How to Show a Zendesk Dashboard on a TV

By the Pick Ads team · Tested on Chrome · Published October 20, 2026 · Updated October 20, 2026

Short answer: If you have Explore Enterprise, use a password-protected public dashboard link. Zendesk says the link can be used to display a dashboard on a TV, and viewers don't need an account. Open it in Chrome full screen, and rotate it with other tabs if needed. Avoid agent logins on a TV: Zendesk now ends team member sessions after at most 12 hours.

Options

Option	Needs	Session	Good for
Explore public link	Suite Enterprise or Enterprise Plus, or Support with Explore Enterprise (Explore Legacy also supported)	No sign-in; optional password	Most support wallboards
Agent login in Chrome	An agent seat	Signs out after inactivity (default 60 min) and after 12 hours maximum	Short-term or testing only
Wall display app, e.g. Geckoboard	Separate subscription; Geckoboard lists plans from $75/month and a 14-day trial	Set by the app	Teams wanting custom wallboard layouts or data from other tools

Sources: Zendesk Help on sharing dashboards outside Zendesk, session timeout and the 12-hour session limit; Geckoboard on the Zendesk Marketplace. Last verified: 2026-10-20.

Know the trade-off before you share. Anyone with a public link can open it, and viewers see all the data the dashboard returns. Zendesk notes that Limited viewer and Limited editor restrictions no longer narrow what they can see. Any IP restrictions on your Zendesk account still apply, so the link only opens from your allowed IP range.

Setup with rotation

Step 1: Turn on public links (admin). In Explore, click the Settings icon in the left sidebar and open the Sharing tab. Turn on Public links to dashboards, then click Save.

Step 3: Open it on the TV computer. In a dedicated Chrome profile, open the link and enter the password. Then put Chrome in full screen or kiosk mode. How to run a wallboard display with Chrome covers launch flags and hardware.

Step 4: Rotate with other tabs (optional). Add the dashboard link to a Tab Rotator playlist alongside other pages, such as a status page or a sales sheet. Set the time per page, and turn on start-with-Chrome and keep-awake.

Public link: there's no Zendesk session to expire.
Agent login: agents are signed out after 60 minutes of inactivity by default. Admins can change this under Admin Center > Account > Security > Advanced > Authentication. On top of that, Zendesk now enforces a 12-hour maximum session for team members, with the last rollout phase from August 31 to September 29, 2026. Zendesk also says background updates count as activity, but don't happen evenly across all pages. Don't count on a dashboard keeping itself signed in.

Refresh interval

Zendesk's sharing article doesn't say how often a shared dashboard updates itself. If numbers look stale, set Tab Rotator to refresh the tab after it's shown. Choose an interval longer than the dashboard takes to load. Queue views change fast, while daily summaries don't. How often should a dashboard refresh? has starting points.

Troubleshooting

"Locked" after wrong passwords: five incorrect password attempts make the dashboard inaccessible to everyone for five minutes. Wait, then re-enter it carefully.
Link stopped working everywhere: if an admin turns off external sharing, every existing link is disabled. Turning sharing back on means creating new links.
Works at home, not in the office (or the reverse): Zendesk applies your IP restrictions to public links.
Agent screen shows the sign-in page each morning: expected with the 12-hour limit. Move to a public link.
Screen sleeps: fix OS and TV power settings first (prevent display sleep).

FAQ

Will the session expire? An agent session will. It ends after the inactivity timeout (60 minutes by default) and after 12 hours at most, which Zendesk now enforces for team members. A public dashboard link has no Zendesk sign-in, so that limit doesn't apply. For an all-day support wallboard, a public link is the more reliable choice.

Can I use a read-only login? For a TV, the view-only public link is the closest thing. Viewers can't interact with the dashboard, and they don't need a Zendesk account. It needs Explore Enterprise. Any signed-in Zendesk user on the TV is still a team member session, so the 12-hour limit applies.

How often to refresh? Match it to how fast the numbers change and how long the dashboard takes to load. Live queue views might refresh every few minutes, and daily summaries much less often. Never refresh faster than the page can finish loading on the TV computer.

How to run a wallboard display with Chrome: hardware, kiosk flags, recovery.
Why your TV dashboard keeps showing a login screen: fix access before automating.
How often should a dashboard refresh?: pick an interval.

Add Tab Rotator to Chrome - Free

Sources

Zendesk Help: Sharing Explore dashboards outside Zendesk: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408826905626
Zendesk Help: Setting session timeout for users: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832533274
Zendesk Help: Announcing an enforced 12-hour session limit for team members: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10660008447386
Geckoboard Dashboards for Support – Zendesk Marketplace: https://www.zendesk.com/marketplace/apps/support/55779/geckoboard-dashboards-for-support/
Tab Rotator – Chrome Web Store: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tab-rotator-auto-rotate-r/ahbfijbckbicepnejpkljkkbiikjcdkb

Last verified: 2026-10-20