Tag-based playlists

Tag-based playlists keep a playlist's content up to date automatically, based on the tags you put on your media (Media files, Scenes, Playlists). Instead of manually updating playlists every time something changes, you tag relevant content and it is added to playlists with the matching tag.

Additionally, when you remove a tag (or delete the content), it automatically disappears from those playlists.

A workflow example

You want to create a "Weekly Promotions" screen:

1. Create a tag called Weekly Promo.
2. Open the Weekly Promotions playlist and add Weekly Promo as a tag-based source, with Auto-publish on.
3. Publish the playlist to your screens once.

From now on:

• A colleague uploads a new promo image and tags it Weekly Promo → it appears on the playlist automatically and on every screen showing it within moments.
• A promo ends → you remove the Weekly Promo tag (or delete the file) and it automatically disappears from the screens.

No need to open the playlist editor to keep the screens up to date.

When to use a tag-based playlist

Tag-based playlists are a great fit when:

• You want one playlist per "theme" (e.g. one per store, campaign, or department) and let tags decide what goes where.
• You add and retire content often (weekly promos, seasonal offers, news items).
• Several people in different spaces are able to add and edit content, but you want your special content (Weekly Promo) to appear without anyone being able to re-edit it in the playlist.

If your playlist content rarely changes, a normal playlist will suffice for your work— you don't need tag-based sources.

How does it work?

1. You create tags and apply them to media files and scenes. Tags are the link between your content and your tag-based playlists.
2. In a playlist, you add one or more Media tags as tag-based sources.

Any content tagged with one of those tags is added to the playlist automatically as a managed item.

Whenever tagged content changes, the playlist updates itself:

• newly tagged content is added,
• untagged or deleted content is removed.
• If auto-publish is enabled, the playlist is re-published to every screen currently showing it, so the displays update without any manual step.

Managed items (the ones added by a tag) live alongside any items you add manually. Your manual items are never touched by the automation.

Step 1 — Tag your content

Go to Tags from the main menu: Tags1-> Create tag2.
3 Choose the Tag type: Device tag or Content tag (cannot be changed later). Choose Content tag.

4 Choose a name and a color for your tag and click Create.

Tagging Media files and Scenes

1. Go to the Media library or to the Scenes dashboard.
2. Select one or more files (use the checkboxes for several at once)1.
3. Click Add tags2 or on the three dots near the selected Media file/Scene and choose Edit tags3.
4. Pick the tag(s) you want to apply and confirm.

Bulk tagging adds tags — it never removes the tags a file already has.

Removing a tag

Click the three dots near the Media file you want to un-tag and choose Edit tags.

In a new window click on a small cross next to the Tag name to remove it and click Save.

As soon as the tag is gone, the item is removed from any tag-based playlist connected to it via that tag.

Step 2 — Add a tag as a source

1. Open the playlist you want to make tag-based in the Playlist editor.

2. Switch to the Tag-based section1.

3. In the Add a tag source field, choose a tag2.

That's it — every file and scene currently carrying that tag will be added to the playlist immediately, and the playlist will keep itself in sync from now on.

You can add multiple tag sources to the same playlist. The playlist then contains everything matching any of those tags.

Shared content appears only once. If a single file or scene matches more than one of your tag sources, it's added to the playlist a single time (the first matching source "owns" it). You won't get duplicates.

Step 3 — Configure each tag source

Each tag source you add has its own settings.

1 Image duration

Images don't have a natural length, so each tag source defines how long each image it adds is shown on screen. Click the Image button under the Image duration to change it. The default is 30 seconds.

• This applies to image files pulled in by that source.
• Videos play for their natural length and are unaffected.
• Presentations (PDFs) use a per-page duration automatically.

If you change a source's image duration later, the images it already added are updated to the new duration.

2 Auto-publish

Each tag source has an Auto-publish switch (on by default).

• On — when this source's content changes, the playlist is automatically re-published to every screen already showing it. The displays update on their own, with no manual publish step.
• Off — the playlist content still updates in the editor, but the screens are not refreshed automatically. You'll need to publish the playlist yourself when you're ready for the change to go live.

Use off when you want to review changes before they reach the screens, and on when you want truly hands-off updates.

3 Removing a tag source

Click the delete (trash) icon next to a source to remove it. All items that were added by that tag are removed from the playlist. Any items you added manually stay in place.

Step 4 — Watch the automatic change history

Once a playlist has at least one tag-based source, an Automatic change history4 section appears in the editor. It lists the most recent automatic changes, with:

• an Added or Removed badge,
• which content was affected (click to open the file or scene),
• a Re-published badge when that change was pushed to screens,
• the date and time it happened.

This is the easiest way to confirm that tagging an item actually updated the playlist — and whether the screens were refreshed.

Frequently asked questions

How should I name my tags? Name tags by purpose, not by file. Tags like Lobby, Summer Sale, or Menu describe where/when content should appear and make tag-based sources intuitive.

Will tag-based sources delete the items I added by hand? No. Only items added by a tag source are added or removed automatically. Your manual items are left untouched.

What happens if I delete a tag entirely? Content that had that tag stops matching the source, so those managed items are removed from the playlists that used the tag.

Can one playlist use several tags? Yes. Add as many tag sources as you like; the playlist shows content matching any of them, with duplicates removed.

Does auto-publish create new schedules? No. It only refreshes the screens that are already showing the playlist. It won't start showing the playlist on screens that weren't already displaying it.

Why didn't my screens update? Make sure Auto-publish is on for the relevant tag source. If it's off, the playlist updates in the editor but you must publish manually for the change to reach the screens.

Why can't I see my tagged item? If a newly tagged item doesn't show up, confirm the tag matches a source exactly and look at the change history for what was added or removed.