Schedules

A schedule decides which piece of content plays on which screens, and when. Each schedule ties one item — a media file, playlist, layout, or campaign — to a screen group, with a start and (usually) an end time.

Get there: sidebar → Schedules

How a schedule reaches a screen

Every screen checks OTS Signs regularly for its play list. When a schedule covers the current time, the screen starts playing the scheduled item. When the window ends, the screen returns to its default layout — the fallback content set on the screen itself. See Editing a display for how to set one.

If two schedules cover the same screen at the same time, the one marked Priority wins. If neither is priority, the most recently created schedule wins.

What you see on the page

The page header shows three counts:

• Total Schedules — every schedule visible to you (overrides are filtered out and live on the Overrides page).
• Active Now — schedules whose window covers the current moment.
• Upcoming — schedules whose start time is in the future.

A single All Display Groups dropdown narrows the list to one screen group. The selection is mirrored in the URL so you can share a filtered view.

The table columns:

Column	What it shows
Name	Schedule name. An Active badge marks a schedule that is currently playing. A yellow warning icon marks a conflict.
Display Group	The first screen group the schedule targets
Start	Start date and time
End	End date and time, or — for never
Repeat	Recurrence label (Once, Daily, Weekly, etc.)
Priority	Priority badge for priority schedules, otherwise Normal
Actions	Edit (pencil) and Delete (trash)

Click any row to open the schedule’s detail page. Right-click (on devices that support hover) for the context menu — Edit and Delete.

If the list is too large to show all at once, a yellow notice asks you to narrow it with a display-group filter.

Create a schedule

Click the + button in the page header (tooltip: New Schedule). The schedule dialog has three groups of fields.

What plays

Pick a content type:

• Media — a single media file (image, video, document, etc.)
• Playlist — a playlist of media items

Layouts and campaigns can be scheduled too, but only via the layout’s or campaign’s own Schedule action. The create dialog itself supports media and playlists.

Where it plays

Choose a target type:

• Screen Group — pick from your screen groups. One schedule, many screens.
• Single Screen — pick one screen. OTS Signs handles the single-screen scheduling behind the scenes.

When it plays

Field	Notes
Name	Required label for the schedule.
Start	Date and time the schedule becomes active. Defaults to now.
End	Date and time the schedule ends. Defaults to one week from now. Leave blank for an open-ended schedule.
Time Window	Optional — restrict playback to a Time Window such as Lunch or Business Hours.
Recurrence	How often the schedule repeats: Once, Every minute, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly.
Priority	Toggle on to push this schedule above standard schedules during overlaps.

For repeating schedules, set how often it repeats (the recurrence detail) and an end date for the recurrence (the recurrence range).

Advanced options

The dialog also exposes:

• Display Order — when several schedules play together at the same time, higher numbers take precedence.
• Geo-fencing — restrict playback to screens within a defined radius of a latitude / longitude point.
• Max Plays Per Hour — cap how often the content plays.
• Share of Voice — for interrupt-style schedules, the share of an hour devoted to this content.

Click Save. The schedule reaches connected screens on their next content check, typically within a couple of minutes.

Edit a schedule

Click the pencil icon on the row, or right-click → Edit. The same dialog opens pre-filled. Update any field and save.

Delete a schedule

Click the trash icon (red) on the row, or right-click → Delete. A confirmation dialog explains the schedule will be removed from all displays. Confirm to delete.

For bulk delete, tick the checkboxes on the rows you want, then click Delete in the action bar that appears at the bottom of the screen.

Recurrence

Recurrence	What it does
Once	Plays once during the start–end window.
Every minute	Repeats every minute. Useful for testing.
Hourly	Repeats every N hours.
Daily	Repeats every N days.
Weekly	Repeats every N weeks on the chosen days.
Monthly	Repeats on the same date each month.
Yearly	Repeats on the same date each year.

The recurrence range optionally caps how long the recurrence runs.

Priority

Mark a schedule Priority to push it above standard schedules during overlaps on the same screen group. For one-off, time-sensitive content (closures, announcements, emergency messages) consider an Override instead — overrides are designed for short-term takeovers and live on their own page.

Conflicts

A yellow warning icon next to a schedule name means the schedule overlaps in time with another schedule on the same screen group. Hover the icon for the tooltip: Overlaps with another schedule on the same display group.

A conflict is not necessarily a problem — the priority and display-order rules decide which content plays — but it’s worth checking that you intended the overlap.

Linking from other pages

• The Playlists page has a Schedule action that opens this page’s create dialog with the playlist pre-filled.
• The Dashboard links to a specific schedule by opening its context menu automatically.

Permissions

The page appears only when your role includes schedule access. Create, edit, and delete depend on your scheduling permissions. Customer admins always have full access.

Next steps

• Time Windows — define reusable time-of-day windows.
• Overrides — push short-term content takeovers.
• Reports — confirm content actually played.