It’s easy to create digital signage from a Keynote slideshow. Follow this guide to learn how to quickly create digital signage from Keynote and speed up your workflows.

Need a Keynote template to get started? Skip the design time and get free, professionally designed Keynote templates for digital signage right here.

This guide shows you how to configure Keynote presentations correctly for digital signage and turn a slideshow into engaging signage that makes people take action. You can use the Keynote app free on macOS, iOS and iPadOS devices.

How to Create Digital Signage with Apple Keynote

Step 1 — Prepare your document

Ensure your slides are the correct size to best fit the displays in your organization. Nobody wants square digital signage playing on widescreen TVs.

How to change your slide size:

• In the Keynote toolbar, navigate to Document > Slide Size.
• From here, choose the best size option for your displays. This will vary depending on what devices your organization uses. However, a safe bet is the “Widescreen (16:9)” option. Most modern TVs display a 16:9 aspect ratio. You can also set custom dimensions if none of the existing defaults are what you need.

Step 2 — Design your signage

Creating and designing content for digital signage doesn’t have to be difficult. Start with Apple’s default Keynote templates if you need design inspiration. Keep things simple, legible and relevant.

How to access Keynote templates:

• In the Keynote toolbar, navigate to Document > Theme.
• Click the “Change Theme” button.
• Scroll through the available options and choose your preferred theme.

Templates made for slideshows will only take you so far — to create beautiful, engaging signage that makes people take action, use these resources:

• Learn the Do’s and Don’ts of Digital Signage
• How to Use Digital Signage in a Crisis

Step 3 — Export your files

Now it’s time to turn your Keynote presentation into engaging, actionable digital signage:

• Make sure your slideshow is complete. Then, navigate to File > Export To…
• In the menu, select your preferred file format of your new digital signage assets.
• A new menu will appear. You can further customize specifics of your export, including:
  • File format type
  • Number of slides
  • Resolution (if exporting to video)
  • Slide duration (if exporting to video)
• Select “Next” and choose where to save the exported slides.
• Click “Export” and your files will download.

Exporting Tips

Ensure the file format you choose is compatible with your digital signage solution. Most digital signage content management systems (CMS) will accept common image and video files. Ditto digital signage is compatible with a variety of media file types, such as PNG, JPEG, GIF and MP4.

Make sure to set up your slides to the correct aspect ratio and export them to the correct dimensions. Your slides should fill up the entire screen of your TVs and monitors.

Common display dimensions:

These dimensions can vary depending on what displays your organization uses.

You can export your slides as static images or use Keynote to combine them into a single video file that plays all slides for a set amount of time.

Step 4 — Integrate with your CMS

Now that you have exported your slides, it’s time to get them up on your screens. Some digital signage solutions only play files from a physical source like a USB drive. However, the best type of digital signage includes a CMS that is touch-free and accessible from anywhere.

Organize your content and set scheduling and duration parameters. To do this, simply upload files to your preferred CMS or deploy physical hard drives loaded with your content to each display. The digital signage solution you use can make this process really simple or really time-consuming. Opt for a centrally managed signage solution that has a built-in CMS, like Ditto.

Now your signs will begin playing the digital signage content you created from Keynote.