Microsoft brings its free AI-powered Designer tool to Edge sidebar

Microsoft is bringing its free AI-powered design tool – Designer to the Edge sidebar, which enables users to generate designs without opening a new tab or launching another app.

After launching Designer last year, Microsoft announced in April that it would build the tool into Edge.

The integration lets you create a number of designs, such as social media posts, fliers, greeting cards, invitations, and more all from Edge’s sidebar.

Once you enter a prompt, Designer’s AI will pull up a grid of suggested designs, complete with text and a photo. 

You can also tweak any of these designs to your liking, whether you want to swap out a photo, add an illustration, or change the font. 

The tool’s DALL-E-powered text-to-image generator also lets you create pictures that you can add to your design.

While all these features are already available within Microsoft’s standalone Designer app on the web, there’s a benefit to having all these tools bundled in Edge. 

The integration should make it easier to bring designs to an email, Facebook, or Instagram without having to flip through a bunch of windows. 

It could also help it compete with other free design tools, like Canva, which have already begun to add AI-powered features.

Microsoft Designer is still in preview, and it’s not clear when the company plans to release it fully.