---
title: Dynamic Playlist State
slug: author/dynamic-playlist-state
docTags: 
createdAt: 2025-03-11T06:56:09.060Z
---

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A Dynamic Playlist widget in a presentation points to an external bucket of content in a [Dynamic Playlist](docId\:gPjwF1LNjhau_EQZJMfUq). The widget constantly checks the contents of that bucket to make sure it’s up-to-date. These widgets can be used in presentations where the structure and layout of the presentation remains unchanged, but the content of the Dynamic Playlist widget changes based on the content and order of the items in the source playlist.

# State Properties

- **Name**: The name of the Dynamic Playlist state
- **Initial State**: Select this to make this state the home screen

## Source

This section lets you select a Dynamic Playlist to populate the state.

## Content Usage

This section lets you modify other options associated with the Dynamic Playlist. 

- **Update Interval**: Specify how often the player should refresh the contents of the Dynamic Playlist.
- **Optimize Feed Updates (use HEAD calls)**: Check this box to have the player make an HTTP HEAD request before retrieving the contents of the Dynamic Playlist. See [here](docId\:a6Ali6u-szxHuansk6T3-) for more details.
- **Automatically generate User Variables from Data Feed:** Use the feed to populate a set of User Variables for HTML pages. See [here](docId\:a6Ali6u-szxHuansk6T3-) for more details.

## Notes

This section lets you store important information about the Dynamic Playlist state for future users. It can be modified at any time.

## Advanced

This section lets you add commands to your presentation to extend its functionality. See [Commands & Conditional Targets](docId\:az1YTDtEYH-Zp2Dbg_lBL) for more information.

# Using the Dynamic Playlist

There are two main steps to using these widgets. The first step is to create the dynamic element in the content library so that it can be accessed in any presentation. The second step is to create a presentation and refer to those external elements through the playlist widget **Source** parameter.

To do this:

1. Go to the **Content** menu and selecting **New Component > Dynamic Playlist**.
2. Save your project.
3. Enter a name for the new playlist and select **Create**.
4. Go to your **Media** folder and pick the media that you want to add to your playlist.
5. Drag those media files into your sandbox and reorder them as needed. When you are done, select the save icon at the top right.
6. Go back to the presentation and drag a **Dynamic** **Playlist** widget into the sandbox.
7. With the widget selected, go to the **State** **Properties** panel and select the playlist you just created under **Source**. The presentation will now display this playlist.