Help / Screens and schedules

Urgent messages

Put a notice over every screen in seconds, and end it when you're done.

An urgent message covers your TVs with a notice, like “Closing early today at 6 pm” or “Card payments are down, cash only”, without touching your playlists. It reaches screens that are on within 30 seconds and goes away by itself when it ends. Urgent messages come with the Premium plan.

Post a message

1. Press Post a Message in the bar along the top of the admin.
2. Choose what to show:
   • Words: type your Message, up to 200 characters, and pick a colour theme. The player sizes the words to fill each TV, so there's nothing to design.
   • A picture: choose one from your media library. To use a new one, upload it in Media first.
3. Under Show on, choose Every screen, One location's screens (if you have locations) or Chosen screens, and tick the screens. It says how many screens that is and how many are offline.
4. Under Ends, choose how long it lasts: from In 30 minutes up to In 7 days, or At a time… to pick an exact end time. It starts at 1 hour.
5. Check the preview, which shows the message as the TVs will draw it, then press Post Message.

You'll see Message posted. Screens that are on show it within 30 seconds.

What happens on the TVs

• The message covers each TV until it ends.
• Your slides keep their place underneath, and background music keeps playing.
• When the message ends, the slides carry on exactly where they would have been.
• Screens that are offline when you post show the message when they're back, if it hasn't ended by then. Once a screen has the message, it keeps showing it through a restart, even without the internet, and takes it down at its end time by its own clock.
• End times are in your business's time zone, wherever you are when you post.

End a message early

1. Press Post a Message. Messages on now are listed first under On now, with where they show and until when.
2. Press End Now beside the message.

You'll see Message ended. Screens go back to their slides within 30 seconds. A screen that's offline at the time keeps the message until its end time.

Pictures used as messages

A picture that's on the TVs as a message can't be deleted from your library until the message ends. Trying says This picture is on the TVs as an urgent message until its end time. End the message first, then delete the picture.

Who can post

Owners and editors can post and end messages. Viewers and staff can't. Posting and ending a message are recorded in the activity log, without the words.

If something goes wrong

• Post Message is greyed out. The reason shows beside it: Type your message., Choose a picture., Choose a location., Choose at least one screen., Choose an end time that's still to come. or A message can last at most 7 days.
• “There are no pictures in your library yet.” Add one in Media, or type your message instead.
• “Urgent messages come with the Premium plan.” An owner can choose Premium in Settings, under Billing. See Plans and billing.
• A screen isn't showing it. Check in Screens that the screen is online and that the message is set to show on it.