Even if you’re a hardcore Microsoft 365 / Office subscriber, chances are that you don’t take advantage of all of the services that Microsoft offers you. A new portal, Microsoft Create, is designed to encourage you to do just that.

Microsoft Create, which is being launched in preview, is simply a gateway to services Microsoft already provides: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Forms, and Clipchamp, the new video editing service. It also provides an entry point to Microsoft Designer, the new AI-powered creative tool that Microsoft has announced but hasn’t formally launched.

Why use Create? In a word, templates. Microsoft’s Office apps, as well as Clipchamp, all begin with quick, purposeful ways to accomplish tasks, and that’s the whole point of Create. The site offers a search box right at the top of the page to get started, but also has visual representations of various templates further down to provide further inspiration. All of the templates are fully customizable, so that you can tweak them as you wish.

Suggested project templates include a TikTok video, an animated or static birthday card, and more. There’s even a Learn & grow section of Create that offers suggestions and tips from content creators to help propel you even further.

There’s a final reason to use Create: because it’s create-ive. So much of Microsoft 365 / Office seems designed for business, simply to improve your workflow and help you and your business make money. Much of the creative elements within Office and Windows seem to have been neglected over the recent years. Create helps restore that feeling of fun.

Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor

As PCWorld’s senior editor, Mark focuses on Microsoft news and chip technology, among other beats. He has formerly written for PCMag, BYTE, Slashdot, eWEEK, and ReadWrite.

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