Posey's Tips & Tricks
A Look at Microsoft Word's Designer Integration
Let's take a look at how Microsoft's AI image generator works in Word.
Microsoft has long made it known that they would be integrating Designer with Microsoft Word. However, this integration, while helpful, might not be what you expect.
What is Designer?
For those who might not be familiar with Designer, it's a cloud-based tool that can be used for creating various types of documents. If you look at Figure 1 for example, you can see that Designer allows you to create images, greeting cards, icons, stickers, avatars, and more.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 1. This is what Microsoft Designer looks like.
While it would be easy to dismiss Designer as being little more than a modern take on the old Print Shop program from the early 90s, there is one capability that really sets Designer apart from other document creation tools. Designer includes a text to image tool whereby you can enter a text description of what it is that you want to create and Designer will create the art work for you. For example, one of my early experiments with Microsoft Designer involved asking it to make the Mona Lisa look like a member of the band KISS. You can see the rather amusing results in Figure 2.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 2. Microsoft Designer had no trouble putting KISS makeup on the Mona Lisa
Designer Integration in Word
When I heard that Microsoft was going to be integrating Designer into Microsoft Word early in the summer, I assumed that Word would be getting some new capabilities that make it easy to create various types of documents and that you would be able to use AI to add custom images to those documents.
It's entirely possible that this might end up being Microsoft's long term vision for its Designer integration into Word. As it stands right now however, the experience is somewhat different.
The first thing that you need to know about the way that Designer has been integrated into Word, is that you won't find Designer in the Word desktop app. At least for right now, Designer only exists in browser based version (Word on the Web).
To access Designer within Word on the Web, start a new document and then select the Home tab. Next, click Designer button found on the toolbar. You can see what this looks like in Figure 3.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 3.This is how you access Designer within Word on the Web.
Unfortunately, Designer seems to consist of little more than a series of templates. If you look at Figure 4, you can see that Designer offers various templates for resumes, cover letters, to do lists and more.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 4. In Word on the Web, Designer is essentially a collection of templates.
To me, it seems like an odd move for Microsoft to cause Designer to function as a collection of templates within Word on the Web. After all, Word already had access to various templates, even before Designer was added. You can access those templates by clicking on File > New > Browse Templates. You can see the standard template collection in Figure 5.
[Click on image for larger view.] Figure 5. Microsoft Word on the Web includes templates separate from Designer.
My guess is that Microsoft is probably in the middle of what I will call a Designer transition. In other words, I think that Microsoft will probably end up moving all of their Word templates into Designer eventually.
Even though you would never know it by looking at any of my previous screen captures, there is one more thing that Designer can do within Microsoft Word on the Web. Designer is able to analyze a document and make suggestions for how that document should be reformatted.
During my tests, I found that this particular feature does not seem to be displayed if you start out with using one of the Designer templates. However, if you have a document that you have created manually, Designer will sometimes offer formatting suggestions. All you have to do is to click the Designer button.
If Designer believes that your document can be improved, it will display a button that you can click to review the proposed formatting fixes. From there, you have the option of either applying or ignoring the various suggestions.
In some cases, Designer doesn't make any suggestions at all. In these cases, it will display a series of themes that you can apply to your document. A theme is similar to a template in that it gives you the ability to apply a particular look and feel with a single click.
For right now, I can't really see myself using Designer within Microsoft Word. Over time however, I suspect that Microsoft will make further enhancements to Designer, perhaps even adding AI image generation capabilities.
About the Author
Brien Posey is a 22-time Microsoft MVP with decades of IT experience. As a freelance writer, Posey has written thousands of articles and contributed to several dozen books on a wide variety of IT topics. Prior to going freelance, Posey was a CIO for a national chain of hospitals and health care facilities. He has also served as a network administrator for some of the country's largest insurance companies and for the Department of Defense at Fort Knox. In addition to his continued work in IT, Posey has spent the last several years actively training as a commercial scientist-astronaut candidate in preparation to fly on a mission to study polar mesospheric clouds from space. You can follow his spaceflight training on his Web site.