Content not updating after I publish

Introduction

You edited a slide, clicked Publish, but the screen still shows the old content. This article walks through the most common reasons. Often, the answer is just: wait a few more seconds. Sometimes it's something else.

How publish actually works

Some background helps:

• Publish runs a multi-phase pipeline that takes 5-30 seconds end-to-end. See What Publish actually does.
• Step-by-step: server merge → flush slide updates → reorder → resync to devices.
• The screen doesn't update instantly. Even when the Platform shows success, the device still needs to fetch and swap to the new content.

Step 1: Wait 30 seconds

Most "didn't update" reports resolve themselves:

• From clicking Publish to on-screen change: typically 5-30 seconds.
• Larger files (high-resolution videos) take longer to fetch and validate.
• If you're checking the screen the moment you publish, you'll see the old content. Wait 30 seconds before declaring a problem.

Step 2: Confirm the device is Online

If the wait didn't help:

• Open the screen on the Platform.
• Check status. If Offline, the device can't receive updates. See No network connection.
• Offline devices queue updates. The new content reaches the device when it reconnects, automatically.

Step 3: Did Publish actually run?

Check the screen state:

• After clicking Publish, the button shows Publishing… (FI: Julkaistaan…) briefly, then a success toast appears.
• If the success toast didn't appear, the publish may have failed silently. Click Publish again.
• Watch for the success message: "Content publish complete!" (FI: "Sisällön julkaisu valmis!").

Step 4: Republish

If publish succeeded but the screen still shows old content:

• Click Republish (FI: Julkaise uudelleen) on the screen.
• This publishes the screen's current content again from scratch, so the device picks up a fresh copy on its next check-in.
• Wait 10-30 seconds. If the screen updates now, the device had missed the earlier update, which is rare but happens.

Step 5: Restart the device

If republishing didn't help:

• Unplug the device for 10 seconds, plug it back in.
• After boot, the device fetches the latest content from scratch. This clears any local cache issues.
• Most stuck-state problems clear with a restart.

Step 6: Is the new file actually compatible?

If a specific file doesn't appear:

• Confirm the file is in a supported format. See Supported file types.
• Try uploading the file again under a different name. Occasionally a corrupted upload survives but doesn't play.
• Test with a known-good file (a fresh JPG or MP4) to rule out a file-specific issue.

Step 7: Contact us

If nothing works:

• Email kasper@infoboxi.com with the screen name and a description of what you published vs what's showing.
• If possible, leave the device in its broken state until we get back to you. We may want to check it remotely.

Summary

Wait 30 seconds first. Then check Online status, retry publish, use Republish, restart the device. The publish pipeline normally takes 5-30 seconds; problems are usually network or stale-cache related, all recoverable.