# Launch the projector

Launching the projector means opening the full-screen display view on the computer that's plugged into your TV or projector. Once it's running, it cycles through the loop on its own until you close the window.

The projector view is a web page. Any device with a browser can run it — a laptop, a mini PC, a Chromecast with a keyboard, a Fire Stick, an old tablet. You sign in on that device once, navigate to the projector page, and then walk away.

## Prerequisites

* A [display loop](/projector/build-a-display-loop.md) saved, or at least one [leaderboard](/projector/create-a-leaderboard-display.md) or [latest scores](/projector/create-a-latest-scores-display.md) module you want to show on its own

## Launch a full loop

1. On the venue computer (the one connected to the TV or projector), sign in to Gym Art Meets and open your meet.
2. Go to **Projector Display** in the sidebar.
3. In the **Loop builder** panel on the right, pick the loop you want to show from the dropdown.
4. Click **Start display**.

The browser navigates to a full-screen view with no sidebar. Now put the browser itself into full-screen mode so the address bar, tabs, and OS menu bar all disappear from the projection.

### Hide the browser chrome

The shortcut depends on your browser and OS:

| Browser     | macOS                                             | Windows |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ------- |
| **Chrome**  | Ctrl + Cmd + F                                    | F11     |
| **Safari**  | Ctrl + Cmd + F (or click the green window button) | —       |
| **Edge**    | Ctrl + Cmd + F                                    | F11     |
| **Firefox** | Ctrl + Cmd + F                                    | F11     |

If the top bar still shows a thin strip after going full-screen:

* **Chrome on Mac** — the menu bar reappears when your mouse hits the top edge. Move the mouse to the bottom of the screen and leave it there, or use Chrome's own full-screen (View → Enter Full Screen) which hides the menu bar too.
* **Safari on Mac** — go to View → Always Show Toolbar in Full Screen and turn it off. Same for the tab bar (View → Always Show Tab Bar in Full Screen).
* **Windows** — hover the mouse at the very top of the screen; if a bar appears, you're in Chrome's "immersive" mode. Press F11 again, or use View → Full Screen from the menu to toggle between modes.

Press the same shortcut again to exit full-screen when you need to get back to the admin.

## Launch a single module without a loop

Sometimes you just want one screen up — for example, a vault station TV that only ever shows the latest vault scores.

1. From the **Projector Display** page, open the module you want from the **Module library**.
2. Click **Show display** at the top of the configuration form.

The full-screen view opens with only that module playing. For a latest scores module, the feed stays visible until you close the window. For a leaderboard module, it cycles through the apparatus you configured and starts over.

## Launch latest scores for a session without building a module

There's a shortcut to project a session's latest scores without creating a module first. Go to the session in the meet dashboard and click **Projector Display** in the session's sidebar. Pick the apparatus you want and click **Show display**. This is useful for a quick station TV where you don't need saved configuration.

## Keep the projector running

The single most common way a projector goes dark mid-meet is that nobody changed the computer's sleep settings. The browser is doing its job, but the OS decided it was idle. Before the meet starts, walk through these on the venue computer.

### On macOS

1. Open **System Settings → Lock Screen**.
2. Set **Start Screen Saver when inactive** to **Never**.
3. Set **Turn display off when inactive** to **Never** (or at least longer than the meet).
4. Set **Require password after screen saver begins or display is turned off** to **Never** for the day.
5. Open **System Settings → Battery** (laptops) or **Energy Saver** (desktops).
6. Under **Power Adapter**, set **Turn display off after** to **Never** and enable **Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off**.
7. If it's a laptop, either keep the lid open or plug in an external monitor and enable clamshell mode (Apple menu → System Settings → Battery → Options → *"Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off"*).

Also check **Notifications** and turn on **Do Not Disturb** so banners don't pop up over the projection.

### On Windows

1. Open **Settings → System → Power & battery** (or **Power Options** on older builds).
2. Under **Screen and sleep**, set both **When plugged in, turn my screen off after** and **When plugged in, put my device to sleep after** to **Never**.
3. Open **Settings → System → Lock screen** (or the old Control Panel → Personalization → Screen Saver) and set **Screen saver** to **(None)**.
4. Open **Settings → Focus** and turn on **Focus** or **Do not disturb** so notifications don't pop up on the projected screen.
5. If it's a laptop, open **Power Options → Choose what closing the lid does** and set **When I close the lid → Plugged in → Do nothing**.

### Everywhere

* **Plug the laptop in.** Battery power often triggers separate, more aggressive sleep rules even when you've disabled them for AC power.
* **Close other apps.** Background apps with notifications (Slack, Teams, email) can flash alerts over the full-screen projector.
* **Don't close the browser tab.** If you need to come back and adjust something, open a second browser or use a different device.

If the page does go blank or the computer restarts, just re-open the bookmark and click **Start display** again. The projector picks up from the current state of the loop; it doesn't need any extra setup.

## Multiple projectors

You can run different loops on different computers at the same time. Each computer opens its own projector view and picks its own loop from the dropdown. Every projector independently cycles through its own loop — they aren't synchronized with each other.

This is how you split by location: one loop for the main hall, another for the vault warmup area, another for the lobby.

## What's next

* [**Update a running projector from another device**](/projector/update-from-another-device.md) — Change what a projector is showing without touching its computer

## Related

* [Build a display loop](/projector/build-a-display-loop.md)
* [Organizer event-day guide](/organizer-event-day-guide/index.md)
* [Projector display overview](/projector/index.md)


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.gymart.org/projector/launch-the-projector.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.