Slide types deep-dive

Introduction

InfoBox supports a handful of slide types. The basics are the same across all of them (add via Add new slide, configure, publish), and new content is added through the categorized picker: Media, Web, and Integrations. YouTube videos and Power BI dashboards are added as Website slides these days; older YouTube and Power BI slides keep playing as they are. This article walks through each type.

Image slides

Static visual content:

• Formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP.
• Recommended resolution: 1920×1080 (landscape) or 1080×1920 (portrait).
• Recommended size: under 20 MB per file.
• Per-slide settings: display duration, rotation (0°/90°/180°/270°), visibility, schedule.
• Source: pick from Media Library or upload directly when adding the slide.

Video slides

Moving visual content:

• Format: MP4 with H.264 codec, full stop. Other formats may upload but won't play on screens.
• Recommended resolution: 1920×1080 (Full HD).
• Recommended size: under 200 MB.
• Recommended bitrate: 5-10 Mbps for Full HD.
• Audio: videos play without sound on screens. If your message relies on audio, add captions.
• Slide duration: automatically set to the video's full length, no manual override.

PDF slides

Multi-page documents:

• Each page of the PDF becomes its own slide automatically. Large PDFs process page by page in the background; placeholders fill in as pages finish.
• Page-by-page playback at the configured slide duration.
• Common uses: lunch menus, multi-page reports, presentations exported from PowerPoint or Keynote.
• Tip: design the source PDF for screen viewing (large fonts, high contrast). PDFs designed for print often have details too small to read on a screen.

Website slides

Embedded web content (the iFrame slide type):

• How to add: Add new slide → Web → Website.
• URL requirement: any public HTTPS URL.
• Embedding requirement: the page must allow being embedded in an iframe (no `X-Frame-Options: DENY` or restrictive `Content-Security-Policy`).
• Common pitfalls: pages that require login, captive-portal pages, pages that detect they're in an iframe and block. None of these will display correctly.
• Test first: open the URL in a regular browser tab to confirm it loads without authentication.
• Per-slide settings: refresh interval, auto-reload.

YouTube on screens

Embedded YouTube video via a Website slide:

• How to add: paste the YouTube video URL into a Website slide (Web → Website).
• Audio: plays without sound on screens (autoplay restrictions also apply).
• Looping: if the video is shorter than the slide duration, it loops. If longer, it plays as long as the slide is on screen.
• Network requirement: the InfoBox device needs internet access to YouTube's servers.

Power BI on screens

Live business intelligence dashboards via a Website slide:

• Requirement: your Power BI tenant must have Publish to web enabled.
• How to add: in Power BI, open your report → File → Publish to web → copy the embed URL, then paste it into a Website slide (Web → Website).
• Refresh interval: how often the dashboard re-fetches its data. Set per slide.
• If you can't enable Publish to web: contact your Power BI administrator. Tenant-level Publish to web settings are managed by the Power BI tenant admin, not InfoBox.
• Optimization tip: design Power BI reports for screen viewing. Use large fonts, simple charts, and high contrast. Strip filters and slicers from the embed view.

Google Slides slides

Presentations imported via the connected integration (Pro screens):

• How to add: Add new slide → Integrations → Google Slides. Requires a connected Google account.
• Each slide in the presentation becomes its own slide on the screen, in a managed group marked Synced from Google Slides.
• Content updates automatically on the sync interval (default 60 minutes) or instantly with Sync.
• Works with native Google Slides presentations and PowerPoint (.pptx) files in Drive.
• Full guide: see Google Slides presentations.

Playlist-as-slide

Embed a whole playlist on a screen as a single slide:

• When the slide plays, the entire embedded playlist runs through, then the screen continues to its next slide.
• Used heavily for chains and multi-location businesses. Build the campaign once as a playlist, embed it on every location's screen.
• Edits to the playlist propagate to every screen using it.
• Full guide: see Assigning playlists to screens.

Summary

Pick the slide type that matches your content. Each type has the same per-slide settings (duration, schedule, visibility) plus type-specific options like rotation (image), refresh interval (Website), automatic sync (Google Slides), or embedded playlist content (playlist-as-slide).