Microsoft provides a preview of the Designer app through the Edge browser. Designer uses AI to create designs and social media posts.

Microsoft wants to challenge Canva with Designer. The software giant announced the design tool in October and there has been a waiting list to try the tool for a few weeks. The Verge notes that Designer is now also being integrated into the Edge web browser. This mainly serves as a marketing ploy by Microsoft to promote its browser to a wider audience.

Thanks to the partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft Designer can be full of AI functions. The tool uses the Dall-E image generator to create designs in seconds. You start in Designer by writing down what you want. The AI ​​wizard generates a preview that you can iterate using text (AI) or manually edit to refine it thanks to a handy interface.

Within Edge, Designer can also help you write social media posts. Designer appears as a shortcut in the system tray, so you don’t need to install it as an extension. The tool can format a text based on what you want to share with the world and also create relevant hashtags and captions. Microsoft offers twenty custom layouts for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can find a simulation in this blog.

Free but for how long?

During the preview period, Microsoft Designer will remain free, although it remains to be seen if this will continue to be the case once the tool becomes more widely available. Microsoft may want to integrate the tool into its 365 subscriptions so the AI ​​capabilities could quickly disappear behind a paywall.

Designer is Canva’s challenger, but the features Microsoft has added are less unique than the software giant wants to portray. Canva also recently announced a number of AI features. They are only available to paying customers. Integration with Edge can give designers an advantage.