The Simple Way to Set Up a TV Menu Board — No Wi-Fi, No Tech Skills Needed

If you run a restaurant, café, or retail store and want a TV slideshow that shows your menu, offers, or promotions — without dealing with Wi-Fi, logins, or monthly software fees — USB Mode in the Swift Signage Android TV app is built exactly for that. You organize your content into folders on a USB drive, plug it into the TV, and it plays. No internet connection required at any point.

This tutorial walks through the entire process step by step: creating your slideshow, choosing a layout, previewing exactly what will appear on screen before you go live, and setting up automatic time-based scheduling so your breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus switch on their own.

What You Need Before You Start

• An Android TV, or a regular TV with an Android TV box/stick connected to it
• A regular USB flash drive (any size — a few GB is plenty for images and short videos)
• The free Swift Signage app, installed from the Google Play Store
• Your menu photos, offer banners, or promotional videos, ready to copy onto the drive

That's the entire hardware list. No router, no ethernet cable, and no account sign-up needed for USB Mode.

1Organize Your Content Into Folders on a USB Drive

On your USB drive, create one main folder named swift. Inside it, you'll create sub-folders depending on how you want your TV screen to look. You only need to create the folders for the layout you actually plan to use — you don't need all of them.

• Single full-screen slideshow: create swift/slideshow/ and put all your images/videos in it
• Split screen, left and right: create swift/left/ and swift/right/
• Split screen, top and bottom: create swift/top/ and swift/bottom/
• Three-way split (top, center, bottom): create swift/vtop/, swift/vcenter/, and swift/vbottom/

Supported image formats are JPG, PNG, WEBP, and BMP. Supported video formats are MP4, MKV, MOV, and AVI. You can mix images and videos freely in the same folder.

2Plug In the USB Drive and Open the App

Plug the USB drive into your Android TV, then open the Swift Signage app. Select USB Mode when prompted. The app scans your drive automatically and detects which folders you've created.

Selecting USB Mode on the Swift Signage home screen.

3Understand the Configure Slideshow Screen

After the scan finishes, you'll land on the Configure Slideshow screen — this is the control center for your entire USB slideshow. From here you can see:

• Which folders were found on your drive, and whether any of them have an issue (empty folder, or wrong image size)
• A live Display Preview showing exactly what your TV will show
• Scale Mode, Layout, and Shuffle settings
• A summary bar showing total files, duration per image, screen orientation, and loop status

The Configure Slideshow screen — everything you need is on one screen.

If a folder is empty, or its images don't match the expected shape for your chosen layout, you'll see a small warning message right on this screen — before you ever start the slideshow. That means no surprises when you walk away from the TV.

4Choose Your Scale Mode

Scale Mode controls how your images and videos fit inside the screen (or inside each zone, if you're using a split-screen layout). There are three options:

• Fit — the whole image is shown, with any empty space filled by letterboxing. Nothing gets cropped.
• Fill — the image is zoomed and cropped to completely cover the screen with no empty space. Best when your images already match your screen's aspect ratio.
• Stretch — the image is stretched to exactly match the screen size, which can distort images that aren't the right shape.

Fit, Fill, and Stretch — pick whichever matches your content best.

For most restaurant menu boards, Fill gives the cleanest, most professional look, as long as your images are close to the recommended resolution shown on screen.

5Choose a Layout — Single Screen or Split-Screen

This is where USB Mode goes beyond a simple slideshow. Instead of showing one thing at a time, you can split your TV into independent zones, each playing its own loop of content:

• Single — the whole screen shows one slideshow, one item at a time
• Left-Right — the screen splits into two side-by-side halves (landscape TVs only)
• Top-Bottom — the screen splits into two stacked halves (portrait TVs only)
• Top-Center-Bottom — the screen splits into three stacked sections (portrait TVs only) — great for showing a menu, a promo, and an offer at the same time

Each layout shows exactly which folders it needs, right below the option.

As soon as you tap a layout, the screen tells you exactly which folder names it expects (for example, swift/left/ and swift/right/) and the recommended image resolution for your specific TV — so you always know what to prepare.

6Preview Your Slideshow Before Going Live

Above the folder list, the Display Preview shows a small mockup of your actual TV, rendering your real thumbnails in the exact layout and scale mode you've selected. If you switch from Fit to Fill, or from Single to Left-Right, the preview updates instantly so you can see precisely what will play before you commit to it.

The Display Preview mirrors exactly what your TV will show — including scale mode and layout.

If any folder relevant to your selected layout is empty or has mismatched image sizes, a small warning appears directly below the preview, so you can fix it before starting the slideshow instead of finding out later.

7Turn On Shuffle (Optional)

If you'd rather your images and videos play in random order instead of the order they appear in the folder, flip on the Shuffle toggle. This is a nice touch for keeping a long-running display feeling fresh throughout the day.

8Start the Slideshow

Once your layout, scale mode, and preview all look right, tap Start Slideshow. Your TV will immediately begin looping through your content exactly as shown in the preview — no further setup needed.

9Set Up Automatic Scheduling

Most restaurants don't serve the same menu all day, so your TV shouldn't show the same thing all day either. USB Mode supports time-based scheduling — you set up separate content windows (for example, a breakfast menu, a lunch menu, and a dinner menu), and the app automatically switches between them at the times you choose. No one on your staff needs to remember to change anything.

From the Configure Slideshow screen, tap Manage Schedules at the bottom to open your schedule list.

Your schedule list — each entry shows its time window and when it starts next.

Tap Add Schedule to create a new one. Give it a name (like "Breakfast Menu"), set the start and end time, choose a layout for that time window, and pick which media plays in each zone.

Creating a schedule — set the time window, layout, and content for each zone.

Once saved, the schedule automatically takes over the display during its time window and hands back control to your default slideshow once it ends — completely on its own.

10Edit a Schedule Later

Menus change. Prices change. When they do, you don't need to rebuild a schedule from scratch — from the schedule list, tap the edit icon on any schedule to update just its media, without touching the name or time window you already set.

Getting Help Inside the App

If you ever forget which folders a layout needs, tap the Help link at the bottom of the Configure Slideshow screen. It opens a full visual guide explaining folder setup for every layout, with simple diagrams and plain-language explanations — no need to leave the app or search online.

The built-in Help guide — folder setup explained with diagrams, right inside the app.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need Wi-Fi or an internet connection to use USB Mode?

No. USB Mode runs entirely offline. Every image and video plays directly from the USB drive, and no internet connection is used at any point.

Do I need to create an account to use USB Mode?

No. USB Mode requires no login, no account, and no subscription. It's part of the free Swift Signage app.

Can I show more than one thing on the screen at once?

Yes. Using the Left-Right, Top-Bottom, or Top-Center-Bottom layouts, you can split the screen into two or three independent zones, each playing its own content.

What image size should I use?

The Configure Slideshow screen shows the recommended resolution automatically, based on your TV's actual screen size and the layout you've selected — it updates live as you switch layouts.

Can I schedule different menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

Yes. Create a separate schedule for each time window from the Manage Schedules screen, and the app will switch between them automatically.

What if a folder is empty or has the wrong image size?

The Configure Slideshow screen shows a warning directly below the Display Preview, telling you exactly which folder has an issue, before you start the slideshow.