Choose New content, then the Web tab, and paste a URL.
What Screenly does with it
It looks at what the URL actually serves.
A page becomes a live web page in your library. Nothing is stored: the screen loads it fresh each time it plays. That is the right outcome for a dashboard, an intranet page, or anything that should always be current. See Web pages.
A file, if the URL points directly at a supported image, video, or PDF, is fetched and stored in your library like an upload. This saves downloading it to your machine and uploading it again.
The distinction is what the server returns, not what the URL looks like. A link to a page containing an image gives you the page, not the image.
When a URL will not verify
If we cannot reach the URL, you get Content could not be verified and an Add anyway option.
That is not always an error. A page on your own network is unreachable from our servers but perfectly reachable from the screen, which is on that network. Add it anyway and it works.
It is an error when the URL is simply wrong, or the page needs a login. For the second case, see Authenticated pages.
URLs behind a login
Fetching a file from a URL happens once, at the moment you add it, using nothing but the URL. If the file is behind authentication the fetch fails.
Download it and upload it directly, or use the API.
YouTube and Vimeo
Paste the video page URL. Screenly handles the playback rather than downloading the file.