Your screen is connected but has nothing to show. A playlist needs something to play, so the next step is getting at least one item into your content library.
Add something to your library
- In the dashboard, open Content.
- Click Add content.
- Drag in a file, or browse for one.
Upload finishes in the background, and the item appears in your library when it is ready.
For a first run, an image is the fastest thing to test with. A 1920 x 1080 JPEG or PNG will fill a standard screen exactly.
Match your content to the screen’s resolution and orientation. A portrait image on a landscape screen gets letterboxed with bars down both sides.
What you can upload
Screenly accepts more than images and video:
| Type | Notes |
|---|---|
| Images | JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP |
| Video | Re-encoded on upload so every screen gets a format it can play |
| Audio | Plays over HDMI or the device’s analog output |
| Each page becomes its own item, so a multi-page PDF turns into a sequence | |
| Presentations | PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote |
| Documents and spreadsheets | Word, Excel, and their Google and Apple equivalents |
Video is worth a note. We re-encode it centrally when you upload, so you do not have to think about codecs or containers, and every device gets something it can decode. That processing takes a little time on upload and saves you trouble later.
Or skip uploading entirely
Not everything has to be a file. Two of the most useful kinds of content are not uploaded at all.
A web page is a live URL that the screen loads and displays. Point it at an internal dashboard, a status board, or a page your team already maintains, and it stays current without anyone touching Screenly. Screenly can reach pages behind a login, and can inject JavaScript to hide navigation or scale a layout to fit.
An app pulls live data and re-renders itself: a clock, a weather widget, an RSS feed, a Grafana or Power BI dashboard. Browse the App Store and add one in a couple of clicks.
A web page or app is not a snapshot. It keeps updating on the screen without you republishing anything, which is what makes it useful for dashboards and live figures.
Next
With something in your library, you can build a playlist.