Displaying a report on a TV, automatic page rotation in the report at specified intervals

[Patrick90]

Hello,

I need assistance with displaying a Power BI report on a TV screen, where the report automatically rotates between different pages at specified intervals. I have tried using browser-based auto-refresh, but it always reloads the first page of the report instead of switching to the next page.

Here are the details of my setup:

I have created a Power BI report with multiple pages in Power BI Desktop.
I have published the report to Power BI Service and obtained a public sharing link.
I am displaying the report on a TV screen connected to a computer in our production area.

My goal is to have the report automatically switch between different pages at regular intervals, allowing our team in the production area to view key metrics and production plans continuously.

I have attempted to use browser extensions for auto-refresh, but the issue persists. I would appreciate any guidance or suggestions on how to achieve the desired functionality.

Thank you for your help!

Best regards,

Patrick

[LuizBarbosa]

I faced a similar issue. I'm making Power BI dashboards available through public links and displaying them on TVs in our company. They need to update automatically, and of course, I wanted them to navigate through the tabs of the Power BI file automatically.

Here's the solution I implemented:

1. Install the Tampermonkey Extension:

   • Download the Tampermonkey extension for your browser.
   • Select the extension and click on “Create a New Script”.

2. Replace the Default Script with the Following Code:

   javascript

   // ==UserScript== //

   @name Power BI Page Switcher //

   @namespace http://tampermonkey.net/ //

   @version 0.5 //

   @description Automatically switch Power BI pages //

   @author You //

   @match YOUR_PUBLIC_LINK_HERE //

   @Grant none // ==/UserScript==

   (function() { 'use strict'; var delay = 10000; // Time in milliseconds (10000ms = 10s) var forward = true;

   function switchPage() {

   var nextButton = document.querySelector('button[aria-label="Next Page"]:not([aria-disabled="true"])'); // Exact location of the next button

   var prevButton = document.querySelector('button[aria-label="Previous Page"]:not([aria-disabled="true"])'); // Exact location of the previous button

   if (forward && nextButton) {

   console.log("Navigating to the next page");

   nextButton.click(); }

   else if (!forward && prevButton) {

   console.log("Navigating to the previous page"); prevButton.click(); }

   else {

   forward = !forward; // Reverse direction when reaching the end or beginning

   console.log("Reversing direction");

   }

   }

   setInterval(switchPage, delay);

   })();

3. Adjust the nextButton and prevButton Locations:

   • You may need to adapt the nextButton and prevButton selectors based on your specific dashboard navigation buttons. Navigate to your navigation buttons, right-click and select "Inspect", then replace the HTML code with your own.

Hope this works for you. 

[michael-zanovec]

Curious if this would work without buttons. I have a report with two tabs. Have tried several chrome extensions that almost work. "Revolver" can handle switching between tabs but reverts to the first tab when it refreshes. "Tab Auto Refresh" works to refresh a single tab. But currently for my report, I cannot find HTML code that is different between the two tabs in the one report. Any thoughts?

[bastostiago]

Power BI Slider chrome extension is able to rotate tabs in the same report and refresh them always you need. Also, these "times" are configurables.

[michael-zanovec]

Yes but with the caveat of only working in your personal app service (from what I can tell). We are on a government power bi service and it doesn't work. Perhaps there is a way to get it to work for me but I just don't see how. Thank you for mentioning it though. I did try it.

[bastostiago]

Don't you access Power BI using the Power BI Service? I mean "app.powerbi.com". You can also try Power BI Slider directly on their site: powerbislider.com. You just have to log in using your Microsoft account, regardless of whether you are on a government service, I believe.

[bastostiago]

There is a chrome extension called "Power BI Slider". It is proper to automate power bi dashboards for TVs.

[Wes256]

I don't have a full solution to your issue but I can highly recommend using chrome and then a free plugin called Revolver that you can setup to cycle through your tabs and reload tabs that you designate.

I don't own/sell/etc Revolver.  Just has been a solid solution for us until we gan figure out a better solution.

Enjoy

[michael-zanovec]

Ok, so I was able to use Revolver to get this to work. What I did was just create two separate reports rather than one with two tabs. With one report open on one tab and the other open on a different tab, Revolver is able to cycle thru each tab (and refresh each page) on an interval of my choosing. Thanks all!

[ashers2ashers]

It would appear that using PowerPoint could be the "current" solution to this situation - to pull all of your Power BI pages into a their own slides, then set up the presentation/slideshow to be continuous/looping with data set to refresh automatically

Supporting continuous Slide Shows in Power BI Storytelling add-in | Microsoft Power BI Blog | Micros...

[DMiradakis]

As a few others have mentioned, there is a Windows 10 app from the Power BI team to try and accomplish this. It works OK, but I'm not the biggest fan of it. It only does really the bare minimum for building a sort of "slideshow".

It may suit your needs, but if you're looking for something more advanced, I've built a custom software for this called Displagent. You can build really customizable slideshows from it from your reports and dashboard, and it has autolaunch on machine startup, fullscreen mode, refresh intervals, and so on built in.

With reports, you can actually build really specific slideshows. For instance, if you have a report with 5 tabs and 2 report bookmarks, you could do this:

• Show tab 1 for 60 seconds.
• Show tab 4 for 40 seconds.
• Show report bookmark 1 for 50 seconds.
• Show tab 2 for 30 seconds.
• etc.
• Refresh every 15 seconds.

One feature that I'm about to build is allowing people to build large slideshows from multiple reports and/or dashboards and put them together so that you're not just limited to one.

Again, the Windows 10 app might suit your needs, but if you need something more advanced, check out Displagent if you're interested!

[Thejeswar]

Hi @Patrick90 ,

I don't think there is any inbuilt option for achieving this.

But you can use a desktop flow to do this. I have not done this before but I can think of this as a workable solution

The Below are roughly the steps that you will have to do.

1. Open the report in Power BI Service and keep ready. Hide / stop any pop ups or notification

Start recording the actions in your flow

2. Refresh the report

3. Move page by page (this will be considered as separate steps by the flow)

Stop recording the actions

4. Schedule the desktop flow to run in loop by adding a loop task as a container for the steps 2 and 3

5. Add a delay operation while moving between the pages steps as required

I am not sure if this is the best solution, but this is what I am thinking might work for your ask

[Patrick90]

This suggestion of using a desktop flow seems like a workable solution, it would require more manual effort on my part to set up and maintain the flow, especially considering the need for scheduling and adding delays between pages. Since the data in the report needs to be updated daily,

[HarishKM]

@Patrick90  Hey,

You can try two thing for this 

1 - In the windows store there is an app called just "Power BI" (as opposed to "Power BI Desktop") this app is a variation of the mobile application and it is capable of running a Power BI Report in slide show mode which can automatically advance through pages or bookmarks. But I'm pretty sure this only works with reports hosted on the cloud (powerbi.com) not for on-prem report server.

2- You can this feature of power bi - Automatic page refresh in Power BI Desktop - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Thanks

Harish M

Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution! Appreciate your Kudos !!

[Patrick90]

This suggestion, which involves using the "Power BI" app from the Windows Store, would be a better fit for my requirements. Since the data in the report needs to be updated daily, having the ability to run the report in slide show mode with automatic page advancement would be ideal.

[pratyashasamal]

Hi @Patrick90 ,
Use the Power BI Windows app ( not the same as Power BI Desktop!)  in Slideshow mode.
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/it-ch/blog/presentation-mode-in-power-bi-windows-app/#:~:text=To%20ent....
Thanks ,
Pratyasha Samal
Has this post solved your problem? Please Accept as Solution so that others can find it quickly and to let the community know your problem has been solved.
If you found this post helpful, please give Kudos C

[Anonymous]

We have the same situation but see that the Power BI Windows app will soon be coming to its end as of December 2023.  What would be the alternative here?  I don't understand why Microsoft would phase out an app that serves a specific function without creating something else to replace it?  Are we forced as businesses to just relay on Chrome extensions and custom software to do a simple slideshow of our reports?

[LuisTr]

Yup same problem here, have found out an alternative?

[DMiradakis]

@Anonymous @LuisTr since the Windows 10 app is being retired, I'm just throwing in my app, Displagent, again as a possible alternative for you. 14-day free trial, no CC required.

I just finished automated signups and completely redesigned my main site. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. I'm also greatly experienced with Power BI embedded, so I can answer questions on that, too.