Review: Microsoft Sway

Introduction and design

Microsoft recently unleashed the latest addition to its Office family onto the world with a curious little app called Sway. After a lengthy preview period, the completely free web-centric presentation and content creation tool is now officially available on iOS, the web and as a fully native Windows 10 app.

Because of its focus on creating narrative content, many have likened Sway to its Office cousin, PowerPoint - and with good reason. Both are great options for creating engaging presentations; but where PowerPoint is singularly focused on traditional presentation creation, Sway seems to take a natural, evolutionary step forward into an increasingly connected world.

With its web-focused, algorithmic approach to content creation, Microsoft is billing Sway as more than just a presentation tool. It believes the app will transform the way we create interactive reports and tell stories by using adaptive designs. Now that Sway is freely and officially available to all, let's take a look at where Microsoft has succeeded with its latest Office app.

Design

Because Sway is currently available on iOS, Windows 10, and the web, I am going to be dealing with three slightly different designs depending on where you're working. However, with the obvious exception of layout tweaks for different screen sizes, the experience largely feels the same across devices.

When you first load Sway and log in with your Microsoft account, you're presented with a somewhat barren screen containing a black navigation bar and menu on top, along with the option to create a new Sway. If you've drafted any others and saved them to your account, they'll be located here for easy access as well. Clicking "Create New" will take you to the main attraction.

Once you're actually on the creation screen, Sway's options are laid out pretty clearly. There are shortcuts to various "cards" representing the types of content you can add to each portion of your project. These include a large number of options you'd expect, like text, pictures and video. However, there are some, like the options to insert Tweets and embed maps and videos from other websites, that show off the forward-thinking nature of Sway.

On the web and Windows 10 app, there are clearly labeled options across the top that allow you to switch between various content and design functions. One of the most interesting is "Insert," which sounds innocuous enough, but actually allows you to select from oodles of online content sources for your project, including Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Bing and your OneDrive account.

Next to the Insert tab is a Design option for controlling the accent colors and font of your project, as well as a Navigation tab for switching between horizontal, vertical and presentation-optimized layouts. Next, there's the "Remix!" button that calls for your cursor's attention simply by virtue of its enticing exclamation point. Clicking this will generate a random design and layout for your Sway. However, if you don't like the results, don't fret: you can simply click the Undo button directly on the right to do away with the changes.

Finally, on the top right are easily accessible options for playing your Sway, keeping track of and inviting other authors to collaborate with, a convenient Share menu and a quick-access button to Microsoft's Sway tutorials on YouTube.

Usability

Upon loading Sway for the first time, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Having used Microsoft's other Office apps extensively in the past, I was ready to go through the usual ritual of wracking my brain for a clear starting point before setting out on the tedious process of picking slide layouts, color schemes and transitions as I went along. However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised at the ease with which I was swayed into the process.

Usability

After coming up with a killer title for my project, I was off to the races. The drag-and-drop nature of adding content via the cards on the left pane certainly makes for a pleasant experience. As you drag tiles over for each type of content, your sections are automatically organized and laid out in your main presentation according to some algorithmic magic that Sway does behind the scenes.

One particularly impressive feature is how Sway can suggest content for your project based on previous card entries. For example, when I decided to add a video to my project, Sway detected that my title contained the word "koala" and automatically served up suggestions for koala related content from around the web.

The one issue I found with Sway's suggestions, however, is that it aggregated every form of content available even though I was specifically trying to add a video. I understand the limitation, and this is easily remedied by changing the search source to YouTube from the dropdown menu, but I'd love to see an option to default to specific types of searches for the various forms of content available.

One other minor qualm concerns content options. While it's true that Sway currently contains enough sources to find practically anything you want, it's currently missing some big players. Namely, social channels like Instagram and Pinterest aren't included, along with iCloud, Google Drive and Dropbox. If you're not a OneDrive user, this could cause some issues for pulling in your cloud storage content.

Moving along to project design, Sway seems to hit all of the right notes for casual users. Each card contains plenty of options for customizing your text, adding captions, links, bulleted lists and changing the emphasis of text. Of particular note is the ability to change the focus point for images so Sway will make that portion of the image the center of attention in its particular section.

I found the tabs for Design and Navigation to be adequate for most needs. However, while there are a number of options for customizing color palettes and fonts, some diehard PowerPoint users may scoff at Sway's automatic layout generation. You can, of course, order your cards however you see fit, but Sway is designed for simplicity when it comes to the layout of each slide. If you're not okay with mostly ceding control over image crops and sizing to algorithms, you may find working with Sway a bit troublesome.

One other area that may represent a pain-point for users is the disconnect from your workspace and the final product. Unlike a program like PowerPoint where you see exactly what each slide will look like as you work on it, Sway keeps your workspace somewhat disjointed from the preview, requiring extra clicks to keep an eye on the final product. This can lead to a lot of moving back and forth between your workspace and the preview mode that can feel a bit cumbersome at times.

Since Sways live on the web, it's no surprise that sharing and collaboration options feature prominently as well. From the Author menu, you can quickly generate a sharable editing link for a coworker so you can collaborate on a presentation at the same time. I could see this being a big draw for business users that may be putting together a big sales report or product pitch. Similarly, sharing options are easily accessible, allowing users to share their projects on Microsoft's Docs.com, Facebook and Twitter. There are even options for embed codes for websites and a shareable URL directly to your Sway.

Final verdict

One last thing worth mentioning is the way Sway can interact with other Office documents. One of the coolest features I stumbled upon was the ability to create an outline in Word before importing it to a new Sway where sections were automatically populated by my outline text. This works with PowerPoint documents as well, allowing you to transition presentations you've already created to the web.

We liked

Microsoft's main thrust for Sway is the ability to create stories and presentations in an interactive and hassle-free way, and they've mostly succeeded. If you can handle dragging, dropping and manipulating content slides, Sway should be fairly easy to pick up.

Because of its online nature, Sway's integration with and use of third-party services to surface suggestions for content to add to your project feels like a breath of fresh air for creating engaging and varied content. While Sway can be used as so much more than a presentation tool, I see this as a standout feature that really helps set it apart from PowerPoint. Combine this with easy sharing tools and accessibility from any device with an internet connection, and you have quite the compelling product.

We disliked

Sway is inherently geared towards simplifying the way we create content by presenting just enough customization options for most users. However, for those looking for extremely granular control over the layout of their presentations, Sway may not be a compelling option.

As mentioned previously, the disconnect between viewing your workspace and the finished product can be a bit disorienting. It's easy enough to switch to the preview mode to get a sense of how your project looks, but it would be much better if there was an option to get a bird's-eye view of the entire project as you're making edits.

Finally, Sway is meant to be multi-platform, and it's well on its way with a web app accessible from any browser, as well as native iOS and Windows 10 apps. However, support for Android and Microsoft's own Windows Phone is currently lacking, which may be a turn off for some.

Final Verdict

When Microsoft first debuted Sway in preview form last October, it wasn't quite clear where it fit into the company's portfolio of Office apps. The application immediately drew comparisons to PowerPoint, and there's certainly some crossover between the two offerings. However, as Sway has become more fleshed out over the last year, it's clear that it has set itself apart from its Office cousin in a number of interesting ways.

There's no doubt PowerPoint isn't in danger of being dethroned anytime soon, especially for power users and those who prefer that their potentially sensitive presentations stay on physical storage. Moreover, the familiarity of PowerPoint's interface and its singular focus are sure to maintain its prominence as the go-to presentation software for many professionals.

However, Sway feels like a refreshing step forward in both ease of use, as well as interactivity. Putting together a Sway genuinely feels exciting, and it lends itself to a number of applications outside of the typical presentation realm. In many ways, it feels as if Sway is a long-overdue evolution of the way we interact with and craft presentations and web-ready content in an increasingly connected world.

So, if you're considering a switch to Sway, it's definitely worth a shot. For teachers, there is unlimited potential to easily and quickly create striking content that can make learning fun. For business professionals, I see Sway as a way to not only spice up product and sales pitches, but to quickly put together and share engaging web content for your customer base as well.

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