Microsoft’s hip and arguably more intuitive PowerPoint alternative presentation software Sway just got a healthy dose of updates recently. Starting off 2016 right, the Sway team is introducing new features such as Recycling bin functionality, full-screen mode, OneNote add-in support, drag and drop image support, content nesting, and Chrome Web Store support.
Beginning with the Recycling Bin, the Sway team built out a truly cross-platform syncing deletion method that sends any Sway deleted from the web to end up in a Recycling Bin on Windows 10, Sway for iPhone and iPad. The deletion can be undone or recovered for up to 30 days after initially being dumped in the Recycling Bin.
The Recycle Bin is accessible from the top right of your My Sways page at Sway.com. You can see exactly when Sways were deleted and you can select one or multiple Sways to restore to your My Sways page or to delete permanently. You can also choose Empty Recycle Bin to permanently clear all deleted Sways, just like you’re used to on your PC.”
Moving on to Full-Screen mode, Windows 10 users specifically benefit from what was once a web-enabled exclusive. Using the Windows Store version of Sway, users can now click Play in the app, and their presentations go from a windowed app visual to a fully immersive fullscreen experience that removes browser chrome and the Windows 10 taskbar during a presentation.
To return to editing mode, simply hit Escape or choose the pencil icon in the top right.”
Next up is the Send to Sway add-in toggle for OneNote, which is technically in preview but open to most to try. After last year’s OneNote integration that brought an easier way for users to grab saved images from their notebooks, the Sway team is now making OneNote use even more robust.
This add-in helps you easily start a new Sway with the images and text from your OneNote 2016 or OneNote 2013 page. Then you can use Sway to keep adding interactive multimedia and produce an engaging, visually compelling story. The add-in is in preview right now, English-only and currently only supports Microsoft accounts.”
Drag and drop is another functionality feature the Sway team spend building more into. As it stands now, there are a few instances of drag and drop among image content, but the new addition simplifies the process further.
Now you can use drag and drop to get images from your PC or tablet right into Sway for Windows 10.”
Meaning, users can now use a more native method-feeling of file tracking and distribution that comes with Windows and File Explorer.
Nested groups is also a bit of a game-changing feature, allowing users to sort and group text and images on a single page. Before the update, formatting traditionally consisted of text or images on a page, not really a combination of the two for a single page.
Sway on the web and Sway for Windows 10 now both let you nest one group of content in another group. So, you can try out many more formatting combinations for your text, images, videos, maps, charts and more within a given Sway layout you’ve selected.”
Lastly, and perhaps more impressively for some, is the introduction of Sway in the Chrome Web Store as well as Google Play for Education Store. Now users can easily install Sway from the Chrome Web Store on to their newfangled Chromebooks while Google App users obtain Sway from their Chrome browser.
As the year continues, we can expect more work to be done to Microsoft’s PowerPoint alternative Sway. The Sway team is doing a fantastic job of addressing user feedback and concern, up until this point, now if they could just get out a universal Windows app for Windows 10 Mobile and put a punctuation on being a truly cross-platform service.
Further reading: iOS, Microsoft, PowerPoint, Recycle Bin, Sway, Windows 10