Create a recurring weekday schedule

Create a weekly schedule to show a Playlist or Layout at the same local time on selected days. For example, use one to play a lunch menu from Monday through Friday, 10:30 to 13:00.

The presentation chooser supports server search and Load more, and target selectors include screens and Display Groups beyond the first page. To find a schedule you already made, see Find a schedule.

Before you start

• An Owner or Administrator account is needed to create or change schedules. Other roles can open a schedule and read its outcome, but not change it.
• Prepare a Playlist with content that is Ready, or publish the Layout you want to schedule. Tilecast won’t save a schedule that references an empty Playlist, unready media, or an unpublished Layout.

Create the schedule

The editor is one page that reads from top to bottom: what the schedule is, what it plays, when it runs, and where. A Schedule outcome pane beside it shows what your draft will do. Nothing is saved until you select Create schedule.

1. Open Operations > Schedules.
2. Select Create schedule.
3. Enter a Name.
4. Leave Enabled on. The switch takes effect when you save, not before.
5. Under Presentation, choose Content.
6. Select Choose a Playlist or Layout, then pick one.
7. Select Use this presentation.
8. Under Timing, choose Weekly.
9. Select the days the schedule should run.
10. Enter the Starts and Ends times.
11. Check the Timezone. It starts as your organization’s default. Search by city or region to choose another.
12. Under Targets, select Add targets.
13. Search for screens and Display Groups, then choose one or more. Each target appears as a row you can remove.
14. Select Create schedule. You stay in the editor, now showing the saved schedule.

Select Limit to a date range under Timing if the rule should start or stop on specific dates. Without one, the rule repeats every selected weekday.

Choose One-time instead of Weekly for a single event. Enter the start and end in the schedule’s timezone, not your browser’s.

Read the outcome

The Schedule outcome pane answers four questions about your draft: what it shows, when it runs, where it applies, and at which priority. On a tablet or phone, select Review in the header to open the same pane. A number on Review counts things that need your attention.

Below those answers, the Next-run check asks the server what would happen at the schedule’s next run. It looks at every screen you targeted, including every screen in a Display Group, and tells you on how many screens this schedule would play. If another schedule would win on some screens, the check names it and says why, for example that it has a higher priority.

The check covers the next run only. A later run can differ if another schedule applies at a different time. Treat it as a way to catch problems, not as a promise.

While you edit, the pane keeps the last answer and marks it Checking… until a new one arrives. If the check fails, you can still save. If it finds screens that can’t run display control, fix that first: those screens block saving.

Control which schedule wins

Open Conflict handling only when this schedule shares screens with another one. A higher priority is preferred when active schedules overlap on a screen. Choose Important or Special event when this schedule should take precedence, or Custom to enter a number from -999 to 999. When priorities match, the schedule that targets a screen directly wins, then the one that started later. The next-run check shows the result.

In the target picker, a screen that belongs to a Display Group is offered as that group. Choosing the group schedules all its members together. Outside an active schedule window, the assigned fallback content continues to play.

Time and playback behavior

Weekly times use the selected timezone, including daylight-saving changes. If the Ends time is earlier than the Starts time, playback ends the following day. Equal start and end times make a 24-hour window.

Screen schedule previews include the next weekly transition on every weekday, including a run later in the week or on the day the clocks move forward.

Tilecast resolves unusual daylight-saving wall times consistently:

• If the clock jumps forward across a scheduled start, a time that does not exist, such as 02:30 on that day, starts at the first real local minute after the gap.
• If the clock moves backward and a start time occurs twice, Tilecast uses the first occurrence. When an end time occurs twice, it uses the later occurrence. This keeps a window from ending early only because the clock repeated an hour.

A schedule aimed at a Display Group follows the group’s current membership; it is not a frozen list captured when you published the schedule. Adding or removing a screen causes that screen’s manifest to be reconciled. An online screen adopts the new group result after the change reaches it. An offline screen cannot learn the membership change until it reconnects.

Players evaluate timing with a server-corrected clock from the last schedule manifest they received. The measured server offset is kept for cached scheduling after a restart. During a server or network outage, recurring rules already in the manifest can continue switching at their known boundaries, but the Player cannot receive a new one-time schedule or later edits until it reconnects. If the device’s clock changes significantly while it remains offline after the last server sample, its effective schedule time can be wrong until it reconnects and measures the server again.

Playback during an outage still depends on the needed content being available on the Player; content set to stream or not yet downloaded needs a network connection.

To remove a schedule, open More actions in the header and choose Delete schedule. Its screens then use another applicable schedule, or their assigned fallback content.

Find a schedule

Operations > Schedules lists every schedule with the count at the top. Each row answers what the schedule does, when it runs, and where:

• Schedule: the name, which opens the schedule, and its description.
• Status: Enabled or Disabled. This is the saved setting. It doesn’t say whether the schedule is playing right now.
• When: the days and hours, then any date range and the schedule’s timezone. A window that ends the next day says so.
• Presentation: the Playlist or Layout it shows, or the Display Control action it runs.
• Targets: the first two screens or Display Groups, then a count such as +3. Hover or focus the count to see them all.
• Priority: the exact number. A higher priority wins when eligible schedules overlap.
• Updated: when the schedule last changed.

Narrow screens drop the less important columns, and phones show a list instead of a table.

Search matches schedule names. Filters narrows by Status, Schedule type (weekly or one-time), and Presentation (Playlist, Layout, or Display control). Active filters appear as chips under the toolbar. Clear filters removes them but keeps your search and sort. Use the sort menu to order by Recently updated, Name, or Highest priority.

Search, filters, and sort run on the server, so they cover every schedule and not only the ones loaded so far. The list loads up to 100 schedules at a time; select Load more for the rest.

The ⋯ menu on each row opens the schedule. Owner and Administrator accounts can also delete it there after confirming. Other roles can open a schedule but not change it.

Look ahead with the Playback agenda

Open Operations > Schedules > Playback agenda and choose a screen or Display Group. Use the arrows to move between calendar weeks. On a narrow screen, select a day above the time grid. Times use your browser’s time zone.

Each block shows which presentation Tilecast expects to play. Select it to see its start and end, the source of the selection, and any competing schedules. Fallback means the screen uses its default presentation. No content selected means no presentation was selected for that time.

For a Display Group, use the screen picker to switch between members. The calendar shows expected selection from current configuration, beginning at server time. To check what a Player reported playing, use Proof of Play.

Next steps

Screen schedule previews include weekly transitions on every day of the week, including the day the clocks move forward. See the Playback Plan contract.

• Prepare a Playlist or Layout for the schedule.
• Coordinate several content blocks and destinations with a Campaign.