Apps & Integrations

Apps bring content that lives in another service onto your screens. A Power BI report or a Google Slides presentation plays live: you connect the account once, paste a link, and the screen always shows the current version — no exporting a picture every time something changes. Google Drive works a little differently: it imports a video or image from Drive into your media library, so you don't have to download it and upload it again yourself. This article covers what apps have in common: connecting accounts, creating app playables, and what to do when a connection needs attention. Each app also has its own page with specifics.

Available apps

How app playables work

Power BI and Google Slides create a playable of type App. It lives in the media library and goes into playlists like any image or video. The difference is where the content comes from — the player loads it live from the source service each time it comes on screen, so what plays is always the current report or presentation.

The picture you see in the library is only a thumbnail, not what plays. It's refreshed daily and whenever you save the playable's settings. While the connected account needs reconnection, the thumbnail isn't refreshed and the last picture stays. Playables made from public links have no thumbnail: the library shows a generic icon, and the playable's page shows a live preview instead.

Google Drive is different: it makes a one-time copy. The imported file becomes an ordinary Image or Video playable that behaves exactly like a file you uploaded — it plays offline and doesn't change when the file in Drive changes. Everything about live loading, internet access, and thumbnails on this page applies to Power BI and Google Slides only. See The Google Drive App.

Connecting an account

Private content — a report only your team can see, a presentation or file that isn't shared publicly — requires a connected account. Connections are managed on the Integrations page: open Settings and click Integrations.

1. Make sure you're working in the right department — connections belong to the department that's active in the department switcher.
2. Click Connect Microsoft (for Power BI) or Connect Google (for Google Slides and Google Drive — one Google account serves both).
3. A sign-in window opens — sign in and approve the requested access. If your browser blocks the pop-up window, allow pop-ups for the dashboard and try again. Finish signing in within about 10 minutes; if the window has been open longer, close it and start again.

Each connected account gets its own card, labelled Microsoft or Google, with the account's email address, the name of the person who connected it, and its status: Active, or Needs reconnection when it needs attention. Connecting the same account again updates the existing connection rather than adding a duplicate — and if that connection needed reconnection, this fixes it too.

An account connected in one department is used only there. If several departments need the same account, connect it in each of them.

Who can manage connections

Only department Admins and Organization admins can connect, reconnect, and delete accounts — see roles. Managers and Members can see the department's connections and use them when creating app playables, but they can't add, reconnect, or delete them. Changes are only possible while a specific department is selected in the department switcher, not while you're viewing all departments.

Google accounts and file access

A Google connection doesn't get access to your whole Google Drive. It can open only:

• files that have been allowed for the app — one by one, through a one-time Allow access via Google Drive step in a Google window, and
• content that's publicly published or shared.

Bohemica Signage only reads these files; it never changes anything in your Google account. On Google's consent screen this per-file permission is described in Google's own standard wording — leave it allowed, otherwise the account can't be connected.

A few things to know about allowing files:

• Only department Admins and Organization admins can allow files. Other members can use public links, or files an administrator has already allowed for the same connected account.
• An allowed file stays allowed for that account, so the Google window is needed only the first time.
• The Google window needs you to be signed in to Google in the same browser. If it asks you to sign in or doesn't load, allow third-party cookies for google.com — or use Chrome.

The details are on The Google Slides App and The Google Drive App pages.

Public links

All three apps also accept public content, which works without any connected account:

• Power BI — reports published with Publish to web.
• Google Slides — presentations published with File → Share → Publish to web.
• Google Drive — files shared as Anyone with the link.

Creating an app playable

1. In the Playables section, click Add new playable and choose the type App.
2. Pick the app.
3. Paste the link to the report, presentation, or file. The dashboard checks the link as you paste it and shows the name of what it found. If you're not sure which link to copy, there's built-in help right by the field.
4. Below the link, choose which connected account to use — only needed for private content. If your department has exactly one active account for that service, it's already selected. Changing the account checks the link again.
5. The Name is pre-filled with the name of the content — keep it or change it. A Power BI Publish to web link doesn't carry the report's name, so type one yourself.
6. Adjust the app's settings, if it has any (for Google Slides, the slide duration).
7. Click Create app playable — or, for Google Drive, Import.

A private Google file that hasn't been allowed for the account yet needs one more step before you can continue — see Google accounts and file access.

The new playable's page opens right away. For Power BI and Google Slides you'll see a preview and can start adding the playable to playlists; for Google Drive you'll see the progress of the import.

The app playable's page

Opening a Power BI or Google Slides playable from the library shows:

• a preview — the latest thumbnail, or a live preview when there's no thumbnail;
• the app and the account it uses (none for a public link);
• its status: Active; Needs reconnection, with a link to the Integrations page; Public link, for content that plays without an account; or Disconnected, when the account it used is no longer connected — the account then reads Account removed. Such a playable doesn't show on screens and can't be added to new playlists (see Apps in playlists).

Department Admins and Organization admins can also edit the app's settings, where it has any — currently only Google Slides, for the slide duration.

A Google Drive import isn't an app playable: once it's finished, it has the usual page of an image or video.

Apps in playlists

App playables are scheduled like any other content — see Creating Playlists and Scheduling & Priority. One difference: the minimum duration for an app item is 60 seconds (a newly added item starts at 5 minutes), while images and web pages can be as short as 5 seconds. App content is meant to stay up long enough to be read — a report that flashes by in a few seconds isn't useful to anyone. Imported Google Drive files follow the usual rules for images and videos.

A playable whose status is Disconnected can't be added to a playlist — it's greyed out when you pick playables. It stays in the playlists it's already in, and you can keep editing and saving those playlists, but its slot shows a notice on screen instead of the content. Remove it from those playlists, or delete it and create it again with a connected account. A playable whose account needs reconnection can still be added — once you reconnect the account, it works again on its own.

When a connection needs attention

Access can break outside the dashboard: a changed password, revoked permissions, or company policy can invalidate a connection. When that happens:

• On screen, nothing goes blank. A slot that starts loading the content shows a notice that it needs to be reconnected by an administrator; a slot that was already playing shows that the content is temporarily unavailable and keeps retrying. The notices appear in the language the player device is set to, or in English if that language isn't available. The rest of the playlist plays normally.
• In the dashboard, the account is marked Needs reconnection on the Integrations page and on the page of every playable that uses it.
• By email, the person who connected the account gets one message about it, in their language.

To fix it, a department Admin or Organization admin clicks Reconnect on the account's card and signs in with the same account — a different account is refused, so your content never silently switches to someone else's data. That single step heals every playable using the connection, and the screens recover on their own — nothing has to be rebuilt.

Deleting a connection

A connection that at least one app playable uses can't be deleted. When you click Delete, the dashboard shows you which playables use the account instead of a confirmation — the first five by name, the rest as a count. Show in Playables opens the media library filtered down to just those playables; clear the filter with the cross next to the account name above the list. Once you've deleted them (see Deleting content), you can delete the connection.

• Playables made from public links and finished Google Drive imports don't use the connection, so they don't block deleting it. A Drive import that's still downloading through that account fails once the connection is deleted.
• Connecting the same account again later creates a new connection.

FAQ

Do apps cost extra?

A: No. Billing is unchanged — you pay for activated displays, whatever they play. Files imported from Google Drive count toward your media storage like uploads. The services you connect may have licensing of their own (for example Power BI — see its page).

Who can connect accounts?

A: Department Admins and Organization admins. Once an account is connected, any member of the department can use it to create app playables — for private Google files, those an administrator has already allowed.

Can I use apps without connecting anything?

A: Yes — with public links (see Public links above). A connected account is only needed for private content.

What does Bohemica Signage get access to?

A: It depends on the service. A Microsoft connection gets permission to read the Power BI reports the connected account can view — Bohemica Signage only opens the ones you add as playables. A Google connection can open only the files you allow for the app, plus publicly published or shared content. Either way, Bohemica Signage only reads content and never changes anything in your accounts.

Connecting an account fails. What can I check?

A: Make sure you approved all the requested access (with Google, leave the Drive permission allowed), finished signing in within about 10 minutes, and — when reconnecting — signed in with the same account as before. Some organizations restrict connecting outside apps; if none of this helps, ask your IT administrator.

What happens if the source is deleted?

A: For content from a connected account, the playable stays in your playlists and its slot shows a notice on screen that the content is temporarily unavailable, retrying until you fix the source or remove the playable. Nothing is removed automatically. For a public link, the screen shows the service's own error page instead. Google Drive imports are copies, so deleting the original in Drive doesn't affect them.

I don't see Integrations or the App type.

A: Apps are enabled for each customer individually — contact our support team.

Need help?

Trouble connecting an account or getting content on screen? Contact our support team and we'll be glad to help.