How do I show or hide a screen in my experience? – Fastory

You can precisely control which screens of your experience are visible to your participants. With screen planification, you can show or hide a screen either instantly or automatically over a date range you define.

What is it for?

Screen planification lets you control the visibility of each screen in your experience without changing its content. You can schedule a screen to appear and disappear on specific dates, or hide it immediately with a single click. It is useful for revealing a screen at the right moment, removing part of the experience after an event, or setting aside a screen that is not ready yet.

Schedule when a screen is displayed

To set an opening date and a closing date on a screen:

Click the screen you want to schedule.

Open its settings, then the Screen planification section.

Select the time zone.

Set the opening and closing dates. Outside this range, the screen is hidden from your experience.

Publish or update your experience to apply the planification.

Clear a scheduled date

You can remove a previously selected date and time via the DatePicker:

Click the calendar in the field of the date you want to clear.

Click Clear.

Find your scheduled dates

Hover over the calendar icon in the screen timeline to see, at any time, the opening and closing dates you have set.

Hide a screen instantly

You can also hide a screen without scheduling any dates. Simply check the Hide the screen from the experience option in the screen settings: the screen is removed immediately, and you can show it again whenever you want.

When all screens are hidden

If all the screens of your experience are hidden, a generic screen is displayed when a participant clicks on your experience. This screen cannot be customized: it is generic and designed to meet the needs of all users.

If you want to display a closing screen with your own content, keep one screen visible and customize it instead.

Impact on your experience URL

Each screen of your experience has its own URL. If you hide and then show one or more screens again, these URLs may change while the game is live. Be careful if you have set up redirects or shared the URL of a specific screen. Whenever possible, we recommend sharing the experience's global URL, defined in the Publish tab.

Best practices

Check the time zone before saving your dates, so the opening and closing times match what your participants expect.

Publish or update your experience after every change: otherwise, the planification and hiding will not be applied.

Keep at least one screen visible and customized rather than hiding everything, to avoid displaying the generic screen.

Share the experience's global URL (Publish tab) rather than the URL of a specific screen, as the latter can change.

Use instant hiding for an unfinished screen, and date-based planification for automatic opening or closing.

Concrete use cases

If you want to open a screen on a specific date

Schedule an opening date: the screen stays hidden until the chosen day and time, then automatically appears in your experience.

If you want to close part of your experience after an event

Set a closing date on the relevant screen. Once that time has passed, it disappears from the experience without any action on your part.

If you want to quickly remove an unfinished screen

Check Hide the screen from the experience: the screen is hidden immediately, and you can show it again once it is ready.

If you want to display a custom closing message

Rather than hiding all the screens, which triggers the generic screen, keep one screen visible and customize it with your own content.

Going further

How to schedule the game's opening and closing dates

How to display a countdown on my experience

FAQ

Do I need to republish my Fastory experience after scheduling a screen?

Yes. Both scheduled dates and hiding are only applied once you have published or updated your experience. Until you do, the changes remain invisible to your participants.

What do participants see outside the opening and closing dates?

Outside the defined range, the screen is hidden from your experience. If all screens are hidden, the generic closing screen is displayed instead.

Can I hide a screen without setting any dates?

Yes. Check the Hide the screen from the experience option in the screen settings to hide it instantly, without going through planification.

How do I delete a date already scheduled in Fastory?

Open the calendar (DatePicker) in the field of the relevant date, then click Clear. The opening or closing date is then removed.

Can the generic screen displayed when everything is hidden be customized?

No. This screen is generic and cannot be customized. To display a closing message with your own content, keep one screen visible and customize it.

Why does the URL of a screen in my experience change after it is hidden?

Each screen has its own URL. Hiding and then showing a screen again can change these URLs while the game is live. For reliable sharing, use the experience's global URL, available in the Publish tab.

Where can I find the dates I have scheduled?

Hover over the calendar icon in the screen timeline of your Fastory experience: the opening and closing dates you have set will be displayed.