Table of contents
What are timer triggers?
Triggers let your Fugo screens react automatically instead of only following a fixed schedule. When a trigger fires, it plays a chosen playlist on your selected screens for as long as that content runs, then your screens return to their normal rotation on their own.
Timer triggers are scheduled triggers: you set a start date and time, and Fugo automatically fires the playlist at that moment - no manual action needed. You can optionally set an end date and time too, if you want the content to stop showing at a specific point rather than running until you stop it yourself.
They're a good fit for showing content like:
Posting a morning stand-up slide at a fixed time
Displaying a lunchtime announcement without anyone needing to be at a desk
Running a scheduled promotion that starts and ends on specific dates
Conceptually, a trigger is just a playlist with a firing rule attached. For a timer trigger, that rule is a date and time rather than a click or a CRM event. That's why triggers use the same permissions, and the same content and screen-picking flow, as playlists elsewhere in Fugo.
What you'll need
A Fugo account with playlist permissions
Triggers use the same permissions as playlists - create, edit, and publish - rather than a separate "trigger" permission. If you can already build and publish playlists, you have everything you need to build and run triggers too.
At least one connected screen
Your trigger needs a destination screen to play on. You can pair any supported smart TV or media player.
See our full compatibility guide here: 👉 Devices & OS compatible with Fugo
If you don't have hardware yet, you can still build and test triggers using the Fugo Chrome extension player or the Fugo web player, both of which let you preview playback directly from your browser.
Don't have a Fugo account yet? You can start a 14-day free trial here: www.fugo.ai/app
Create your Timer trigger
1. Log into your Fugo account.
3. This will open the trigger builder.
Give your trigger a name - for example, "standup meeting reminder" or "Friday lunchtime promo."
For my example, I'll name it "Bristol Hotel Group Welcome" since I want to time a welcome message to display when my visiting clients from the Bristol Hotel Group arrive at reception.
Choose Timer as your trigger source
1. In the Trigger step, under connected and available sources, click the Timer card.
2. Fugo will open the Schedule configuration panel:
Set your schedule
You'll need to configure the details of when this trigger should be scheduled:
Start time
Set a start date and a start time of day. This is required - Fugo will automatically fire your playlist the moment this date and time arrive, with no manual action needed on your end.
My visiting clients will arive at 10:00 AM on June 7th, so I'll set my trigger for that date and time.
End time (optional)
You can optionally add an end date and time by clicking Add end time. If you set one, your content stops showing at that point and your screens return to their regular content automatically. If your end date is the same as your start date, make sure the end time is later in the day than the start time.
I'll set my end time to 11:30 AM, roughly the time I expect my clients' visit to end:
💡 If you don't add an end time, the trigger's own builder tells you plainly what happens: it stays active from your start time onward until you stop it manually - there's no automatic revert built in for an open-ended schedule. In practice, that means an open-ended timer trigger will keep showing its content indefinitely once it starts, so it's worth adding an end time for anything that's meant to be temporary, and treating "no end time" as a deliberate choice for content you want to leave running (like a semi-permanent lobby announcement) rather than the default.
Once you've saved your scheduling, you'll see the details listed on the right-hand panel of the trigger builder:
Choose your display content
With your schedule set, move to the Content step to choose what plays when the trigger fires:
1. Using the content picker dropdown, select what content you want to show when this trigger fires. You can choose from:
Media
An image, video, audio, or presentation file from your media library - the same library used for regular playlists.
Studio Content
A slide or slideshow built in the Design Studio, useful when you want the trigger's content to match your existing brand templates rather than a plain file.
Dashboards
A dashboard connected through Fugo's TV Dashboards feature.
Each content type keeps its own default duration — images play for a default length, videos play for their full length, and Design Studio slides play for whatever duration you assigned them in the Studio.
Timer triggers don't have an associated event, so the Message (dynamic text) content type isn't available here - that option is reserved for HubSpot and Salesforce triggers, which have real event data to fill a template with.
2. Once you've selected your content, you'll see it listed in the content items list to the right-hand side.
For my example trigger, I'll choose the welcome slide I've created for my visiting clients:
Choose your screens
1. In the Screens step, choose where this content should play. You can target screens two ways:
By Screen - pick individual screens or screen Groups directly, with search built in.
By Property - target dynamically instead: set a condition on a custom screen property (for example, Region = East), and any screen matching that condition is targeted automatically, including screens you add later that happen to match.
Switching between By Screen and By Property clears whatever you'd already selected in the other mode, so it's worth deciding which approach fits your trigger before filling it in.
2. Your selected screens will appear in the right-hand panel once added. In my example, I've chosen my Reception Display so my welcome slide will be showing to my visiting clients when they arrive at reception:
Save and publish your trigger
On the Preview step, you'll be able to review all your trigger details via the right-hand panel:
You can save a trigger as a draft at any point and finish it later. Going live requires Save and Publish, which stays disabled until your trigger has a valid schedule, content chosen, and at least one screen target set:
Once published, at the scheduled start time Fugo automatically fires your playlist on the assigned screens - no one needs to be there to click anything.
Trigger statuses
A timer trigger's status badge on the Triggers page tells you where it is in its schedule:
On Standby - the trigger is ready, waiting for the scheduled start date & time to arrive
Active - the start time has passed and the content is currently showing (and stays Active indefinitely if you didn't set an end time).
Completed - the end time has passed and your screens have reverted to their regular content.
Editing or stopping a timer trigger
Once a timer trigger is saved, you can adjust its schedule or stop it at any time by clicking its card on the Triggers page to open its details panel:
Click the Edit button to re-open the Trigger builder and change its schedule, content, or assigned screens:
Click Unpublish to prevent this Trigger from firing and displaying its content:
Click the Duplicate button to create duplicate of this trigger that you can configure with different scheduling, content, or screen details.
Click Delete to delete the trigger altogether.
Need more help?
If you run into issues, can't find what you're looking for, or something isn't working as expected, we're here to help. You can contact us through the chat box in the Fugo CMS or email support@fugo.ai, and our team will get you sorted.
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