Documentation

Assets (pages)

Settings/Configuration

Backup and Recovery

Hints and Tips

Assets

Add New Asset/Page

  1. From the "Schedule Overview" page click on the "+Add Asset" button.
  2. The "Add Asset” popup will show with the default to add a URL to an existing web page.
    • Web Pages YouTube Videos
      • Past the URL link in to the "Asset URL" field.
      • Click the "Save" button.
      • If adding a video, the video will be downloaded and the lenth calculated. This may take a few seconds to process.
    • Local Images/Videos
      • Click on the "Upload" tab.
      • An “Add Files” target will appear where you can drag and drop file(s) from your computer to upload to the application.
      • When all files have been uploaded click the “Back to Assets” button.
  3. The new asset will be shown in the “INACTIVE ASSETS” section. 
  4. The default settings for new assets are...
    • Duration: 10 seconds for webpages/images or video length
    • Play for: Manual with an end date of one month from the creation of the asset.
  5. The name of the asset may be cryptic. Click on the edit icon to rename the asset or change the default settings (recommended).

Delete Asset/Page

  1. From the “Schedule Overview” page click on the delete/trash can icon  in either the “ACTIVE ASSETS” or “INACTIVE ASSETS” section.
  2. Click the “Delete” button to permanently delete the asset.

Edit Asset/Page

  • From the “Schedule Overview” page click edit icon  in either the “ACTIVE ASSETS” or “INACTIVE ASSETS” section.
  • The following fields can be edited.
    • Name
      The default name is the URL of the file name, change to a meaningful name.
    • Play for
      The default is to play for one month from the creation of the asset. From the drop down list change the setting to an appropriate value, this will most often be "Forever", and the year will be set to 9999.
      The "Play for" value is only checked when the asset is in the "ACTIVE" group.
    • Start/End Date
      For precise control on when the asset will be played (when in the "ACTIVE" group), set the appropriate date times for the asset to be displayed.
    • Duration
      For webpages and images, this sets the number of seconds the page will be displayed.
      The default is 10 seconds.
      Consider the information on the page for the amount of time to diaplay the page
  • Click the "Save" button to keep the changes made.

Activate/Deactivate  Asset/Page

  • From the “Schedule Overview” page click the "Off" button in the  “ACTIVE ASSETS”  to deactivate an asset.or “INACTIVE ASSETS” section.
  • From the “Schedule Overview” page click the "On" button in the  “INACTIVE ASSETS”  to activate an asset.

Reorder Active Assets/Pages

  • To change the sequence in which the active assets are displayed, from the “Schedule Overview”  in the  “ACTIVE ASSETS”  section.
  • Click and drag the 3-bar icon  on the far left of the asset to the order desired, and release the mouse button.

Backup and Recovery

Backup Assets

Backup of the asset configuration should be made when (significant) changes are made to assets.
In the event of hardware failure or accidental deletion of assets, the backup can be quickly restored to the state when the backup was made.

  • Navigate the the  "Settings" page. 
  • Scroll down to the "Backup" section.
  • Click on the "Get backup" button.
  • After the backup has been prepared it will be downloaded to the browsers default download directory.
  • The backup file will be in the form...
    screenly-backup.tar.gz
    if this file already exists then 
    screenly-backup.tar-X.gz
    while be created where X is a digit (1, 2, 3 etc.)

Recover Assets

Selecting the option to "Upload and Recover" will over write the current assets with the configuration contained within the backup file.

  • Navigate the the  "Settings" page. 
  • Scroll down to the "Backup" section.
  • Click on the "Upload and Recover" button.
  • A file dialog popup will open where you can select the backup file (screenly-backup.tar.gz) to recover
  • Select the file and the backup configuration uploaded and restored to the sign.
    Note:
    If the backup file is named like screenly-backup.tar-1.gz, this will fail the restore process.
    Rename the file to screenly-backup1.tar.gz before performing the upload and recover operation

Settings/Configuration

Recover Assets

Selecting the option to "Upload and Recover" will over write the current assets with the configuration contained within the backup file.

  • Navigate the the  "Settings" page. 
  • Scroll down to the "Backup" section.
  • Click on the "Upload and Recover" button.
  • A file dialog popup will open where you can select the backup file (screenly-backup.tar.gz) to recover
  • Select the file and the backup configuration uploaded and restored to the sign.
    Note:
    If the backup file is named like screenly-backup.tar-1.gz, this will fail the restore process.
    Rename the file to screenly-backup1.tar.gz before performing the upload and recover operation

Hints and Tips

Images

There are a number of options for creating images to use as assets for the sign. 

  • Use presentation software availabe on the computer, e.g. Keynote on the Mac and PowerPoint on Windows. Export the page as an image
  • Use online sites such as Adobe Spark
  • Ensure when creating the image you use the correct aspect ratio for the display device. 16x9 for landscape display or 9x16 for displays in portrait mode.
  • Export or save the file as a jpg image to upload/add to the display.

Video

  • When editing the video be sure to add appropriate and large titles as in most instances the video will be playing silently.
  • Edit to attempt to create as shortand conside action packed video as possible. 
  • Videos can be uploaded to YouTube and marked as private for use as an asset only or as part of your social media presence.

General

  • For long playlist consider adding multiple copies of important assets in the playlist so that this information is displayed more frequently.
  • In most cases the default 10 second view time for an asset is appropriate, but change any asset duration to be shorter or longer as appropriate base on the content of the asset.

Network

  • If the system boots before the network is ready the system will not start and wait for the network to be manually configured.
  • If the network is back up then power cycle the system so that it will boot and connect to the network.
  • If it is not possible to power cycle the sytem then follow these steps...
    1. Make a note of the SSID (e.g ScreenlyOSE-ABCD) and the password (case sensitive) displayed on the screen
    2. On the Mac at the top right click on the network icon and select the network SSID noted from the previous step.
    3. Enter the password (case sensitive) and the mac will connect to the system.
    4. Hit "command" and "space bar" to bring up spotlight search
    5. Type terminal and hit ENTER
    6. In the terminal window enter the following commands
    7. ssh pi@screenly.io
    8. The password is zaq12wsx
    9. Enter the command
      sudo reboot now
    10. If the root password is requested enter zaq12wsx
    11. The system will reboot and should connect to the network and start displaying as normal.