ATOI365D #Office365Challenge This is my first post about Microsoft Sway. I’ll only be covering the basics, so join me on my journey of getting to know and use Sway.

Day: 301 of 365, 64 left
Tools: Office 365, Sway
Description: Creating your first Microsoft Sway Presentation
Audience: All

Before we get started, let’s see what Microsoft says about Sway:

Go from start to finish in minutes – Sway makes it quick and easy to create and share polished, interactive reports, presentations, personal stories, and more. Add your content, and we’ll do the rest.
Tell your story with interactive content – Bring your Sway to life with interactive content. Include a video to talk about your idea or add an interactive chart to let others dive into the details.
See suggested search results based on your content – Sway suggests searches to help you find relevant images, videos, tweets, and other content that you can drag and drop right into your creation. No need to juggle apps and web pages to find what you want.
Easily share by sending a link – It’s super easy to share a Sway. Family, friends, classmates, and co-workers can see your creation on the web without signing up or downloading additional software. And you can change privacy settings for more control.
Instantly transform your Sway with great designs – You don’t need to worry about formatting, Sway’s built-in design engine takes care of it. If the first design isn’t right for you, Remix! it to see others or customize it to make it your own.

Summary:

  1. Sway is used to create presentations, newsletters, product brochures etc.
  2. Your Sway will not be stored on your own pc, the data is stored in Azure in the US (Cloud)
  3. There is a consumer version of Sway and Sway for Office 365
  4. Sway can be used in the web or downloaded app
  5. Sway works on all OS’s
  6. You can share your Sway to be viewed or edited by other people
    1. Sway for Office 365 allows for sharing within your organization and if enabled in the Admin centre – for external sharing.
    2. Sway using your Windows account (Hotmail, Live.com, or Outlook.com email etc.) can be shared with everyone by default
  7. Sway is free for non-commercial use if you have a free Microsoft Account. These Office 365 plans include Sway at no additional cost.
In this blog I’ll cover the menus etc. to help us be more comfortable using it.
How to use Sway:
  1. Go to the Microsoft Sway site
  2. Login with your 365 account or register to use Sway
  3. Once Sway opens you will see
    1. Create New (blank template)
    2. Start from Topic (Choose a topic and get resources related to the topic)
    3. Start from Document (Upload a document with Text and images)
    4. My Sways (Sways you’ve created)
    5. Get inspired (Look at some existing Sways for inspiration)
I’ve clicked on “Create New” to get started:
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In the ribbon you’ll see the following:
Insert – here you can ‘fetch’ content from other sources and search for related images on the web. Once you’ve entered your title it will start presenting you with images to use.
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Cards – are your different areas on the Sway and functionality you can add. In tomorrow’s post we’ll go into this in detail to create our Sway:
  1. Text – for Headings and Text boxes
  2. Media – for Images, Video, Tweets and Embedded code
  3. Groups – this allows you to style the additions you’ve made to your sway
  4. Canvas – In the middle you’ll see the canvas where you’ll start adding cards to build your Sway
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Design – this is where you can choose a different look and feel for your Sway:
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Layout – here you can choose whether your sway swipes from left to right or from top to bottom.
Remix – allows you to very quickly let Sway to re-style your presentation.
Play – let’s you preview your hard work
Authors – shows different authors on the Sway
Share – is where you’ll define the sharing options.
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See you tomorrow when we’ll start building our Sway. Take the time to go gather some images and make notes of text you’d like to use.

Resources:

Overview of my challenge: As an absolute lover of all things Microsoft, I’ve decided to undertake the challenge, of writing a blog every single day, for the next 365 days. Crazy, I know. And I’ll try my best, but if I cannot find something good to say about Office 365 and the Tools it includes for 365 days, I’m changing my profession. So let’s write this epic tale of “Around the Office in 365 Days”. My ode to Microsoft Office 365.
Keep in mind that these tips and tricks do not only apply to Office 365 – but where applicable, to the overall Microsoft Office Suite and SharePoint.