How to set up an exchange rate display on a TV, step by step

This tutorial takes you from nothing to a live exchange rate display on a TV in your branch. You need a computer to work in the admin, and a TV that can open a web page, either through its own browser or through a streaming stick or small PC plugged into it. Nothing is installed on the TV.

Allow about an hour for your first branch. Button and menu names are shown in bold, exactly as they appear in the admin. The admin is also available in Arabic, and it has its own Getting started page with the same steps.

Step 1: Create your company

Go to the sign-up page with Start free trial. It is called Create your company and asks for:

• Company name, and optionally the company name in Arabic, a phone number and your country.
• Language: English or Arabic, for your admin and emails.
• Your name, Your email and a Password of at least 8 characters.

Press Create company and you are signed straight in as the Super Admin. Your company starts on a 7-day trial, with no card needed. It already has one branch named after your company, with its own screen address. It also has a currency list with USD, EUR and GBP switched on, two columns (Cash Buy and Cash Sell), and copies of all the ready-made themes.

Step 2: Name your branch

Open Organisation in the sidebar. Your first branch is listed under Branches and groups. Use Rename to give it the name customers know, and add its Arabic name if you want it on the board.

On a paid plan you can add more branches with Add branch, and group them, for example by city or mall, with Add group and Move to. Groups let you set margins, themes, news and ads for many branches at once.

Step 3: Switch on your currencies and columns

Open Settings. Under Currencies we deal in, search for each currency by code or name and switch it on. Switching a currency off later takes it off every board but keeps its rates. To quote gold or another item that is not a currency, use Add your own item on the Rates page.

Further down, under Board columns, you see Cash Buy and Cash Sell. Rename them, give each an Arabic heading, add more columns such as TT, or change their order with Move earlier and Move later.

Step 4: Enter today's rates

Open Rates. Every switched-on currency has a row, with a New rate box for each column. Type your rates and press Save changes. Pressing Enter in any box saves the whole grid.

If a new rate is far from the last one, the admin asks That is a big change and waits for Yes, save it. You set how far is too far in Settings under Rate safety (20% by default).

Step 5 (optional): Import rates from Excel

To fill the grid from a spreadsheet, press Import from Excel on the Rates page and choose an .xlsx or .csv file. Lay it out like this:

• Column A holds the currency code (USD, EUR…).
• The next columns fill your board columns in their order (for example Cash Buy, then Cash Sell), whatever their headings say.
• A heading row is detected and skipped. Currencies you have not switched on are skipped too.

The import only fills the boxes. Check the figures, then press Save changes.

Step 6 (optional): Connect a rate feed

To have base rates fetched automatically, open Rate feeds:

1. Pick a Provider. Rate Display's own source and the free sources (Frankfurter, ExchangeRate-API Open Access and Currency API) need no key and work on the trial. Paid providers need the paid plan and your own API key.
2. Under Columns the feed writes, tick the columns the feed should fill. With no column ticked, the feed is off.
3. Choose Fetch every: a minute, 5, 15 or 30 minutes, an hour, 6 hours or 24 hours.
4. Press Test connection, then Save settings. Fetch now fetches straight away.

A fetched rate that moves more than your Rate safety limit waits under Held for review until someone presses Accept or Dismiss. A rate you type by hand stays until the next fetch.

Step 7: Set your margins and decimals

On the Rates page, press Margin on a currency's row. For each column choose a Margin type: % over, % under or Formula, such as ({rate} * 1.01) + 0.02. Under Margin for, choose Everywhere for the whole network, or a group or a branch to override it there. The On board preview shows the price the screen will display. Press Save margin.

To set decimals, press Edit on the currency and change its Decimal places. For figures that all line up, set Digits shown on boards in Settings: with 5 digits, 1.3211, 0.2342 and 122.00 are all the same width. The margin is applied first, and the result is rounded once.

Step 8: Pick and adjust a design

Open Display. Under Templates, each design is marked Landscape or Portrait. Press Preview to see one full size, and Start from this to make your own copy. In the editor you can change:

• Layout: drag the logo, rate table, ads, clock, weather and scroll news areas to the screen's edges, or hide them.
• Rates: the price style (theme font, digital, flap tiles, 7-segment LED or dot-matrix LED), and whether names show in both languages.
• Colours and type, Background and logo, and Clock.

Press Save theme, then under Your themes press Use this to put it on your network, a group or a branch. Under Clock and weather, set each branch's Time zone and City so the clock and weather are local.

Step 9 (optional): Add scroll news and ads

In Scroll news, choose where a message shows with Show on, type the Message and press Add message. In Ads, give an ad a Title, choose an image (PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF, up to 1 MB) or, on the paid plan, a video (MP4 or WebM, up to 30 MB), and press Upload. Each ad's Settings decide how it fits its area, how it arrives, and whether it plays full screen.

Step 10: Get the branch's screen address

Go back to Organisation and press Show display address beside the branch. You see a short address made of your screens domain and a five-character code, for example screens.yourdomain.com/k7m3p, with Copy and Open buttons. Press Open to check the board on your computer first.

The short address opens the English board. To open the Arabic board, add /ar/ before the code, for example screens.yourdomain.com/ar/k7m3p.

Step 11: Open the board on the TV

1. 1

   Step 1: Open the TV's browser

   Use the smart TV's own browser, or the browser on a streaming stick or mini PC connected to the TV.

2. 2

   Step 2: Type the screen address

   Enter the short address once. It was made to be easy to type with a remote. Bookmark it, or set it as the browser's home page.

3. 3

   Step 3: Go full screen

   Make the browser full screen (F11 on most computers), or use its kiosk mode so it opens straight on the board after a restart.

4. 4

   Step 4: Keep the TV awake

   Switch off the TV's sleep or energy-saving timer so the board stays on during opening hours.

Now change a rate in the admin and watch the TV. The new figure appears within a second or two, without a reload. That is the board working: from now on it follows every change you make.

If the screen shows a message instead of rates

If the internet drops, the board keeps showing its last rates and reconnects by itself. If a TV or stick goes missing, use Issue a new address on the Organisation page: the old address stops working at once.

What to do next

• Invite your team in Users as a Branch admin (manages their own branches) or a Viewer (read only).
• Compare designs in the templates gallery, and see every option on the features page.
• When you want more branches, video ads or a paid rate feed, see pricing: everything you set up in the trial carries over.