Microsoft retiring Office Mix in 2018, baking add-in features into PowerPoint

In May 2014, Microsoft launched the Office Mix preview, a novel add-in for PowerPoint that allowed users to add interactive elements to their presentations. More than three years after its initial release, Microsoft has announced (via Paul Thurrott) that it is retiring Office Mix and integrating its best features into PowerPoint itself.

"Thanks to the positive feedback from our users during the Preview we are excited to share that we are bringing the best of Office Mix directly into PowerPoint, Microsoft Stream, and Microsoft Forms for Office 365 subscribers on Windows PCs," Microsoft says. That includes baking Office Mix features into the recording tab within PowerPoint. You'll also be able to publish your recordings to Microsoft Stream "in the coming months" to easily share them across an organization, Microsoft says.

As a result of the move, Microsoft will be gradually shutting down the Office Mix website over the coming months, leading to its total retirement on May 1, 2018. Here's a rundown of the timeline, from Microsoft:

• October 20, 2017: If you have an existing Office Mix account, you'll still be able to view, edit, publish, download, and delete your existing content. If you have a qualifying* Office 365 work or school account, you can sign in to migrate your mixes as videos to Microsoft Stream. If you don't have access to an Office 365 work or school account, you can download your Mixes as PowerPoint files (.pptx), and you analytics data as Excel files (.xlsx) to save to a storage location of your choosing.
• January 1, 2018: You'll no longer be able to sign up as a new user or download the Office Mix add-in from the website. Existing users who already have the Mix add-in installed will still be able to use it to upload, edit, view, and download their existing content.
• May 1, 2018: The Office Mix site and all its content will be officially discontinued. The site will no longer be accessible after that date. Any links to your Office Mix content that you previously shared with others will stop working after this date.

If you're an Office Mix user, you can find full details on how to migrate your mixes ahead of the shutdown at Microsoft's support page.