Running a simple digital signage kiosk using Chrome OS and Google Slides (for free!)

Why use Chrome OS and Google Slides for digital signage

Chrome OS is an underappreciated operating system for all kinds of devices. If you need to power a digital sign, why drag around a heavy legacy OS when Chrome OS boots quickly, has top-notch security, and is fully managed from the cloud?

Schools often use Chrome OS devices for their staff and students, so digital signage is a natural next step. If you are already paying to manage your devices, setting them up to display a Google Slides presentation is completely free, no fancy signage software required.

Schools can use digital signage to display:

• Daily schedules
• Upcoming events (football game, theater performance)
• Approaching deadlines (school photos, yearbook purchases)
• Lunch menus
• Words of inspiration

For a simple digital sign that cycles through a number of slides on a set interval, it couldn't be easier to set up than with Google Slides.

How to get started

1. Create your slides - You can use any Google Slides presentation for this tutorial, including photos, text, animations, etc.
2. File > Share > Publish to Web - In order to make your slideshow accessible with just a link (no sign-in required), you'll need to publish it to the web.
   
3. Configure your options - You can select how frequently the slides should change (we'd recommend at least 10 seconds). Be sure to check both checkboxes for starting the slideshow automatically when the link is loaded, and cycling back to the beginning of the slideshow after the last slide.
   
4. Copy the link - Once you click publish, you'll get a link. Copy this to your clipboard for the next step.
5. Deploy the link as a digital sign - From Google Admin Console, go to Devices > Chrome > Apps & extensions > Kiosks. Select the OU where your signage devices are located. Click the plus icon in the bottom right corner and select "Add by URL." Paste in your URL from the step above and click Save
6. Start the digital sign automatically at boot - In the list of kiosk apps, the first row in the table says "Auto-launch app". From the dropdown, select the URL you just entered and click save.

All done! Next time you boot your device it will immediately start displaying and cycling through your slideshow.

Pro tip: You can update the slides any time, and reboot the device via Google Admin Console in order for it to refresh the slideshow.

If you need something fancier...

Get in touch if you need a more advanced digital signage solution supporting schedules, live updating without reboots, and advanced monitoring. But, if you just need a simple rotating set of slides, this is an easy and free way to do it!