Play - How to use - guide

Play is video hosting designed for news publishers. Upload, host, and embed high-quality videos directly into your articles with our seamless platform built specifically for media companies.

Upcoming features

Some features are not yet available in production. They are documented below so you know what to expect when they are released:

• Video Lists — Create curated collections of videos and embed a list player in your articles. See (#8-video-lists). Not yet in production.

1. Log in with Microsoft Single Sign-On

To access Play, you use your existing work account email address that your organization has added to the Microsoft resource (e.g. name@example.com). To request access, go to https://my.intility.com/apps or support@intility.no.

1. Open the Play URL provided by your organization.

2. Click Sign In to be redirected to the standard Microsoft sign-in page.
   Example: Microsoft sign-in screen
   

3. Enter your work email, then click Next.

4. Complete any additional authentication steps required by your organization (e.g. password, MFA).

5. After a successful login, you are taken to the Dashboard (or to Select Tenant if you are an admin with multiple tenants).

2. Select Tenant (Admins only)

If you are an admin and have access to more than one publication (tenant), you will be asked to Select Tenant after logging in.

1. Choose the publication you want to work with from the dropdown.
2. Click Continue.
3. You will be taken to the Dashboard.

3. The Dashboard

The Dashboard is the default view after logging in. From the top navigation you can go to:

• Dashboard — view and manage your videos
• Video Lists — create and manage video lists (coming soon; admins also see Tenants when available)

3.1 Video Lists

On the Dashboard you see a table of your videos. Each row shows:

• ID — internal video ID
• Preview — thumbnail (auto-generated or your custom poster image)
• Title
• Description
• Tags
• Actions — Play (preview), Edit (open video page)

Use Upload video in the top-right to add a new video. If you have many videos, use the pagination at the bottom to move between pages.

3.2 Quick actions

• Play — open a preview player in a modal.
• Edit — open the video detail page to edit metadata, poster image, embed code, publish/unpublish and delete videos.

4. Uploading a Video

1. From the Dashboard, click Upload video in the top-right corner.
2. In the Upload new video modal:
   • Upload — drag and drop your video file or use the uploader. Wait until the upload finishes.
   • After upload completes, fill in:
     • Title* — at least 2 characters; short, clear title (required).
     • Description* — at least 10 characters; describe the video for your team and for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
     • Tags* — type a tag and press Enter to add; add at least one. Tags help organize and find videos.
3. Click Save.

The video is processed in the background. Once ready, it appears in the Dashboard table and you can open it to set a poster image, publish, and get the embed code.

Guidelines:

• Use a clear, concise title that reflects the content.
• Write a description that summarizes the video and is useful for search and context.
• Use consistent tags (e.g. topic, section, campaign) so you can filter and manage videos easily.

5. Editing a Video and Poster Image

1. From the Dashboard, click Edit (pencil icon) on a video, or open the video from the table.
2. You can change:
   • Preview image (poster) — click Add poster image or Change to upload a custom image (JPG, PNG, or WebP, max 5MB). If you do not set one, a thumbnail is generated automatically. Use the delete option to remove your custom image and revert to the auto thumbnail.
   • Title, Description, Tags — edit in the form. For tags, type and press Enter to add; use the × on a tag to remove it.
3. Click Save at the bottom to save metadata and poster changes.

6. Publishing and Unpublishing

• Publish — makes the video available for embedding on your sites. Click Publish in the sticky footer on the video page. Once published, you can copy the embed code from the Embed this video section.
• Unpublish — removes the video from being available on embedded players. Click Unpublish in the footer. The video will no longer play where it is embedded.

You can still edit title, description, tags, and poster image when the video is published or unpublished.

7. Embedding a Video

1. Open the video and ensure it is Published.
2. In the right-hand Embed this video panel, find the HTML Element section.
3. Click Copy embed code to copy the full snippet to your clipboard.
4. Paste the code into your article or CMS where you want the video to appear.

The embed code includes:

• A script tag that loads the Unite Player (production or staging, depending on your environment).
• A <unite-player> tag with video-id set to the video’s UUID.

Example (conceptually):

<script src="https://cdn.mentormedier.no/unite-player.umd.js" defer></script>
<unite-player
video-id="YOUR-VIDEO-UUID"></unite-player>

Use the exact code from Play so the correct environment (e.g. staging vs production) and UUID are used.

8. Video Lists

Coming soon: Video Lists are not yet available in production. This section describes how the feature will work once it is released. The Lists item in the top navigation may not appear until then.

Video Lists let you group videos into curated collections (e.g. “Breaking news”, “Week in review”) and embed the whole list as a single player.

8.1 Creating a list

1. Go to Lists in the top navigation.
2. Click Create List.
3. Enter a Title (required) and optionally a Description.
4. Click Create List.

The new list appears as a card. Click the card to open the list and add videos.

8.2 Managing a list

On the list page you can:

• Add Videos — click Add Videos, search or browse available videos, and click Add for each video you want. Only videos that are not already in the list are shown.
• Edit List — click Edit List to change the list title and description.
• Actions — Play (preview), Edit and Remove videos.

8.3 Quick actions

• Play — preview a video from the list in a modal.
• Edit — open the video’s own page to edit metadata or poster.
• Remove a video — use the remove (trash) icon in the row for that video. This only removes it from the list; it does not delete the video from Play.

The right-hand panel shows List metadata (UUID, created, updated, author, video count) and Embed this list.

8.4 Embedding a list

1. Open the list.
2. In Embed this list, use Copy embed code to copy the embed snippet.
3. Paste it into your page or CMS where you want the list player to appear.

The list embed uses the same Unite Player script and a <unite-player> tag with list-id set to the list’s UUID.

9. Deleting a Video

1. Open the video.
2. In the sticky footer, click Delete.
3. Confirm in the dialog. If the video is published, you may need to confirm unpublishing and deletion.

After deletion, the video is removed from Play and will not play anywhere it was embedded. This action cannot be undone.

10. Logging Out

To log out safely:

1. Click Logout in the top-right corner of the header.
2. You will be signed out and redirected away from the dashboard.

This is recommended especially on shared or public computers.

11. Best Practices & Tips

• Poster image — Use a clear, representative frame or custom image (JPG, PNG, or WebP, max 5MB) so articles and social previews look good.
• Titles and descriptions — Keep titles concise and descriptive; use descriptions for context and search.
• Tags — Use consistent tags so you can find and organize videos and lists quickly.
• Publish only when ready — Unpublish if you need to fix something; republish when the video is ready for readers.
• Video Lists (coming soon) — Use video lists for playlists or curated sets and embed them where a collection makes more sense than a single video.
• Embed code — Always use the Copy embed code from Play so the correct environment and UUID are used.

Summary