Microsoft’s AI-powered designer, developed alongside rival Canva, is now available for preview.

Microsoft announced Designer in October 2022. The new tool, which is said to be built alongside Canva’s rival, helps users create graphic designs and images. At launch, Microsoft Designer had the same interface as Canva.

Microsoft Designer can help users create designs for posters, presentations, digital postcards, invitations, and graphics for social media and other digital platforms. The designer tool uses OpenAI’s text-to-image model DALL-E2 to conceptualize designs and offers a variety of enhancements and customizations.

Powered by AI, Microsoft Designer simplifies users’ creative journey by providing an easy start, enhancing their creative workflow and most importantly helping them conquer creative paths.

“Designer uses speed generative AI technology to help and encourage everyone to start new ideas, create unique and high-quality graphics in less time, and develop content with or without a design background.” From Microsoft.

According to Microsoft, the designer is built to help users at every stage of the creative process. Since its launch in October, Microsoft has said it has been constantly improving the device’s AI models, giving users more control. Also, Microsoft is introducing Designer in the Microsoft Edge sidebar to help prompts while browsing the Internet.

Currently, users can try the extended public preview of Microsoft Designer for free by visiting the website or signing in to their Microsoft account. Designer Preview in Edge is now being posted to Edge and you can access it through the sidebar by clicking the “+” icon to enable it.

In addition to Canva, Microsoft Designer competes with Adobe’s Adobe Express Tool, which offers a wide range of image templates and images.