Display Spotlight messages for users on the Home Screen

This type of announcement lets you display up to 14 messages on the Home Screen in a carousel style that users can click and swipe through at their own pace. The most recent message is shown first.

Note: Spotlight messages work on regular Homepages that are not customized.

See how it works

Key features

• Highlight content and announcements on the Home Screen with Spotlights
• Target users with up to 14 Spotlights on the Web app and Windows Desktop app, 7 Spotlights on iOS and Android. The last message is shown first.
• Use up to 256 characters in a Spotlight message
• Link to an Experience from a Spotlight message

You need this to succeed

• Access to Showpad's Online Platform
• Admin role or promoted user with Manage Spotlights and Announcement permissions
• Showpad Content or Platform licenses to add content to a Spotlight

The quick way to awesomeness

• Navigate to the Collaboration tab in the online platform 
• Create a new Spotlight
• Include an image and attach assets
• Publish for your users to see on their home screen

Do this step by step

Create a Spotlight message

1. Navigate to the Collaboration tab, then select Spotlights.
2. Click New Spotlight.
3. Add a subject and write a message. 
4. Content or Platform customers can include content in their Spotlight. To do so, click Add Content within the message box. Use the search field to find content or browse your Experiences. Check the boxes for the content you wish to include, then click Insert Items.
5. To add a link to the Spotlight, copy the link you wish to share. This can be a link to an Experience, an external website, etc. Highlight the text in the Spotlight you wish to hyperlink, then click the link icon. Paste the link, then click Save. If you add a link to an Experience, ensure the users receiving the Spotlight have access to it.

   Note: To add a link to an Experience, go to the Experience Builder, open your experience, and copy the Experience App Link from the settings tab.

6. To add an image, scroll down to the Upload Image section and drag and drop your image into the box, or click Browse to upload your image. The max image size is 10MB. This image is visible in a 300px by 200px frame and will keep its aspect ratio after uploading. 
   
7. Click the Show to dropdown menu, and choose Selected Experiences or Selected User Groups.
8. Type into the User Group or Experiences field and select from the list the Groups or Experiences you want to see this Spotlight message. If you select Experiences, anyone assigned to that Experience will see the Spotlight.
9. Check the box for Publish later if you wish to select a day and time the Spotlight message will be published. Leaving this box unchecked will publish the Spotlight upon clicking Publish.

   Note: The timezone of your system is used when creating a Spotlight message. If you configure a Spotlight message to appear at 10 am tomorrow, it shows up at 10 am, relative to your system settings.

10. Choose an optional Expiry date.
11. Choose to Save as Draft or click Publish.

Managing Spotlight messages

Within the Spotlights tab of the Collaboration page, you will see all the Spotlights you can access. Using the left side menu choose to view Published, Scheduled, Drafts, or Archived Spotlights. This is where you can edit or archive existing Spotlights.

Promoted Members with permission to manage Spotlights will see any Spotlight assigned to an Experience or user group within the Division(s) they are promoted in. Any Spotlight sent by the promoted user will be visible here, even if they no longer manage the user groups or Divisions that received it.

Spotlights sent to all users by another promoted member or admin will not appear in everyone's Spotlight dashboard.