KUALA LUMPUR, 7 August 2015 – Microsoft announced that its digital storytelling tool Sway, is moving from Preview to General Availability starting today. Sway is a digital storytelling tool that uses a built-in design engine to create a polished, cohesive layout that makes images, text, videos, and other multimedia flow together in a way that looks great across devices. Consumers can now use it for free as long as they have a Microsoft account to share their hobbies, vacation recaps, food blogs, digital collages and more.
Sway is also rolling out to all eligible* Office 365 for business and education customers worldwide. Businesses, schools and other organizations can now use Sway to create and share interactive reports, presentations, assignments, lessons, projects, and more.
Here’s a summary of what’s new:
- Available on the web at Sway.com and is free. Sway.com is accessible worldwide without restriction, and we’ve seen some great Sways written in languages even if the user interface itself didn’t support that language.
- Sway for Windows 10 is now available as an app in the Windows Store with new layout and publishing capabilities in 39 languages including English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Bahasa Indonesia, Japanese, Korean and Malay.
- Consumers can also share their Sways with friends, fans, and the rest of the internet community on the newly relaunched Docs.com.
- Now available on iPad and iPhone in 29 languages including Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, Bahasa Indonesia, Japanese, Korean and Malay.
- Sway for Windows Phones will arrive in the coming months.
The official Office blog post on the general availability is up, and you can also learn more about it by accessing the product guide here (made with Sway no less!).
*Sway is available to most customers with an Office 365 plan that includes Office Online, Office 365 Business, or Office 365 ProPlus. For Government Community Cloud (GCC) customers and customers in certain geographies, it will be made available at a later date. Some legacy Office 365 plans that are no longer in market as of August 2015 may also not have access.