How do I put a wall screen up on a TV?

Open a screen on a signed-in device or make a display link for a TV, show several screens in turn, and see your limits, signed-in screens and paired devices.

Part of How do I set up wall screens?. This part covers putting a screen up — on a device you're signed in on, or with a display link — showing several screens in turn, how many screens you can have, the signed-in screens and paired devices lists, and good to know.

Putting a screen up

Staff screens sign in; guest screens use display links. Screens for your team — the Orders screen (any layout) and the staff board — run signed in, on a device that's already in your dashboard or staff portal: updates land instantly and there's no permanent link to look after. There is no display link for these screens — creating one is refused. Screens guests can see or reach — the menu board, the waitlist, book-with-us and the rest — run on display links: the TV shows one screen and holds no staff sign-in at all, so a screen in a window or a waiting area can never open your dashboard. On a display link the guest board, the waitlist, the self-service kiosk and the event door show a change within about a second; the menu board and the other selling screens check for changes every minute and a half.

On a device you're signed in on — open Wall screens and click Open on this device on a screen's card. The first time a device opens the board it asks "Who is this screen for?", with the screens grouped the same way — choose once and the device remembers; the choice is per-device, so your office laptop can show the staff board while the bar TV shows the menu. If you're putting that TV where guests can see it, the picker suggests a display link instead (Make a display link). On a phone, or a tablet held upright, the same choices are a list you scroll, each one a full-width row. Change it any time from Board options (the gear), a panel with Change screen, Full screen, Wall screen settings (it leaves full screen and opens Settings → Wall screens, with ← Back to Wall board at the top) and Leave this screen, which takes you back to Wall screens (pressing Esc leaves too).

With a display link (no sign-in — for guest-facing screens) — click New display link (at the top of the page, or in the Display links card), choose which screen it's for, name it (e.g. "Bar TV") and click Create link. You get the link and a QR code once only — copy it or scan it on the TV there and then; if it's lost, revoke it and create a new one. You can Rename or Revoke a link from the same card at any time: Revoke asks first ("Revoke “Bar TV”?"), then your password if you haven't confirmed it recently, and the TV stops showing its screen — within seconds on the guest board, the waitlist, the kiosk and the event door, within a couple of minutes on the others — saying "This screen’s link was turned off". Your plan sets how many links can be active at once — see the limits below. A display-link TV holds no sign-in and has no way off its screen: all it shows besides the screen is a Full screen button that fades away when nobody's touching it.

Several screens in turn — one TV, say in the front window, can show two or more of the selling screens one after another: the menu board, today's specials, what's on, gift cards, the loyalty scheme, book with us and your adverts (one advert each time its turn comes). Choose Several screens in turn as the link's screen, tick the screens (they show in the order listed) and set the seconds each (5 to 60, 12 unless you change it). A small dot for each screen sits at the foot of the TV. The waitlist, the kiosk and the event door never take turns — a queue or a count has to stay on screen. Each screen keeps its own plan gate: one your plan no longer includes drops out and the rest carry on. To change the screens or the seconds later, click Change screens beside the link.

The first time a link opens on a new TV, the screen says "This screen needs to be set up" and shows a code. An owner or admin scans it with a phone that's signed in to ResoFlow, checks the venue, the link and the screen it will show, names the TV and taps Approve this TV — the TV starts straight away. The code works once and only for 10 minutes, and only an owner or admin of that venue can approve it. Or, on the TV, Sign in on this screen instead: sign in once as an owner or admin and approve it there — you're signed straight back out. Either way, nothing stays signed in on the TV; it just shows its screen.

How many screens can you have?

Active display links and paired TVs are limited by plan: Pro includes 3 active display links and 6 paired TVs; Complete includes 10 active display links and 20 paired TVs; a venue running on standalone products without one of those plans gets 2 active display links and 4 paired TVs with Events, Order & Pay or Your website — and only the screens those products are for: Events brings the event-door and what's-on screens, Order & Pay and Your website the menu board and specials — and each brings Your adverts too (up to 3). Gift Cards and Loyalty on their own include no wall screens. The Wall screens page shows your usage against the limit (for example "2 of 3"). At the limit, the page says so before you start a new link, and creating another link or approving another TV is politely refused — revoke one you no longer use, or upgrade your plan. Nothing is ever taken away: if you move to a smaller plan while over its limit, every existing link and TV keeps working — you just can't add new ones until you're back under it.

Signed-in board screens have a generous ceiling of their own: up to 25 can be open at the same time across your venue. Past that, opening another shows a friendly note until one is closed, with See which screens are open to find the one someone left open — nothing running is ever closed for you, and screens count themselves out within about half an hour of a tab being shut.

Signed-in screens

The Signed-in screens list on the Wall screens page shows every device showing the Orders screen right now — which layout (Counter, Pass or Wall), which half it shows (Everything, Kitchen or Bar), who signed it in and on what kind of device, and when it was last seen — so you can see from the office which device shows what without walking to the kitchen. It is read-only: a screen's layout and station are changed from its own footer. A device closed without signing out drops off the list by itself within about half an hour.

Paired devices

The Paired devices list on the Wall screens page shows every approved device in one place — staff-portal tablets and TV displays alike — each labelled with its purpose, what a TV is showing and when it was last seen, and each with its own Revoke button (it asks first, then your password if you haven't confirmed it recently). A TV that hasn't checked in for a few minutes is marked Offline. If a TV that was running earlier in the day stops checking in for 15 minutes while you're open, owners and admins get one bell alert — "Bar TV has stopped updating", with when it last checked in — once per TV a day, never while you're closed; it clears itself when the TV is back, and it comes to your phone too only if you switch on its Push. The TV says so itself as well: after 3 minutes without an update a band across the top reads "Not updating — check the Wi-Fi" with the time it last updated, and the screen catches up by itself when it's back. A TV whose screen has nothing to show — no specials today, no events coming up — is marked Nothing to show with what to do about it, so the room only ever sees a welcoming screen. Revoking a TV takes its screens down; revoking a staff device never touches your TVs, and vice versa.

Good to know

Display screens are read-only (the kiosk's join is the one exception) and never sign themselves out — they're exempt from the automatic idle sign-out, so it's safe to leave them running all service. The clock follows your staff time-format setting.

Every screen needs an up-to-date browser. A TV's built-in browser, or a screen that came with another company's system, is often too old: ResoFlow then shows a "Please update your browser" message, or shows as plain text with no colours. What works, and what to do, is in Which devices and browsers work with ResoFlow?.

Related: How do I set up wall screens? · Which wall screens can I show? · How do I change how my wall screens look, and lock them? · Which devices and browsers work with ResoFlow?