How to password protect your Sway presentation

If you create a presentation using Microsoft Sway, you can give access to others by sharing the Sway link. You may, however, want a little more security for your Sway by means of password protection. Applying a password to your Sway means that you can specify whether everyone needs the password to view, or only those you want to grant access to edit the Sway.

If you have a Microsoft 365 business, education or consumer subscription, you will have the option to set a password for your Sway presentations.

What is Microsoft Sway?

Microsoft Sway is part of the Microsoft 365 family of programs. It provides users with a way to create and share presentations, newsletters, stories and presentations. Sway is content-centred meaning you take away the need for all the bells and whistles you can get from other programs such as PowerPoint, and solely focus on the content and the story you are telling. Sway includes a built-in design feature which helps you quickly style your presentation without the need to sit for hours to make it look polished.

A presentation created using Microsoft Sway is referred to as a “Sway”.

Microsoft Sway works perfectly within a classroom or business setting and really has no limitation in its application or usage. Businesses can use Sway to create staff induction training, broadcasts and newsletters, while schools can use Sway for student portfolios or to send the school newsletter to the parent community.

How to protect your Sway presentation

Password options allow you to apply a password to:

• Require a password for everyone or,
• Only require a password to edit

In this first example, we are going to apply a password for everyone to access our Sway.

1. Go to sway.office.com and sign in
2. If you do not have an existing Sway presentation, see my article on how to create a digital presentation using Sway
3. Click to open the Sway you wish to protect

4. Click the Share button in the top right corner

5. Now click the More options link at the bottom of the window
6. Click Require a password to view or edit this Sway
7. The Create password prompt will appear:

8. Enter a password for this Sway (the password should be at least 8 characters, including at least one number plus uppercase and lowercase letters).
9. Choose Require a password for everyone from the options
10. Click Set
11. Your Sway is now password protected
12. Send the link to your Sway to those who you wish to provide access, but remember to give them the password also

Access a password protected Sway presentation

Once you receive a link to a password protected Sway, follow these steps:

1. Open the email message and click the link

2. The Enter password prompt will appear:

3. Type in the password and click Submit
4. You will now have access to view the Sway

5. You will have limited functionality on what you can do within the Sway however you can share, change the layout options, print or export the Sway.

Remove password protection from a Sway presentation

If you no longer wish to have password protection on your Sway, you can easily remove it.

1. Open the Sway presentation
2. Click Share and then choose More options
3. You will see that the presentation is set to Require a password for everyone

4. Click the Remove option
5. The password protection has now been removed

Require a password to edit a Sway

If you wish to grant someone editing access to your Sway, you can provide access in almost the exact same way we previously did. Follow these steps to provide editing access to someone.

1. Repeat the steps in previous exercises and click the Share option then choose More options
2. Click Require a password to view or edit this Sway
3. The Create password prompt will appear:

4. Enter a password for the Sway (remember the password should be at least 8 characters, including at least one number plus uppercase and lowercase letters).
5. Choose Only require a password to edit from the drop-down menu

6. Now click Set
7. Your Sway is now password protected for editing
8. You now need to send the “share” link, which is different from the “view” link to those who you wish to provide access, but again remember to give them the password
9. In the Invite people to section, select edit

10. Copy the edit link and send to those you wish to give access

Edit a password protected Sway

Once you receive a link to edit a password protected Sway, follow these steps:

1. Open the email message and click the link
2. The Enter password prompt will appear:

3. Type in the password and click Submit
4. The Sway will be displayed along with the Edit this Sway banner. This will give you the option to either Edit or View only. Click Edit.

5. The Sway will now be displayed in editing mode

I hope you’ve learnt some useful new tips on how to password protect your Microsoft Sway presentation. Feel free to comment below with any questions.