Repeat Signage Spreadsheet control
In June 2015, we added the new Spreadsheet control to Repeat Signage, which means that Microsoft Excel .xlsx and .xls (Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP) can be displayed. There is a built in spreadsheet system as well so that you can create and use spreadsheets from within a Repeat Signage presentation or Repeat Picture.
There is also a free spreadsheet editor on the main screen's 'Free tools' menu. This can be used on any PC, free of charge, with the Repeat Signage trial version installed, which never expires.
Previous to the Spreadsheet control, you had export from Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice spreadsheets to PDF format and then use either the Banner control, PDF/Document control or the Picture control to display them. This is still an option and the only way of displaying native OpenOffice spreadsheets.
Notes on exporting to PDF files
Make sure you set the page size and margins in your spreadsheet and use the print preview to see how the pages will look first. You may even need to change the page orientation from the default portrait format to landscape first. (There are instructions on our Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org Writer documents in Repeat Signage help page on setting up page sizes and orientations in both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice).
You can then display any page of your exported PDF file using either the Banner control, PDF/Document control or the Picture control.
Microsoft Excel exporting to PDF
Instructions on how to export to PDF in Microsoft Excel 2010:
1. Open your Excel spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel.
2. On the menu, click on 'File' then 'Save & Send'.
3. Click on the 'Create PDF/XPS document' button and follow the instructions.
You will need to choose a file name and location.
Apache OpenOffice.org 4 Calc - Exporting either a Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet to PDF
OpenOffice.org 4 is a free office suite which you can download free of charge from www.openoffice.org. Export instructions:
1. Open your Excel or Calc spreadsheet in OpenOffice Calc.
2. On the menu, click on 'File' then 'Export as PDF'
You will need to choose a file name and location.
Automatic update of content on your digital signage screens (Standard and above editions)
Let's say you have a graph of sales figures in your Excel spreadsheet and export this page as a PDF file. You can then display this in a Repeat Signage presentation using the Picture control. When you insert the PDF with the Picture control the PDF page will appear on screen. You can double click the Picture control to show its properties, then select the 'Refresh' tab and you can set the picture control to check for a new version of the PDF file every few minutes.
When you update your spreadsheet, you can just export again to the same PDF file (using the same name and location) and the playing Repeat Signage presentation will automatically display the new version of the PDF file dynamically (you don't need to close the presentation and play it again). Note - This is best done over a network where both the spreadsheet editing computer and the computer attached to your digital signage screen both have access to a shared network drive.
What you can also do, with the Standard and above editions, is to upload your new PDF file to a free www.repeatserver.com account. The presentation playing on your digital signage screen can collect and display the PDF file from RepeatServer.com and monitor for when a new version is uploaded. When up update your spreadsheet, export to PDF and upload your PDF file again, then the presentation will automatically display the new PDF. Now since RepeatServer.com is available to any computer with an Internet connection you can use this to remotely update a digital signage screen from anywhere in the world.