Templates have been a core feature of the Microsoft Office suite for years, giving people an easy way to make better-looking presentations and papers. Now the company has consolidated its templates in one place: Microsoft Create.

Microsoft Create is now available as an early preview. It’s intended as “the ultimate creator launchpad for making whatever you need,” and functions as a central site for templates in other Microsoft apps and services. For example, searching for “travel” shows a newsletter template for Word, a template advertisement for Clipchamp, a photo timeline template for PowerPoint, and other files. Once you find something you like, clicking one button opens the template in the given application.

Microsoft said in a blog post, “With thousands of professionally designed templates plus the power of Microsoft’s collection of content creation apps (including PowerPoint, Word, and Clipchamp for video editing), everyone can create something inspiring. And there’s absolutely no design experience required.” The service will also integrate with Microsoft Designer for template customization, once Designer is more widely available.

The new site is mostly just a fancy template repository, but it is another sign Microsoft is trying to more closely integrate all its apps and services. It’s also another push into design and content creation, especially with templates for the Clipchamp video editor — Office isn’t just for budget spreadsheets and simple notes.

Source: Office Insider Blog