Sway

Sway

Sway is a digital storytelling app by Microsoft that allows users to create visually engaging reports, presentations, personal stories and more. It has a simple drag and drop interface and built-in design engine that helps create professional looking layouts.
Sway image
microsoft presentation storytelling visual

Sway: Digital Storytelling App by Microsoft

Discover the power of digital storytelling with Sway, a simple and intuitive app that brings your reports, presentations, personal stories, and more to life with professional-looking layouts.

What is Sway?

Sway is a digital storytelling app developed by Microsoft as part of the Microsoft Office family of products. It allows users to create interactive reports, presentations, personal stories, newsletters, training modules and more using a simple drag and drop interface.

One of the key features of Sway is its built-in design engine that helps create professional looking layouts automatically based on the content added. Users can simply drag and drop text, images, videos and charts onto the canvas and Sway will create beautiful layouts using various design principals. This makes it easy for anyone to create visually engaging stories without the need for design expertise.

Compared to traditional presentation software like PowerPoint, Sway empowers more engaging and interactive ways to present information. Stories created in Sway can be shared broadly across the web and on social media, enabled seamless collaboration with others. It also integrates with various Microsoft cloud services like OneDrive allowing content to be added from there.

Some other notable features include options to customize designs, interactive elements like quizzes and polls, inserting Office documents, 100s of fonts and design themes, real time collaboration and analytics to see how many people have viewed your Sways. There are Sway mobile apps available as well to create Sways on the go.

Overall, if you need to create any kind of digital story for business or personal use, Sway offers an intuitive way to do it looking professional with minimal effort. The lack of advanced customization or desktop app may not appeal to certain users, but its auto-design abilities and collaborative options make it suitable for most everyday storytelling needs.

Sway Features

Features

  1. Drag-and-drop interface
  2. Built-in design engine
  3. Animations and transitions
  4. Real-time collaboration
  5. Works across devices
  6. Integrates with Office 365
  7. Upload media from device or cloud
  8. Themes and layouts
  9. Presenter view

Pricing

  • Freemium

Pros

Intuitive and easy to use

Creates professional, visually engaging stories

Collaborate in real-time

Accessible on any device

Free with Office 365 subscription

Cons

Limited customization options

No ability to add charts/graphs

Must have Office 365 subscription to use full features

Limited analytics and audience engagement features


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