag and drop them into the desired slide.
Sway is available now, both as an app and integrated into the web-based Office Online.
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