How do I add content to be shown on my REACH digital sign?

REACH tools do not seem to fully work in Safari. If you have trouble with using any tools in REACH, try using Chrome or Firefox. 

Before covering the how-to portion of this article, there are two topics which first need to be covered:

• Media Library: The Media Library is the space in which all of your media (images, videos, announcements) lives. This is where you upload your original content before adding it to a Playlist. Any changes made in a Playlist (adding content, reordering the content, etc.) has no effect on the original files in the Media Library. 
• Playlist: A Playlist is a list of content that is shown on your digital sign. You can set the order of content shown, the duration it is shown for, start and end dates, and other similar settings in a Playlist. Deleting an item from a Playlist does not remove it from your Media Library.

To add content to be shown on your digital sign do the following:

1. Log in to REACH by going to acu.edu/reach or using the REACH Digital Signage Quicklink on myACU. Please use either Chrome or Firefox, Safari does not seem to work well with REACH. 
2. Go to Media Library which is found in the blue column on the far left of the page. Click the "Add Assets" button at the top left of the center screen to upload new content. You have three options in the menu to choose from.
   1. Upload Content - Upload images, videos, or other files.
   2. Create Announcement - Allows you to add text. shapes, or make a single image which contains multiple smaller images. More information on creating Announcements can be found here.
   3. Create Canva Design - Allows you to directly upload content from Canva if you use it.  
3. Tag your uploaded content using the + icon in the column called "TAGS" in the Media Library. At the very least you should tag it with your department to easily identify it from other groups' uploaded content. You can use as many tags as you like, so adding more tags for specific dates, event names, or other identifiers is easily done. 
4. Once your content has been uploaded and organized, you can move on to adding it to a Playlist. Select the Playlist Application in the blue column on the far left of the page.
5. Select your Playlist from the list of available Playlists by double clicking it. Once in the "Playlist Management" view, click the "Add Content" button to add content to your Playlist.
6. In the window that opens you will see all Media Library content shown. Once your content has been tagged in the Media Library according to step 3, you can use the "Filter Tags" option to show only your content to make it easier to add what you want. On the left side of the add content window, you can also filter by Images, Announcement, etc. to more easily locate the content you are wanting to be shown. 
7. Click on as many items as you would like to add to your Playlist. As you select items, you will see a dashed outline appear to inform you that they have been selected. Once you have everything selected that you would like to add, click "OK" 
8. On the next screen you will see publish settings, like the start and end dates, content duration, and scheduling features. This will adjust the settings for all content you are adding to the Playlist at that moment, but you can edit individual items later, if desired. 
   1. Start Date & Time - The first date and time that the content will be shown. You can use this to upload content in advance, then schedule it to be shown starting on a specific day and time. 
   2. End Date & Time - The expiration date and time for the content. When this date and time passes, the content will no longer be shown on your sign. It will not be removed from the Playlist automatically, but it will show as expired and allow you to reactivate the content if desired. If the "No End Date" option is selected, the content will never expire and will always be shown until you deactivate or remove the content. 
   3. Content Duration - The amount of time each item will be shown on the display. By default it is set to 10 seconds so the item shown on the display will change every 10 seconds according to the order of the Playlist. 
   4. The scheduling features on the bottom allow you to decide on which specific days and times the content is shown. For example, if you had content you were adding which was relevant only to MWF class schedules, you could have it only shown on those days, and then have other content show on TR or throughout the week. 
9. Once you have set all the publish settings, click "Publish to Playlist(s)" and your new content will be added.
10. In the Playlist view you will now see your new content and the settings you selected. You will also see the play order in the far right column. This number determines in which order the content will automatically be shown on the display.
    1. To reorder content, select the items you wish to move, and use the "Cut Items" button at the top. To insert your cut items, select the wrench icon of the item immediately before or after where you'd like your reordered content to go and select "Paste Here" to open the paste items window. In the paste items window you can drag your items above and below the item that is already in the Playlist to paste items before or after that existing item. 
11. The Playlist automatically saves, so you should not need to do anything else at this point. The sign will automatically refresh after a few minutes and your new content will be shown. When you have content you no longer want shown on your display you can deactivate it or delete it from the Playlist. Keep in mind this does not delete the content from your Media Library.