Getting Started with Dash

Follow these steps to be up and running with Dash in no time. Install Dash from the App Store, Google Play Store or the Amazon Appstore, connect it to your room calendar, choose a display mode, and lock the device down. This takes about 15 minutes for the first device, and a few minutes per device for the others.

1. Install Dash and activate your subscription (about 2 minutes)

Installing Dash is usually as easy as downloading it from the store on your device. You can find detailed information in our device setup guide.

If you're still deciding which device to use, you can read our how to choose the right meeting room display hardware guide.

2. Connect your calendars (about 3 minutes)

If you are using Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace then you can complete all the necessary steps from within Dash. Please see our guides on Microsoft 365 Setup and Google Setup for instructions on how to set up your Microsoft 365/Google Workspace account correctly and connect it to Dash.

If you are using a different system to manage your meeting room calendars (for example an on-prem Exchange server or CalDav) then you can connect your device to the service and Dash will read your meeting information from your device's calendar. Please see the section on Using Dash with your device's calendar in our Device calendar Setup guide for information on how to do this.

3. Lock down the device (about 2 minutes)

Did you know that you can lock your device to Dash, so that people walking past can't close the app and get to the home screen? Both iOS and Android offer ways to do this (Guided Access and Screen Pinning, respectively) which you can configure by following the instructions in our device setup guide.

If you're managing your devices with an MDM system (such as Intune), you can also configure your meeting room displays in Single-app kiosk mode. This locks the device to Dash, sets Dash to start automatically with the device, and lets you block notifications and system menus. For more information, see your MDM provider's guide or contact us for assistance.

4. Choose how meetings are displayed (about 2 minutes)

Dash features a number of ways to customize the way your meeting information is displayed which can all be found in the Calendar and display section of Dash's settings. Here are some of the most important settings:

1. Display mode - Dash has five different display modes to choose from, two that can show a single room and three that show multiple rooms on the same display:
   • Room Display - Dash's default display, which shows the status of a single room, along with a schedule.
   • Countdown display - Shows a single room with a countdown ring showing the amount of time left in the current meeting (or the amount of free time left). Intended for a display mounted inside the room, but it also works well as a display mounted at the door.
   • Dashboard display - Shows the status of multiple meeting rooms on one display, arranged in a grid. This is useful for displays mounted between several rooms, or large displays mounted in a central location.
   • Schedule dashboard - Shows the status of multiple meeting rooms like the dashboard display, but also shows each room's full schedule. It works best when mounted on a large display in a central location.
   • What's on - Rather than showing multiple rooms, the What's on display shows a list of current and upcoming meetings across all of your selected rooms. This works great on a large display at reception, where visitors can quickly find the room for their meeting.
   You can find more information about Dash's display modes in our Using Dash guide.
2. Rename calendars - Your meeting rooms might not always be named the way you want in your calendars. If you find this is the case, Dash allows you to rename them. Select Rename calendars, tap on the calendar you wish to rename, and enter your desired name.
3. Show room occupancy by color - Dash displays a color based on the room's current status so that you can see if the room is free or busy at a glance. By default, Dash will color the background of the room's schedule, but you can choose to display the color on a border around the display, or on the background of the entire display instead.
4. Dim screen after hours - Choose your working hours and days, and Dash will dim the display outside these times to save power and prolong the life of your display device. If you need to use the display after hours, just tap it to bring it back to life.
5. Time format and Language - These options control whether times are displayed in a 12 or 24 hour format, and which of the 26 supported languages is used in the main sections of the app. Dash will choose the best defaults based on your Device's location settings, but you can override this and choose your own time format and language. You can set the time and timezone in your device's settings app.

5. Security (about 1 minute)

The Security section of Dash's settings gives you a number of controls which allow you to secure Dash's settings from unauthorized access and to control what meeting information is displayed on Dash's main display.

1. Require passcode to access settings - If you wish to protect Dash's settings from unauthorized access, you can set a 4 digit passcode which must be entered before Dash's settings will open. Turn on the option and enter your desired passcode twice to activate it.
2. Meeting Information - If you have sensitive information in the titles of your meetings, you can use the Label meetings with setting to control what is displayed. Choose from displaying the meeting's title, the meeting's organizer, or simply show that the room is booked without revealing the title or organizer. When turned off, the Display meeting details setting will prevent the meeting's description and list of participants from being shown when a meeting is tapped on the main screen.

6. Optional Features (about 3 minutes)

Dash offers a number of powerful features to help you manage your meeting rooms, available in the Optional features section. The ideal combination of settings will differ from organization to organization so we recommend that you trial different settings before settling on the combination that works best for you.

1. Check-in - One of the largest causes of meeting room inefficiency is abandoned bookings - meetings which are booked in the room but then not attended. Dash can help to prevent these with the Check-in feature. When turned on, a Check-in button will be displayed on the main screen for each meeting. If this button is not pressed within a set time after the meeting is scheduled to start, the room will be released from the meeting and made available for others. You can also choose to release rooms from recurring meetings, if a set number of check-ins have been missed in a row.
2. Room booking - Dash can also allow users to book the room directly from the screen. When the Allow booking option is turned on, users will be able to book the room if it is available. You can choose to enable booking for instant bookings, or for instant and later bookings:
   • Instant bookings will start from the time the Book now button is pressed, and users have a choice of booking the room for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours.
   • Later bookings are chosen from a calendar view, and can start at any time in the future
   You can also choose to allow or require users to set a message with their bookings, set an organizer, and add attendees.
3. Ending and extending meetings - If a meeting is running longer than expected, Dash can allow users to extend it if the room is available. Conversely, if a meeting ends earlier than expected the booking can be ended early to free the room for other meetings.
4. Find free rooms - If the room is currently booked, the Find free rooms feature allows users to find other free rooms in the building. When turned on, the Find free rooms option adds a button to the main screen that lists all rooms currently free. Select the rooms you want to include using the Rooms to check option and they will be displayed in the list. The list is ordered by the amount of free time, so the room with the most free time is displayed first.

7. Customize Branding (about 2 minutes)

Dash allows you to choose your own background image. Dash supports any size of background image - the image chosen will be scaled so that it covers your devices display. For best results, you should create an image that exactly matches the size of your device's display in pixels. To find the ideal background image size for your device, open the Appearance and branding section of Dash's settings. The ideal size will be shown just underneath the option for setting the background image.

Dash also allows you to display a custom logo. The chosen logo will appear at the top of the main screen. The ideal image size for a custom logo is 500 x 100 pixels, however you can use an image with a different size and it will be scaled to fit. If you would like to have your logo appear in a different part of the main display you can add it to your background image instead of loading it separately.

Dash also allows you to customize the colors of visual elements such as buttons, text, and dialog backgrounds. For a full list of the customization options please see the Appearance and branding section of our full guide.

Congratulations! You have finished setting up Dash. You can learn more about the available settings in our Full guide, and if you have any questions or comments feel free to Contact us - we're here to help!

Troubleshooting

I don't see my meeting rooms in Dash

If you're using the Microsoft 365 business or personal account or Dash to a Google Workspace standard, or personal account connection methods, check that the account you're using with Dash can see all of your meeting rooms. If you can see the rooms in Outlook or Google Calendar when signed in with the account, then you should be able to see them in Dash. The Microsoft 365 Enterprise Application or Google Workspace service account connection methods should be able to see all of your organization's meeting rooms by default.

If you're using Microsoft 365 and have just created the meeting rooms in Exchange Online, you might have to wait. Microsoft takes some time (up to 24 hours) before it makes newly created room mailboxes available to 3rd party apps such as Dash, so if you're not seeing the room show up right away, try again in a couple of hours.

The device is showing the wrong time

Dash takes its time and timezone settings from your device. If you're not seeing the correct time, you can change your device's timezone from Settings:

Apple devices

Open the Settings app, then go to General -> Date & Time. You can set the date and time, or choose to have them be set automatically (recommended).

Android devices

Open the Settings app, then go to System -> Date & time. You can set the date, time, and timezone from here, or choose to have them be set automatically (recommended).

I'm using Dash with Microsoft 365 and see the organizer's email address instead of meeting titles

By default, Microsoft 365 labels events in resource calendars with the meeting's organizer rather than its title. If you would like to see your meetings displayed in Dash with their title, you can connect to your Microsoft 365 instance via PowerShell, and then change the default settings for each room. You can find instructions in our helpful guide.

If you don't see the answer to your issue above, please contact us and we'll be happy to help.