What is the Casting feature?
ScreenCloud gives you the ability to instantly send content to a screen. Using this feature, you can immediately take over any screen with any file, playlist, app, etc. and cast it to any screen(s) of your choice.
This feature can take over any content currently playing on screen, then resume your normal playlist by turning off the cast manually at any time you'd like from within your ScreenCloud account. This is useful for getting a quick message or update out across your screens, for example:
Set up a timeframe for the screen takeover to be active on your displays
Displaying company-wide announcements immediately
Emergency updates, notices, and warnings
Changes in schedules, meetings, or upcoming events
Photos, videos, apps, or documents you want to instantly showcase
You can also use the cast feature to preview how a specific piece of content or app will display live on your screen. Casting the content to a screen from your account lets you also see what it will look like in real-time, before pushing it to a live channel or screen.
It is important to note that ScreenCloud Cast is not a screen mirroring tool. Rather than streaming content directly from your device, it sends the selected content from your ScreenCloud account to the screen itself. For example, you can temporarily place a piece of content over an actively playing channel or playlist, display it for as long as needed, and then allow the screen to seamlessly return to its regularly scheduled content once the cast ends.
How do I Cast something immediately?
There are three ways you can cast by using individual pieces of content or a playlist.
Cast any content from your media library and/or links
Get started by visiting your Media Library or Links in the left-hand navigation of your account.
Click on any piece of content and/or link. For this example, I’ve chosen an image uploaded into my Media Library.
Click on Cast icon in the lower-right hand corner. You can now select any screens from your account or search for a specific screen you want to take over with this content.
Once you’ve selected your screen(s), select the drop-down menu available to select the "Cast" option. You can also visit your “Media Library” and see a “Casting” status update for any screens that are currently being taken over by this piece of content.
When casting a multi-page document or multi-slide presentation, ScreenCloud will automatically rotate through each page or slide during playback. It is not possible to manually advance, go back, or select a specific page or slide while casting. Similarly, when casting a video, playback will always begin from the start and continue looping until the cast is ended. You cannot skip forward, rewind, or manually control video playback while it is being cast.
Cast a Playlist
Visit Playlists in the left-hand navigation of your ScreenCloud account.
Click into any playlist, then navigate to the Cast icon in the upper-right hand navigation. You can now select any screens from your account or search for a specific screen you want to take over with this playlist.
Once you’ve selected your screen(s), select the drop-down menu available to select the Cast option. You can also visit your Screens and see a Casting status update for any screens that are currently being taken over by this playlist.
Cast an App
Visit Apps in the left-hand navigation of your ScreenCloud account. From here, you can view all of the apps which you've downloaded and manage instances you've created to cast automatically on any screen. For example, if you'd like to have an automatic screen takeover to play a YouTube live stream immediately on every screen in your account, you can use the cast feature for the app to display on all of your screens.
Select any of your installed apps, then navigate to the settings icon (three horizontal dots) on any instance. Click here to use the Cast function and select the screens you'd like to use for the takeover. In the example below, the content from the Currency app will be immediately cast from the app across any of your screens.
Cast any type of content from your screens menu
Visit Screens in the left-hand navigation of your ScreenCloud account.
You can hover over any screen and a Cast icon will appear to the right, highlighted in yellow. Click here to view the Media Picker, where you can choose any existing content, playlists, or apps in your account. Then, you can use the drop-down menu to select the Cast option.
Once you select what you’d like to cast, click on the yellow Cast button in the lower right-hand corner. Your screen will now cast the content selected.
Managing and stopping your casts
We understand the importance of being able to manage multiple pieces of casted content, we've got you covered with one spot to manage and stop any of your casts, at any time.
Visit Screens in the left-hand navigation of your ScreenCloud account. From here, you can hover over any screen using a cast and click the Stop Casting option, or you can manage multiple screens by clicking the Casts button. This is only if you've selected that the cast runs indefinitely - you can set up automatic casts by assigning a duration of time for the cast to end automatically.
If you've selected casts: You can now view and manage all of your casts in one spot, including being able to pause any of your casts directly through here. This is useful if you've cast multiple items from your account and would like to review them in total. Simply hover over the “Stop” button and click to stop the cast takeover for any specific screen.
Manage duration for your casts: you can manage the duration or length of time that you perform a screen takeover. The system allows you to set up an indefinite cast (please note, this requires you to manually turn off the cast features to resume your normal content), pre-set durations or you can set up your own custom duration.
Example of selecting a time:
Example of setting your own duration:
Using Tags to quickly search for and Cast content
You can set any tags (e.g. keywords) you’d like for content, playlists, and even screens to quickly display and search for while visiting different sections of your ScreenCloud account. Instead of braving through loads of content you’re using, setting tags for your content can help you easily search it later to cast it quickly to any screen. Please visit ScreenCloud's guide on how to manage your media and content using tags by clicking here.
Advanced tips:
Multi-space casting can also be managed with our developer tools and API. Our team advises that organizing content into playlists for sharing across spaces is the most recommended method for managing your content most easily, but our API is a free development tool using Graph QL. This can be manipulated for using advanced functions and querying data for exploring advanced control of your casts across spaces managed in your ScreenCloud account. You can learn more by clicking here to view ScreenCloud's GraphQL documents.
Using Cast for presentations
If using ScreenCloud is your only option for displaying a hands-on presentation, it can certainly help you share content on screen. However, for fully interactive or live presentations, we generally recommend connecting your computer directly to the display using HDMI or using your display’s built-in wireless casting features, such as Apple AirPlay, Google Cast, or other native casting options supported by your display’s operating system. These methods provide the most flexibility for live presenting and manual slide control.
If you do choose to present using ScreenCloud Cast, it works best for sharing pre-prepared slides, images, and other visual content directly from your ScreenCloud account. For the best experience, each slide or page should be uploaded as its own individual piece of content. This could be as a standalone image, a single-page document, or a one-slide app, such as a Canva design, Google Slides slide, or ScreenCloud Canvas creation. Organizing these items in a folder makes it easy to cast them to your screen one at a time, giving you full control over what is displayed throughout your presentation.
This approach is recommended because multi-page documents, multi-slide presentations, and document-based apps automatically rotate through their pages when played in ScreenCloud. Likewise, content added to a playlist or channel will only play according to its scheduled rotation. ScreenCloud does not provide manual slide-by-slide navigation for these types of content during playback.
Please keep in mind that ScreenCloud is designed for scheduled, automated content playback. It works best for content that can play independently on a set schedule, in rotation, or on a continuous loop without requiring manual intervention. It is not intended for scenarios that require precise, real-time control, such as live presentations, manual slide advancement, or interactive screen sharing.