Overview
The Library module in Poppulo Harmony is a content storage and file management solution that allows you to upload, view, schedule, and delete digital sign content. To access the Library within Poppulo Harmony, select the Library icon from the Dashboard after logging in. See the Digital Signage Content Formats (Poppulo Harmony) article for supported file types.
Warning
When your digital sign is setup, a Playlist will be created for you by the digital signage system administrators. You should not delete this Playlist - doing so will cause the connection between the Playlist and your sign player to be removed, and you will be unable to manage the content playing on your sign. You also should not create a new Playlist - it will not automatically be connected to your sign and modifying it will have no impact on the content playing on your sign.
Recordings of digital sign training sessions are located on the University of Nebraska SharePoint library. New users should watch the Content and Playlists video to get started. Poppulo also has a short video covering the Availability topic specifically.
Uploading Content
To Upload content into your Library folder, select ⊕ New in the upper right corner and then ↥ Upload. Browse to the folder on your computer where your content is stored. You can select one file or multiple files to Upload. You can also drag and drop files from your computer into your Library folder.
While your file or files are Uploading, a Status window will appear in the lower right corner. When you're finished Uploading content, select Done on the Status window. You should now see your content in your Library folder.
Organizing Content
Once your content is Uploaded, you can organize it however you'd like. Moving content into Folders is a good way to stay organized, especially if you have a lot of content. Don't worry - moving content that is already scheduled on a Playlist is absolutely fine. To create a Folder, select ⊕ New in the upper right corner and then 🖿 Folder.
Provide a name for your New Folder and select Create.
Select one or more items of content by using the checkbox next to the file name. You can then drag and drop that content into your new Folder. You can also drop content into the Folder in the left side Folder Tree.
You can also use the Move action in the right Properties sidebar after selecting an item of content.
Select the Folder to move the content to, and then select Move.
Replacing Content
You can Replace content files easily, even if they are already scheduled on a Playlist. This is helpful if you've noticed an error or typo on the original content. Your sign will play the new version of the file within a few hours. For this to work correctly and to avoid having to re-schedule the content on any Playlists you've added it to, use the Replace action. Uploading a new file of the same name via the ⊕ New > ↥ Upload or drag-and-drop processes will not Replace the original (it will create new copies instead). You can only Replace one item of content at a time.
Select the item of content and use the Replace action in the right Properties sidebar.
Browse to the updated content file on your computer and select it. If you've select the correct file, confirm by selecting Replace. The Status window will appear to let you know if the Replace action was successful or not.
You should delete any content you no longer plan on using on your digital signs. The total amount of content storage is shared among all digital sign users at the University of Nebraska, and the storage is not unlimited. It is also recommended to remove the item of content from any Playlist where it is scheduled prior to deleting the file itself.
Select one or more items of content by using the checkbox next to the file name. Select the Delete action from the right Properties sidebar.
If you're sure, confirm by selecting Delete.
If you Deleted something you did not intend to, navigate to the 🗑 Recently Deleted folder at the bottom of the left Folder Tree. This contains all files deleted by all users within the past 14 days. Select the item of content and use the Restore action in the right Properties sidebar.
If you've selected the correct item to Restore, confirm by selecting Restore. The file will be returned to the Folder it was Deleted from.
Scheduling Content
Once your content has been uploaded to your Folder in the Library, you can schedule the content on your Playlist so it will appear on your sign. Your content will not display unless it is scheduled on a Playlist. Navigate to the Folder where your Playlist is stored. Note that Playlists can be moved into different folders just like content files, and that is absolutely fine. Just remember not to Delete the Playlist that was provided for you.
Select the Playlist to edit it, then select ⊕ Add Content. If your Playlist already has items scheduled in it, you can also select the ⊕ button below the last item of content.
The Choose media window will appear, and will start in the same Folder the Playlist is stored in. If the content you want to add has been moved to another Folder, navigate there using the left Folder Tree. Select one or more items of content stored within the selected Folder, and then select Done to add them to the Playlist. Note that you can Upload items of content from your computer here as well.
Re-Ordering Content
Newly added content will always appear at the bottom of the Playlist, and Playlists play in order from top first to bottom last. To re-order content, hover over the grid of dots to the left of the content thumbnail, grab, and drag up or down.
When you add image content, the Duration is set to 30 seconds by default. It is recommended that you change this to something like 10 or 15 seconds, as long as you can read all of the text on the image aloud within that time. Video content will automatically be set to the length of the video. Multipage .pdf files will display the overall Duration, with the default of 30 seconds per page.
To change the Duration, select the content item and update the Duration field. Note that the Duration is formatted as hours : minutes : seconds. Enter the time you'd like for that content to be played and select Done.
When you add any item of content, the Availability is set to Always by default. This means the content will play each time the Playlist goes down the list of items. You can select a specific start and end date and time for each item of content. This can be useful in keeping the content playing on your sign "fresh" by not having the same items always displaying. It is strongly recommended to use Availability any time you're scheduling content related to a specific date and time, like an event, since you wouldn't want that content continuing to play after the event is over.
To change the Availability, select the content item and then select ⊕ Add Availability.
Select the start date and time. You can set specific hours, or if you're wanting the content to play all day between the start and end dates, use 12:00am as the start time and 11:59pm for the end time. You can also select a future start date with no end date, or a weekly schedule to just have it appear on selected days of the week. Once you've selected the Availability options, select OK on the Availability window.
The Availability will appear on the content window. You can have multiple Availability times on each item of content. For any existing Availability times, you can edit or delete them by selecting the Availability. Once all Availability times are set as desired, select Done on the content window.
Content that is no longer needed in a Playlist should be removed to keep the Playlist size to a minimum. Select the content and then select 🗑 Delete item. This will remove the content item from the Playlist schedule. This does not delete the file from the Folder it is stored in. If the file is no longer needed at all, refer to the Deleting Content topic above to remove it from the storage as well.
Select Delete to confirm removing the content from the Playlist.
Bulk Actions
You can set the Duration, Availability, or Delete multiple items of content from the Playlist at once. Use the checkbox to the left of each item of content you'd like to change. Use the bulk actions button at the top. Refer to the respective Duration, Availability, or Unscheduling Content topics above for instructions on each of those tasks.
Publishing the Playlist
Most Playlists are set to Auto-Publishing when they are created for you by the digital signage system administrators. This means that all changes you make to your Playlist are automatically Published to your digital signs that use the Playlist as you're editing it. No additional tasks are needed in order for signs to start playing the new schedule within a few hours. You can confirm this if you see Auto-Publishing in the top right corner of the Playlist editing window.
This is not recommended (especially for new users), but if you prefer, you can disable Auto-Publishing and only Publish changes when you're ready. Expand the right Properties sidebar within the Playlist editing window. Toggle Auto-Publish Playlist off.
When you're finished with the Playlist changes, you must select the Publish button in the upper right corner to make the changes available to your sign players. Otherwise, they will keep playing the schedule from the previous time the Playlist was Published. You can confirm this by checking to see whether the button says Publish (which means changes aren't Published yet), or ✓ Published! (which means changes are Published).
