How ScreenCloud Dashboards refreshes content
ScreenCloud Dashboards works by capturing periodic screenshots of a webpage or selected section. The displayed content reflects a snapshot at the time of capture, and not a continuous live feed. How frequently your screen updates depends on two separate mechanisms, which are often confused:
Content refresh rate
After the Dashboard login steps are completed, ScreenCloud renders the live webpage and data changes appear on screen approximately every 5 seconds, as long as the source site updates at that frequency. This is not configurable.
"Manage Session" rate
How often ScreenCloud re-runs the initial page load, login, or authentication flow. This controls session continuity only, not how often data changes on screen. The default is 10 minutes; custom intervals range from every hour up to every 12 hours.
Key distinction: If your dashboard is already live and authenticated, data changes will appear on screen roughly every 5 seconds, regardless of your session refresh rate setting. The session refresh rate only controls how often the login and authentication flow is repeated to prevent session timeouts.
Why the Manage Session rate matters
Session timeouts occur when a connection to a dashboard is terminated after a certain period of inactivity. For example, if Tableau has a 30-minute timeout, the connection will close unless it is refreshed within that time.
Below are average session timeout durations for popular dashboards supported by ScreenCloud:
Dashboard | Average Session Timeout |
Tableau | 30 minutes |
Grafana | 60 minutes |
Salesforce* | 2 hours |
Google Data Studio | 1 hour |
Trello | No fixed timeout (dependent on browser inactivity) |
Power BI | 1 hour (with Power BI app: no timeouts) |
GitHub | 30 minutes |
Sentry | 30 minutes |
Proving Ground | 45 minutes |
JIRA | 60 minutes |
DataDog | 60 minutes |
Zendesk | 30 minutes |
CloudWatch | 30 minutes |
Note: Timeout duration can vary depending on individual organization configurations.
*Salesforce: When setting up a salesforce dashboard, make sure to click the “Refresh” button in the dashboard journey to load the latest data, as it does not auto-refresh.
How to set your Dashboard session refresh rate
Follow these steps to configure your session refresh rate in ScreenCloud:
Access the Advanced Settings settings:
After adding your dashboard to ScreenCloud and completing the Dashboard recorder journey, you will see the Advanced Settings options.
Choose an interval:
Select a time interval shorter than your dashboard's session timeout (e.g., if your dashboard times out after 30 minutes, set the session refresh rate to 25 minutes).
Use the default setting (45 minutes) if unsure.
Save your settings:
Click “Save” to apply your session refresh rate.
Optional - Toggle on "Turn off session refresh":
If your dashboard doesn’t require session refresh (e.g., Trello), you can turn off session refresh.
Best practices for setting a refresh rate
Research your dashboard’s timeout
Use the table above to find the recommended session refresh time for your dashboard.
Avoid overloading your dashboard
Setting the session refresh rate too frequently can put unnecessary strain on the dashboard system. The minimum allowable session refresh rate is 5 minutes, even if a shorter interval is entered. However, we recommend following the refresh rate guidelines in the table above for the best performance.
Test your configuration
After setting the session refresh rate, monitor your dashboard to ensure uninterrupted data display.
When ScreenCloud Dashboards isn’t the right fit
Dashboard sites with highly dynamic or real-time data, such as visuals that update every second, are not a good fit for the screenshot-based method. For real-time needs, use one of ScreenCloud’s live-content apps instead:
These apps display content directly rather than relying on screenshots, and are best suited for public dashboards that don’t require authentication. Authenticated dashboards must rely on periodic snapshots to maintain security and platform compatibility. Keep in mind that on-screen content will typically refresh approximately every 5 minutes with these alternatives.
Using the Microsoft Power BI app
For users of Power BI, we recommend leveraging our dedicated Microsoft Power BI app instead of the dashboard integration. This app eliminates session timeout issues entirely and is optimized for seamless display on ScreenCloud.
By setting a session refresh rate that aligns with your dashboard's session timeout, you’ll ensure your screens consistently display live, up-to-date data—keeping your team informed and engaged. If you’re unsure about your dashboard’s session timeout or encounter any issues, please reach out to our support team here.
In addition, if you don't see ScreenCloud Dashboards in your account, please send a request to support to upgrade your account to the Pro or Enterprise plan.