Digital Signage FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Digital Signage.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Digital Signage Overview.
Setup
What do I need to configure before screens start showing content?
Enable the app for your organisation, then register at least one screen. Out of the box, custom media, Safety Hub alerts, Communications posts, and calendar events are turned on — and each of the last three produces a slide only when its source is on too: the Safety Hub app, the Communications Hub app, and Company Events in Calendar. Recognitions, open shifts, and OKR progress are off by default — turn each one on in Settings when you are ready. If you plan to upload custom images or video, the approval workflow is also on by default, so your first upload will wait in Pending until a reviewer approves it.
Who can manage screens, media, and settings once the app is enabled?
Admins (admin or above) and anyone with a Digital Signage app-admin grant can manage screens, read the audit log, and change settings. Three of those capabilities are now yours to set in Settings, each defaulting to what it did before:
- Who can publish content to screens? — who may upload and manage media slides. Defaults to managers and above; you can change it to people managers (anyone with direct reports), everyone with app access, specific groups only, or app admins only. You can also scope the grant to their own location only, so a site manager publishes to their own sites and cannot push org-wide.
- Who can approve media before it goes live? — defaults to app admins and business admins. Naming a group here lets your comms or brand team sign content off without granting them the app-admin tier, which also shows every screen’s display URL.
- Who can see screen analytics? — defaults to app admins and business admins.
Two notes on media. Authors keep control of what they uploaded, not of what colleagues uploaded: you can edit or delete your own slides, and — while Require media approval is on — an approved slide can be changed or deleted only by a reviewer, who has to unpublish it before you can edit it again. And anyone you grant publishing can also open the shared media library and see every slide in it, including who uploaded and approved each one — it is a shared library by design.
A user with app access but none of these capabilities sees a short description of what Digital Signage is, not the screen list.
Permissions and access
Why can’t a manager see the Screens or Analytics tabs?
Screens, Audit log and Settings are for admins and app admins only. Screens additionally needs Enable screen management switched on, so an admin loses that tab too when it is off. Analytics is admin-only by default but is now configurable — see Who can see screen analytics? in Settings. Managers see Dashboard and Media (if the media library is enabled). If a manager needs full access, grant them the Digital Signage app-admin role from the app’s page in Admin → Apps → All Apps.
Who decides whether uploaded media needs approval before it goes live?
An admin controls this with the Require media approval switch in Settings. When it is on (the default), new uploads start in Pending and only reach screens after a reviewer approves them. Reviewers are whoever Who can approve media before it goes live? admits — app admins and business admins by default — and a reviewer can approve their own upload. When it is off, uploads go live as soon as they are saved, with no review.
Day-to-day
How do I get a new screen running?
Go to Screens → Register screen, give it a name, optionally pick a location, and save. The app generates a unique display URL. Open that URL fullscreen in any browser — a Fire TV, a smart-TV browser, a Raspberry Pi, a tablet, or a Chromecast — and the feed starts rotating. You can also paste the URL into a third-party signage platform (BrightSign, Scala, Signagelive, etc.) as a web-URL content slot.
Can I schedule media to appear only during certain hours or days?
Yes, two layers of scheduling stack together. One-shot dates: set a start and end date on a media slide so it appears only within that window. Recurring daypart: pick the days of the week (Sunday through Saturday) and a daily time window (e.g. 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM). Both must pass for the slide to show. Overnight time windows (e.g. 10 PM – 6 AM) are not supported — split them into two entries instead.
Per-screen content rules also support dayparting: you can turn an entire content stream (e.g. shifts) on or off by day and time window for each screen independently.
What content appears on screens, and can I control it per screen?
Screens can rotate nine content types: custom media, Safety Hub alerts, Communications posts, recognitions, calendar events, open shifts, OKR progress, contest leaderboards, and Live Boards visualizations. A broadcast whose author ticked Break-room screens in the Communications composer follows the Communications posts rule — it has no switch of its own.
Each screen has its own rule for every content type: Show, Hide, or follow the app-level default. A screen’s own Show or Hide always wins; the matching switch in Settings decides only for screens left on Follow app Settings. Media, alerts, Communications posts and calendar events are on by default; recognitions, open shifts and OKR progress are off until you switch them on. Contest leaderboards and Live Boards visualizations are on by default and are switched in their own apps, not in Digital Signage Settings (see “Why can’t I see OKR progress, contest leaderboards, or Live Boards visualizations on screens?” below).
A content type also needs its source: Safety Hub for alerts, Communications Hub for posts and broadcasts, Recognitions for recognitions, Shifts & Scheduling for open shifts, OKR Hub for OKR progress, Contests and Live Boards for theirs, and Company Events switched on in Calendar for calendar events. Without it the type produces no slide, whatever the rule says.
How does the media approval workflow work?
An author uploads a slide and it goes straight to review — there is no separate submit step. The slide enters Pending status and the reviewers get an in-app notification. Reviewers are whoever Who can approve media before it goes live? admits: app admins and business admins by default. A reviewer can Approve it (it goes live on matching screens), Reject it (the author sees the reason), or later Unpublish it (returns it to Pending without a rejection badge). While approval is required, the author of an approved slide can no longer edit or delete it: only a reviewer can, and a reviewer has to unpublish it before the author can change it again.
What happens when I edit an already-approved media slide?
While Require media approval is on, only a reviewer can edit an approved slide, and saving the edit returns it to Pending: it comes off screens and must be approved again before it reappears. This prevents a swapped image or changed caption from bypassing sign-off. The slide’s author is not offered the edit — they are told to ask a reviewer to unpublish it first. With approval off, authors can edit their own live slides and the change reaches screens without review.
How do I push an alert to all screens immediately?
Send the alert from Safety Hub to everyone in the business. Only an alert that goes to everyone reaches a screen — one sent to particular people, groups, departments, locations, job titles or roles never does, because anyone in the room can read a screen. Connected screens refresh within seconds of the send; a screen without a live connection picks the alert up on its next poll.
The alert stays in the rotation for 24 hours after it is sent — longer only when it has an acknowledgement chase-up window that runs past that — or until you stand it down. An urgent alert is pinned to the front of the rotation for those 24 hours. A screen shows up to five alerts at a time, and only when its own Critical alerts rule allows them (or, for a screen that follows app Settings, Show alerts on screens is on).
When something looks wrong
Why does my screen show “Offline” on the dashboard?
A screen is marked offline when it has not sent a heartbeat within the last 5 minutes. Common causes: the device lost power or network, the browser tab was closed, or the device went to sleep. Check the device physically, confirm it has network access, and reload the display URL. The dashboard sorts problem screens to the top so you can spot them quickly.
My screen went dark overnight — will I be notified?
By email, but not straight away: a screen is reported once it has not checked in for 24 hours or more. A daily sweep runs at 8:00 AM UTC and sends one email per recipient, covering every active screen in that state (sample screens are never reported). It goes to the app’s designated app admins, and to business admins only when no app admin is designated or reachable by email — so you receive it only if you are one of them. The email repeats each day for up to 14 days, and stops sooner when the screen checks in again, when it is deactivated, or when Email admins about offline screens is switched off in Settings. A brand-new screen that has never connected gets a 24-hour grace period before it is first listed. In the meantime the dashboard shows the screen as Offline five minutes after its last check-in.
A screen lost its network connection — what happens to the display?
A service worker keeps the screen rotating its last-known feed and media content — not a frozen single frame. When connectivity returns, the screen catches up automatically. An “Offline — showing last received content” badge appears on the display so anyone walking by can tell it is stale.
Why isn’t a media slide showing on my screen?
Check these in order: (1) The slide must be Approved — draft, pending, and rejected slides never reach a screen. (2) If the slide has a date schedule, today must fall within the start and end dates. (3) If the slide has a daypart schedule, the current day and time must match. (4) If the slide is pinned to a location, it plays only on screens assigned to that location — a screen with no location plays only slides set to all locations. (5) If the slide has zone tags, the screen must share at least one matching tag. (6) The screen’s own Custom media rule must not be set to Hide — and if that rule follows app Settings, Show media must be on in Settings. (7) A sample-data slide plays only on sample screens.
Why can’t I see OKR progress, contest leaderboards, or Live Boards visualizations on screens?
All three need their own app — OKR Hub, Contests, or Live Boards — enabled for your organisation. After that they differ.
OKR progress is off by default: switch on Show OKR progress in Digital Signage Settings, or set a screen’s own OKR Progress rule to Show. It shows current-quarter, company-level objectives only.
Contest leaderboards and Live Boards visualizations are on by default as soon as their app is enabled, and have no switch in Digital Signage Settings. Each is switched for every screen in its own app’s Settings — Show contest leaderboards on digital signage in Contests, Show boards on Digital Signage in Live Boards — and any single screen can hide them in its own content rules. A contest appears only while it is active and open to the whole company; a board appears only when Publish to Digital Signage is ticked on it.
I rotated a screen’s token — what happens to the old URL?
The old URL stops working immediately. A device still showing it goes to “Screen not registered.” within seconds when it has a live connection, and at its next feed refresh otherwise. A device that is offline keeps showing its last received content until it reconnects. Copy the new display URL onto the device to reconnect it. The rotation is recorded in the Audit log.
Licensing and limits
Does Digital Signage require a licence?
No. Digital Signage is pay-as-you-go, billed per registered screen. A registered screen counts whether it is active or deactivated, online or offline, until you delete it; sample screens don’t bill. There is no per-employee fee and no licence to purchase, and any tenant can turn the app on.
What are the size and format limits for media uploads?
Custom media accepts images (PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP) and videos (MP4, WebM) up to 500 MB per file. Landscape (16:9) renders best in fullscreen. Header and footer branding images accept PNG or JPEG only, up to 10 MB. Media titles can be up to 200 characters.
Are there other limits I should know about?
| Setting | Range |
|---|---|
| Refresh interval (how often a screen polls for new content) | 30 – 300 seconds, default 60 |
| Rotation interval (how long each slide stays on screen) | 3 – 60 seconds, default 8 |
| Maximum slides in a single rotation | 1 – 50 items, default 12 |
| Image display duration (per slide) | 3 – 120 seconds |
| Screen name | Up to 100 characters |
| Communications posts and broadcasts recency window | 14 days |
| Recognition recency window | 30 days |
| Calendar events lookahead | 14 days |
| Open shifts lookahead | 7 days |
| Analytics date range | Last 7, 30, 90 or 180 days |
Videos always play to their full length regardless of the rotation interval.
More help
- Digital Signage Overview
- Ask AI — the built-in agent answers Digital Signage questions, shows which screens are offline or what media is pending approval, and — if you are a reviewer — can approve or reject a slide for you, each with a confirmation step.