You have two good ways to show a SharePoint Excel order list on a warehouse screen: embed the workbook as a web page the player reloads every 2 to 5 minutes, or export the list to a file the player loops with no network permissions. Plan letters at 1 inch of capital height per 20 ft for the farthest reader, and start with the looped file unless IT allows the embed link.
An order list that lives on a SharePoint Excel sheet can go on a warehouse wall in two ways: as an embedded web page the signage player reloads on a fixed interval, or as an exported file the player loops offline. This article compares the two paths, sets the refresh interval that fits order picking, and sizes the letters for the farthest reader in the aisle. The short answer: unless IT allows a workbook link that opens without a sign-in, loop an exported file, and plan on 1 inch of capital letter height for every 20 ft of viewing distance.
Can you put a SharePoint Excel order list straight on a warehouse screen?
Yes: embed the workbook as a web page your signage player reloads on a fixed interval, or export the list to a PDF, picture or video file the player loops, and pick between them on permissions and how fast the list must change. The embed path shows the workbook itself as a read-only page, so an edit made in SharePoint reaches the board at the next reload, not instantly. The loop path shows a snapshot, and the snapshot is exactly as current as the last export. Both paths need the same content discipline before anything else: cut the working sheet down to what a picker acts on, typically order number, quantity, truck or door, and status, in that column order. A picker scans four columns; nobody scans the working file with its internal notes and extra columns.
How does the embedded workbook get on the screen?
SharePoint's Embed option turns the open workbook into a plain URL, and a signage player with a web page widget shows that URL and reloads it on the interval you set, provided the workbook is shared so the player can open it without anyone signing in. The steps:
- Open the workbook in SharePoint and use the Embed option. SharePoint generates embed code, and the workbook's own URL sits inside the iframe source attribute.
- Copy that URL, not the surrounding iframe text.
- Share the workbook for read-only viewing with no sign-in, or the frame on the board shows a login page instead of your list.
- Paste the URL into the player's web page widget and set the reload interval; the next section fixes it at 2 to 5 minutes.
- Point the URL at the filtered view, so the board carries only the four picker columns.
Clear the sharing question with IT before you buy or mount anything. A link that opens without a sign-in is a link anyone who holds it can open, and many tenants block exactly that, which ends this path on the spot. If the workbook pulls its numbers from an external connection, the Excel Web Access toolbar carries a Refresh All Connections command under its Update menu; for a sheet people type into, the reload itself brings the new values. The screen side works like showing any web page on a factory TV, which the OEE dashboard on a factory TV article walks through.
How often should a warehouse order board refresh?
Set the reload interval to 2 to 5 minutes, because orders change as picks complete, pick rates run in lines per hour, and faster reloading only loads the server for no picker benefit. Two settings carry that interval. In SharePoint, the list view auto-refresh option can reload the view on its own, with an interval you set between 1 and 5 minutes. On the screen, the signage player's web page widget has its own reload interval, and that one is the number that matters, because the workbook page sits static between reloads. Time it against your own pace: pick rates are planned in lines per picker per hour, and the warehouse picking rate standards reference goes deeper on that planning. Two minutes suits a live pick line, five minutes suits a door or staging board.
When is a looped file the better pick?
Choose the looped file when IT will not allow a workbook link that opens without a sign-in, when an update every 15 to 30 minutes is fast enough for the operation, or when you want the board to keep playing from its own storage through network trouble. Here the export replaces the link. Most order systems and spreadsheets write a filtered sheet or report straight to PDF or to a picture, on a schedule from the report scheduler, from a script, or from a person who saves it at shift start and after lunch. The player then loops that file like any slideshow. An update every 15 to 30 minutes covers most pick floors, and once per shift covers a returns desk. If the goal is only to get the sheet on the wall without mirroring a PC, the spreadsheet on a signage screen article covers the layout side.
Our own hardware fits either way you run it. The panel-mount displays in our cart play a show straight from a memory card or USB stick with no subscription, and the larger wall models through 75 inches are quoted for the project, with the playback method confirmed in the quote. To build the looping show for an IMD Signage display, IMD Signage Studio takes the exported PDF, makes each page a slide, checks every file as it writes the card, and puts the finished show on a memory card or USB stick for displays running IMD Signage Player 1.1.0 or newer.
Which should you use: the live web view or the looped file?
The live web view wins when the list changes during the shift and IT allows the embed; the looped file wins on permissions, simplicity and failure behavior, which is why most warehouse boards should start there.
| Embedded workbook web view | Looped exported file | |
|---|---|---|
| Freshness | Reload interval, set at 2 to 5 minutes | As current as the last export, 15 to 30 minutes typical |
| What IT must allow | A workbook link that opens read-only with no sign-in | Nothing beyond the screen |
| Setup | Embed option, copy the iframe URL, paste into the web page widget | Export to PDF or picture, build a looping show |
| How it fails | Expired link, changed sharing, a sign-in page or blank frame | A stale list keeps showing until the next export |
| Player needs | Any signage player with a web page widget | Any player that loops files, offline from its own storage |
| Wins for | Door and staging boards the office edits all shift | Pick lines where file links are blocked or updates can wait |
Where each wins follows from the table. The embedded view earns its setup where the office edits orders all shift and the board must show the changes within minutes: door boards, staging boards, moved quantities. The looped file wins everywhere IT says no to a no-sign-in file link, and it wins on failure behavior: a stale list is annoying, a sign-in page on the wall is useless. Run one looped board first, watch for a week whether the staleness actually bothers the pickers, and only then argue for the embed.
How big should the letters be on an order board?
Plan on 1 inch of capital letter height for every 20 ft of viewing distance when pickers read the board while walking, the safer end of the FHWA legibility pair, and set line spacing at 1.7 times capital height. The FHWA planning figure is 30 ft of viewing distance per inch of capital height, and 20 ft per inch is the safer choice for fast reading. A pick board is fast reading: people look up while walking, so use 20 ft per inch and treat the 30 ft figure as a glance distance for a board nobody stops at. Do not paste the 10-point working sheet onto the wall; rebuild the board view with the four picker columns and let the distance rule set the type size. The full size-by-distance method, screen heights included, is in the screen size and viewing distance guide.
Worked example: how many orders fit on a board read from 40 ft?
At a 40 ft farthest reader, the 20 ft per inch rule calls for 2.0 in capitals, 3.4 in of line spacing, and about 7 order lines on a 55-inch board, so a 20-order wave needs two boards, closer readers or smaller letters. Situation: one board at the head of a pick aisle, farthest picker 40 ft away, a wave of 20 open orders, four columns.
- Capital height: 40 ft ÷ 20 ft per inch = 2.0 in capitals.
- Line pitch: 2.0 in × 1.7 = 3.4 in per line.
- Board height: 16:9 geometry puts a 55-inch screen at 0.49 × 55 in ≈ 27 in tall.
- Lines on the board: 27 in ÷ 3.4 in ≈ 7.9, so 7 lines once margins take their share.
- Pixel check: a 1080p panel gives 1080 px ÷ 7 lines ≈ 154 px per line, far more than 2 in letters need.
Seven lines on the wall against 20 open orders, so the layout decides. Two 55-inch boards side by side carry 14 lines at the full 2.0 in letters. One board holding all 20 needs 20 × 3.4 in = 68 in of height, which no practical single screen gives. The workable single-board compromise is 1.5 in capitals: 1.5 in × 1.7 = 2.55 in of line pitch, 27 in ÷ 2.55 in ≈ 10 lines, and the check reads back 1.5 in × 20 ft per inch = 30 ft, so every picker within 30 ft is covered. Decide by distance: readers out at 40 ft get the two-board wall; if the real farthest reader is at 30 ft, one board with the 10 hottest orders at 1.5 in works. The same layout thinking scales up in the 75 inch truck yard status screen article.
Where should the board hang in the aisle?
Hang the board with its center about 5 ft off the floor, square to the aisle and out of the glare line of dock doors and skylights, because LCD contrast falls as you move off the panel's center axis and the farthest reader sits well off-axis. Square to the aisle matters most at distance: the farthest picker in a narrow aisle looks at the panel from a steep angle, where contrast is worst. Test before you drill: stand at the farthest station at the worst hour for glare and check all four columns read cleanly; the LCD viewing angle and HMI mounting height article gives the test procedure. A board hung above rack beams reads even worse at an angle, so tilt a high board down toward the middle of the reading zone. One safety note: keep the board out of forklift sightlines, and never let it cover an aisle mirror, a safety sign or an exit light.
What do you ask for when you order the board?
Bring three numbers to the quote: farthest reading distance in feet, the refresh interval the operation needs, and how many hours a day the screen is on, then let permissions pick the path between the embed link and the looped file. On a wall that takes open dock light or sun through skylights, ask for the higher-brightness panel option in the quote, and confirm the mounting and playback method with it.
Recommendation: Start the warehouse boards on the looped file path: export the filtered order view every 15 minutes or once per shift, loop it on an offline player, set capitals at 1 inch of height per 20 ft of farthest distance, and hang the board centered near 5 ft, square to the aisle. Move a board to the embedded web view only when pickers report the list going stale and IT confirms a no-sign-in embed link is allowed on your tenant.
Questions
What happens to each board when the warehouse network goes down?
The embedded web view freezes on its last loaded page, or shows a browser error if a reload lands during the outage. The looped show plays from the player's own storage and needs no network while it runs. That difference is the main reason to prefer the looped file on a pick floor.
How do you stop internal columns from showing on the board?
Never put the working workbook itself on the screen. Build a second sheet or filtered view with only the columns pickers need, such as order number, quantity, truck or door, and status, and share or export that view. In the embed path the share link points at the filtered view; in the loop path the export writes only that view.
Can one screen show the order list and other notices together?
Yes. On the loop path, build the show as a playlist: the order file, then a safety notice, then a shift message, each on screen for a set time. On the embed path the web page widget shows one page, so notices need a second board or a layout that places both on the page you embed.
Does the screen need a PC behind it?
No. The looped file path runs on anything that plays a picture, PDF or video file in a loop, including dedicated signage players and small PCs. The embed path needs a player that renders a web page. The computer behind the screen matters less than the two numbers that decide the job: the farthest reading distance and the refresh interval.
Planning information, not legal or engineering advice. Rules differ by place: check codes and permits with your local authority and your licensed trades.