A Collection a way to build what plays on your screens in Skykit Beam. Collections can play whole screen layouts one after another, and each zone in a layout can run its own Playlist, like a Playlist of Playlists. You device what goes in each zone, when each layout plays, and on which Displays.
How a Collection is Built
Part | What it does |
|---|---|
Collection | The container you assign to your Displays. It holds one or more entries and plays them in order. |
Entry | One screen layout in the Collection. Each entry has its own layout, content, lead zone, and play rules. |
Layout | How the screen is divided: a single pane, or two or more zones. Layouts come in landscape and portrait, and Unified View layouts span a video wall on an E500. |
Zone | One area of a layout. Each zone plays a content item, Playlist, or Program (legacy). |
Lead Zone | Option. The zone whose content decides when the entry finishes playing and the Collection moves to the next entry. |
Play Rules | Optional. Dates, times, days, and Display labels that control when and where an entry plays. |
An Example
Say your lobby screen should show your logo in one corner, rotate company announcements in the main zone, and show the weather in another zone. At lunch time, it should switch to a full-screen cafeteria menu.
You can build both screens as entries in one Collection: a multi-zone entry with the logo, an announcements Playlist, and then weather, then a single-zone entry with the cafeteria menu. Set Play Rules so the menu entry plays only at lunch time. Then play the Collection on your Displays without changing content by hand.
What You Can Put in a Zone
Content items: images, video, web pages, Dashboards, and other content from your Content library
Playlists: a rotating set of content inside one zone
Programs (Legacy): Programs may be added to Collections, but multi-zone Programs will not play in multi-zone Collection entries. See Programs in Collections — What Plays Where.
Keeping Collections Up to Date
You can add, copy, reorder, and remove entries as your needs change. When you update a content item or Playlist that’s used in a Collection, publishing it will ensure your updates apply to the Collection automatically.
If a content item or Playlist used in a Collection is deleted, that zone will show a blue exclamation mark on your Display if it is playing in a multi-zone layout. In a single zone layout, the entire entry will be skipped.
Classic Collections
If your Enterprise account was created before May 2026, your Collections list may also show Classic Collections, marked with a red CLASSIC VERSION OF COLLECTIONS label. They will keep playing and can still be edited, but new Classic Collections can’t be created. See What’s Changed from Classic Collections to Collections & Layouts.