Countdown and Count up

The countdown and count up datasources allow you to display time relative to a specific date and time. You can either count down to a future moment or count up from a past event. This is commonly used for countdowns to events, deadlines, or tracking time since something occurred.

How it works

The datasource calculates the difference between the current time and a defined date:

• Countdown: Counts down to a specified future date and time.
• Count up: Counts up from a specified past date.

note

The countdown settings include a Trigger list, but triggers are not available yet, so the list has no options.

Requirements

• A valid date and/or time must be configured.

Set up the Datasource

• Go to Templates -> Datasources, click Add datasource, select Create new and choose Countdown or Countup.
  
• In this example we will set up a countdown datasource. Enter Name and Description. You set the date later, in each template that uses the datasource.
• The datasource is now ready to use in a template.

Example Data

Countdown example:

• Target date: 2026-12-31 23:59 - Displays remaining time until New Year

Count up example:

• Start date: 2026-01-01 - Displays time elapsed since that date

Identifying data bindings

The datasource provides calculated time values that can be used in templates:

• Countdown – Days
• Countdown – Hours
• Countdown – Minutes
• Countdown – Seconds
• Countdown - Target Text (shown when a countdown to a fixed date reaches zero)
• Countup - Days

Days is the total number of days left. Hours, Minutes and Seconds show the remainder: 0–23 hours, and 0–59 minutes and seconds. The Days, Hours, Minutes and Seconds bindings have a Pad with zero option, which is off by default. Countup - Days shows the number of whole days since the start date.

Create template

Countdown

We will now create a vacation countdown template from scratch to show on the screens.

• Go to Templates and create a new template.
• Adjust template settings like size, grid settings and theme.
• In the template settings, open Datasources, click Connect new datasource and select the countdown datasource.
• Set the Target date for the countdown and click Connect.
• Select Available for quick edit under the connected datasource to easily change target date when publishing the Smart Media. Changing it from Edit media needs View and Edit under Template datasource in the user profile, which the default Site owner and Group admin profiles have and the default Publisher profile does not.
• You can now add components to the template and bind to the datasource.
• Countdown - Days
  • Add a textbox and select the binding.
  • Adjust size, style and font settings for the textbox.
• Use copy-paste to create additional text boxes with same settings and select different bindings.
  Note: Text boxes use placeholder text during configuration. Use Preview to see the actual countdown.
  • Countdown - Hours
  • Countdown - Minutes
  • Countdown - Seconds
  • Countdown - Target Text - Hidden message that will show when countdown is finished. Type the message in Target text under Data binding of the text item.
• When the datasource is connected to the placeholders, you can add design elements to achieve the desired look and feel.

Count up

If you want to use a count up template instead, just change the datasource and adjust the components in the template accordingly.

When templates have been created, you can use them to create Smart Media to publish on your screens.

Technical information

• Supports both fixed dates and recurring daily times (countdown only).
• Time calculation is based on the player/screen time. The target date has no time zone, so each screen counts down to that clock time in its own local time.

Datasource configuration options

These settings are set per template, under Datasource settings for this template when you connect the datasource.

Countdown

Setting	Description	Example
Target date	The target date and time that should be counted down to. Past dates can't be picked.	2026-04-30 10:00
Set a recurring daily time	Select to count down to a time of day instead of a date. Enter the time in 24-hour format.	14:00
Trigger	Not available yet. The list has no options.

Count up

Setting	Description	Example
Start Date	The date and time that should be counted up from.	2026-04-30 08:00