Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
eWEEK.com
Search
eWEEK.com
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications

    Microsoft Sway Gains Audio Recording, Closed Captioning Features

    By
    PEDRO HERNANDEZ
    -
    April 13, 2017
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Microsoft Sway presentations

      Sway, Microsoft’s cloud-enabled alternative to slide-based presentation tools including its own PowerPoint software, has gained new features designed to help user reach a bigger audience.

      Sway presentations, called “Sways” naturally, now support audio recordings. Users can add their own narrations and voice commentary while using the web-based Sway application. New controls allow users to record audio, provided their PCs are equipped with microphones.

      The feature, requested by Microsoft’s education customers, works with the latest versions of the Chrome, Firefox and Edge browsers on Windows PCs. On Macs, it works with Chrome and Firefox while Chromebook users can access the new functions with their device’s built-in Chrome browser.

      Microsoft has been focusing lately on developing and promoting education technology.

      On May 2, the company is hosting an education-themed event in New York City, where it’s expected to show new hardware and software. And earlier this week, the company announced new features in Microsoft Forms aimed at helping teachers better integrate test-taking functionality into OneNote.

      “Integrating Forms and OneNote is one of the top asks from educators who use the OneNote Class Notebook and want to seamlessly integrate formative assessments,” said the company in an April 10 announcement. “Now, you can embed a form into OneNote Online in just a couple of steps. Under the OneNote Insert menu, click Forms, and then in the Forms for OneNote pane, select a form.”

      Microsoft Forms now supports custom images and backgrounds, enabling users to add some personality to their forms. To improve collaboration, new sharing options enable users to return to forms authored by colleagues without having to dig through their inboxes or IM conversations to find the original links.

      As for Sway, Microsoft added closed captioning support, allowing hearing-impaired users to follow along.

      “We are excited to announce that authors can now associate closed caption files with their audio recordings or audio files added from their local drive or OneDrive/OneDrive for Business,” stated Microsoft in a blog post announcing the new features. “Office 365 authors can also associate closed caption files with any video files uploaded from their local drive or from OneDrive for Business.”

      While adding audio or video content to their Sway presentations, users can now select closed caption files to include and the language they wish to show. Sway supports the Video Text Tracks (.vtt) format, a W3C standard used by web browsers for closed captioning.

      Also new is a navigation view that provides thumbnail views of a presentation’s content. Sections appear as numbered tiles, allowing users to jump to a desired section. Sway also features an autoplay option that loops a presentation, provides uninterrupted playback for unattended applications, like billboards.

      Finally, Sway authors can see how many times their presentations were seen with a new view count feature. Microsoft started tallying up views on March 13. If a Sway shows “no data” in its view count, it hasn’t been viewed since that date, according to the company.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      CHRIS PREIMESBERGER - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      CHRIS PREIMESBERGER - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      EWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      ZEUS KERRAVALA - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      WAYNE RASH - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Info

      © 2020 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×