Sway Recycle Bin, full screen mode in Windows, Send to Sway add-in for OneNote (preview) and more!

Happy New Year from the Sway team! It’s now been a few months since Sway became generally available. Last month we introduced new controls that allow Office 365 business and education admins to better manage and tailor the way Sway is used within their organization. This month we’re ushering in 2016 with new Sway capabilities we recently added to enhance your experience and increase the ways you can use Sway to create polished, interactive content.

Sway now has a Recycle Bin

We added a Recycle Bin to Sway—a common customer request. Now, any Sway you delete using Sway on the web, Sway for Windows 10 or Sway for iPhone and iPad goes to the Recycle Bin, where you can recover it for up to 30 days. So, if you accidentally delete a Sway or you want to recover a Sway you deleted, it’s as easy as a couple taps or clicks. 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.

 

Sways you delete are now added to the Recycle Bin where you can recover them.

View Sway in full screen mode using Sway for Windows 10

Presentations are one of the many types of interactive content you can create with Sway. We previously added a layout that displays groupings of content (images, text, videos, tweets, etc.) one screen at a time, which is particularly useful for presentation scenarios. We’ve also heard requests to enable Sways to be viewed in full screen. This was already possible when viewing Sways in browsers with full screen options. Now you can do the same in Sway for Windows 10. When you tap or click Play in the app, the Sway fills the entire screen, with the Windows app chrome and Taskbar hidden. To return to editing mode, simply hit Escape or choose the pencil icon in the top right.

 

Tap or click Play in Sway for Windows 10 to view the Sway in full screen.

Send to Sway add-in for OneNote (preview) is available for you to try

Last year we introduced integration of OneNote into Sway to make it easier to add your OneNote images to your creations without leaving Sway. Now it’s possible to send your OneNote content to Sway directly from within OneNote, using the new Send to Sway add-in for OneNote (preview). 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. Please send us your feedback (onenotelabs@microsoft.com) on how you use the add-in and what you’d like to see improved/added. Then stay tuned for us to add support for Office 365 work/school accounts and other improvements based on what we learn from you.

 

The Send to Sway add-in for OneNote (preview) helps you turn your OneNote page into a great foundation for a Sway to tell your story in an engaging, interactive way.

Use drag and drop to insert images in Sway for Windows 10

Images are a common type of multimedia you can add to Sway. Sway makes it easy to transform them into interactive layouts, such as photo stacks or comparisons. And we’ve made it even simpler to get your images into Sway. Now you can use drag and drop to get images from your PC or tablet right into Sway for Windows 10. With Sway on the web you can already do this today in the browser. Go ahead and give it a try!

 

Now you can drag and drop images right into Sway for Windows 10.

Discover more content format options by creating nested Groups

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. This is particularly applicable to the layout optimized for presentations. For example, you could now create a single screen consisting of text on the left and on the right, a photo stack, a video and a map. This would be done by grouping the Text Card, the Stack Group Card, the Video Card and the Chart (Preview) Card. As you test different sequences for the content within the Group, Sway’s built-in design engine will adjust the format to make sure it looks great. Give it a try today!

 

It’s easy to create nested Groups in the Sway Storyline. Simply select the Group option when multiple Group Cards are selected.

 

Nesting groups within other groups of content provides many more formatting combinations in Sway.

Sway is available in the Chrome Web Store

Sway is now in the Chrome Web Store, as well as the Google Play for Education store, for registered schools and organizations. Installing Sway from the Chrome Web Store makes it easy for Chromebook and Google Apps users to access Sway from Chrome browser and your Chromebook launcher. Install Sway today in Chrome and on your Chromebook.

 

Installing Sway from the Chrome Web Store makes it easy to access Sway from the Chrome browser and your Chromebook launcher.

Join us in kicking off another great year with Sway! We hope you’ll keep in touch and provide feedback to help us improve the experience. Keep letting us know on UserVoice what you’d like to see added or changed in Sway. And Happy New Year!

—Sway team, @Sway

Get Sway | Follow Sway