Every device has its own playlist. If plugins are the content, the playlist is the list your device rotates through, and it decides what shows next and how long each screen sticks around.
To find it, open Playlist in the main menu, which shows the playlist of whichever device you have selected. Switch devices to see another one.
Add a plugin or mashup
When you create a plugin, we add it to the selected device's playlist for you, so you'll see "Plugin created and added to your playlist" and there's nothing else to do.
To add a plugin you already have, click Add Plugin and pick the full screen layout (a single box), then choose the plugin and click Save. The other layouts split the screen into a mashup of several plugins. On some devices Add Plugin is a plain list of your plugins instead.
A new item doesn't wait its turn, either. It shows at the device's next refresh, ahead of the rest of the list, so you can see what you added without sitting through the whole rotation.
Change the order
Drag an item up or down to move it. On a phone or tablet, drag from the handle on the right side of the row.
How long each screen shows
Click the three dots on an item, then Adjust schedule. Duration is how long this screen stays put before the playlist moves on, and Device default uses the refresh rate in your device settings. Custom values run anywhere from 5 mins to 24 hrs.
Keep in mind that duration does not make a plugin fetch new data more often. Our article on how refresh rates work covers how the two fit together.
Hide, duplicate or remove an item
The three dots on each item open these options:
Hide this item keeps it on the list but out of the rotation, and Show this item brings it back.
Duplicate makes a separate copy of the plugin and adds it to the bottom, which is handy when you want something to show twice per rotation.
Remove from playlist takes it off this device, while the plugin itself stays connected to your account.
Presentation sets the color palette, font and text scale for this item only.
Refresh now fetches new data and renders a fresh screen.
If you want to change several items at once, click Select at the top of the page.
Schedules and Important
By default every item shows at all times. In Adjust schedule, click Set a custom schedule to pick the days and hours it's allowed on screen. And during… adds a second window, and Dates limits the item to a date range, with Every year for things like holidays that come back around.
Once an item has a schedule, an Important switch appears. While an Important item is inside its schedule, only Important items show, which means if you mark every item Important, none of them stands out (we've all been there with email). The Playlist Scheduler article walks through each option.
Smart Skip
Smart Skip, at the top of the page, skips screens that haven't changed in a while so your device isn't showing you yesterday's news on repeat. Choose Never skip screens, or skip a screen when its last render is 1 to 7 days old, and it comes back as soon as it renders again.
What decides the next screen
At each refresh, TRMNL picks the screen in this order:
Sleep Mode and the low battery screen come before the playlist.
An item that has never been shown goes first.
Otherwise it's the next item below the one shown last, wrapping back to the top after the bottom.
Items that are hidden, out of schedule, skipped by their plugin, waiting for setup or skipped by Smart Skip are passed over.
If nothing is scheduled, the device shows the "You're caught up!" screen.
The status badge on each item tells you why it isn't showing, and The day ahead, above the list, shows what's coming up over the next few hours. Once any item has a schedule, Time Travel lets you preview the playlist at another day and time. If you'd rather move on without waiting, see How to Change Screens.
Copy a playlist to another device
Go to Devices, open Actions on the device you want to copy from, and choose Copy playlist to device. Pick From and To, then click Copy playlist. This option only appears once you have two or more devices.
The items are added to the other device and nothing there is removed. Each item keeps its schedule, duration and presentation. Plugins are shared rather than copied, so a change to a plugin's settings shows up on both devices, while mashups become new copies.
Mirroring
Mirroring shares one device's playlist with another device, even one on a different account, and the other device keeps its own items too. New items on the first device don't arrive by themselves, so click Sync Screens to pull them in. See Mirroring a Device for the setup.
Troubleshooting
"Your playlist has 1 uncovered period." At some times no item is scheduled, so the device shows "You're caught up!". Click See when, then fill the gap by adding an item without a schedule or widening an existing one.
The same screen shows every time. Only one item can show right now, so check the badges for Hidden, Out of schedule, Important active or Stale.
An item says "Not refreshing". Its refreshes stopped after repeated failures. Open its settings to fix the problem, then see Plugin in a Degraded State (Reset).
An item says "Needs setup". Open the three dots and choose Configure.
There is no Important switch. Set a custom schedule on the item first, and the switch appears after that.
You can't reorder, hide or schedule items. These controls are for TRMNL, BYOD and Kindle devices, and a Tidbyt does not have them.
Related