RoomDrop Manual

1. Overview

RoomDrop is a file distribution and live room control system for multi-room conferences. It runs entirely on your local network — no internet, no cloud, no accounts. One app with three modes covers your entire workflow:

• Room Receives files and displays activity. Runs on each room PC.
• Speaker Ready Sends files, browses rooms, attaches notes. Runs on the Speaker Ready desk.
• Control Monitors rooms, triggers SOS, sends messages. Runs at control positions.

All three modes discover each other automatically on the network. No IP addresses to configure — just start the app, pick a mode, and go.

Mode Selector — choose Room, Speaker Ready, or Control

2. Getting Started

Installation

1. Download RoomDrop from the download page and run the installer on every PC that will participate (room PCs, Speaker Ready desk, and control positions).
2. Launch RoomDrop. You will be prompted for a license key on first run. Enter your key to activate — this also sets your group key for network isolation.
3. Choose a mode from the Mode Selector screen. Your choice is remembered between sessions.

Typical Setup

3. Mode Selector & New Event

The Mode Selector is the first screen you see after launch. It shows three large buttons for Room, Speaker Ready, and Control.

Choosing a Mode

Click any mode button to enter that mode. RoomDrop remembers your last choice and will return to it on the next launch.

New Event

The New Event button (green border at the bottom) resets everything for a fresh start:

• Clears all saved room names, folders, and connection settings
• Stops all running servers
• Clears all file notes from disk
• Clears all messages, SOS states, and activity logs
• Returns to the Mode Selector

Mode Selector with New Event button

4. Room Mode

Room Room mode turns a PC into a file receiver that advertises itself on the network so Speaker Ready and Control can find it.

Setup

1. Enter a Room Name (e.g. "Room 1", "Main Hall", "Breakout A"). This name appears on Speaker Ready and Control screens.
2. Choose a Receive Folder where incoming files will be saved. Click the folder button to browse.
3. Click Start Room. The room begins advertising on the network and listening for file uploads.

What You See

• Connection indicator — green dot when the room server is running
• File list — all files in the receive folder with names and sizes
• Note banner — when Speaker Ready attaches a note to a file, it appears as a yellow/amber warning banner showing the filename and note text
• SOS banner — flashing red banner when Control triggers an SOS for this room
• Status & messages — status badges and messages sent from Control are visible
• Activity log — timestamped entries for every received file, note, and control action

Room Mode — receiving files with activity log

5. Speaker Ready Mode

Speaker Ready Speaker Ready is the central file management station. From here you send files to rooms, browse room contents, attach notes, and communicate with Control.

Setup

1. Enter a Sender Name (e.g. "Tech Desk 1", "Speaker Ready"). This identifies you on the network.
2. Click Start. Speaker Ready begins advertising itself and discovering rooms on the network.

Sending Files

1. Add files — drag files or folders onto the file list, or click the add button to browse. Files up to 1 GB each are supported.
2. Select rooms — check the rooms you want to send to. Use Select All / Deselect All for bulk operations.
3. Send — click the Send button. A real-time progress bar shows percentage, speed (MB/s), and ETA for each file.

Speaker Ready — room selection with checkboxes

Remote File Browser

Click on any discovered room to browse its files remotely. The browser shows:

• Files and folders with sizes
• Folder navigation with breadcrumbs and back button
• Note indicators on files that have notes attached
• Auto-refresh every 3 seconds (pauses while editing a note)

From the browser you can delete files remotely (with confirmation) or download files back to your PC.

Speaker Ready — remote file browser with action buttons

Speaker Ready — file browser with inline note indicator

Three Tabs

• Send — file queue, room selection, and send controls
• History — complete log of all sent files grouped by room with timestamps
• Room Browser — browse, delete, download, and annotate files on any room

SOS & Messages from Control

When Control sends an SOS alert, a flashing red banner appears per room with the sender name and timestamp. Multiple rooms can have SOS active at the same time — each is shown individually.

Messages from Control appear as notification banners. You can reply directly from the message banner — type your reply and press Send or Enter.

6. Control Mode

Control Control mode provides live monitoring and communication for a single room at a time. Use it from a stage manager's desk, a control booth, or any position that needs to coordinate with Speaker Ready.

Setup

1. Enter a Control Name (e.g. "Control Room 1", "Stage Manager"). This identifies you in messages and SOS alerts.
2. Select a room from the discovered rooms list. Control automatically finds rooms and Speaker Ready instances on the network.

Dashboard

Once connected to a room, the Control dashboard shows:

• Room status — online/offline indicator, file count, and latest file name
• SOS button — large red button to trigger or clear SOS (see SOS Alerts)
• Status badges — set the room to Ready, Presenting, or Issue (see Room Status)
• Reply banner — replies from Speaker Ready appear as blue banners
• Note banner — when Speaker Ready writes a note on a file, it appears as a yellow/amber banner with filename and text
• Message input — send text messages to Speaker Ready
• Room files — browse files on the connected room, including folder navigation
• Activity log — real-time log of all events, messages, and status changes

Control Mode — full dashboard with SOS, status badges, note banner, files, and activity log

Opening Presentations Remotely

From the Room Files panel, click ▶ Open next to any supported file to launch it in fullscreen on the room PC:

• PowerPoint (.pptx, .ppt) — opens in fullscreen slideshow mode with Presenter View on the room PC's primary screen
• PDF — opens in PDF2Screen (must be installed on the room PC) in fullscreen
• Video (.mp4, .mov, .avi, .mkv) — opens in Second Screen Player in fullscreen

• Click ⏹ Close to close the presentation remotely

Switching Rooms

Click Disconnect in the header to return to the room picker and connect to a different room. You can run multiple Control instances on different PCs to monitor different rooms simultaneously.

7. File Management

Sending Files

From Speaker Ready, drag files or folders onto the send queue. Select target rooms using checkboxes, then click Send. Each file transfer shows real-time progress with speed and ETA.

• Supported files: Any file type — presentations (.pptx, .pdf, .key), documents, media, images, etc.
• Maximum size: 1 GB per file
• Folders: Entire folder structures can be sent and are recreated on the room PC
• Streaming: Files are sent in 64 KB chunks, so even large files don't consume excessive memory

Browsing Room Files

Both Speaker Ready and Control can browse files on room PCs remotely:

• Click into folders to navigate — breadcrumb path and back arrow for navigation
• File sizes and folder file counts are displayed
• The file list auto-refreshes every few seconds

Deleting Files Remotely

From Speaker Ready, click the delete icon next to any file or folder. A confirmation dialog prevents accidental deletions. Deleted items are permanently removed from the room PC.

Downloading Files

From Speaker Ready, click the download icon to retrieve a file from a room PC back to your local machine.

8. File Notes

Notes let you attach text instructions to individual files so room operators and controllers know what to do with each file.

Writing a Note

From Speaker Ready in the room file browser:

1. Click the note icon (pencil) next to any file.
2. Type your note in the text field that appears.
3. Press Enter or click Save to send. The note is saved on the room PC.

Where Notes Appear

• Room — Yellow/amber banner at the top showing "Note from Speaker Ready" with the filename and note text
• Control — Yellow/amber banner showing the latest note from Speaker Ready with filename and text
• Speaker Ready — Inline indicator next to files that have notes in the file browser

Note Persistence

Notes persist on disk (as .notes.json files) and survive app restarts within the same event. Pressing New Event clears all notes.

Note banner on Room PC — "Note from Speaker Ready" with filename and text

Note banner on Control — same note visible to the controller

9. SOS Alerts

SOS is an emergency alert system that immediately notifies Speaker Ready when a room needs urgent attention.

Triggering SOS

From Control, click the large red SOS button. The button changes to "ACTIVE" with a timestamp. Click again to clear.

What Happens

• Speaker Ready sees a flashing red banner with the room name, sender name, and timestamp
• Room sees a flashing SOS banner
• The SOS is per-room — if Room 1 and Room 2 both have SOS active, Speaker Ready sees both banners independently
• Clearing SOS from one room does not affect the other

SOS button on Control — click to activate

SOS flashing banner on Speaker Ready — shows room name, sender, and timestamp

10. Two-Way Messaging

Control and Speaker Ready can exchange text messages through the room relay.

Control → Speaker Ready

1. In Control, type your message in the input field at the bottom of the left panel.
2. Press Enter or click Send.
3. The message appears as a notification banner on Speaker Ready and is logged in the room's activity log.

Speaker Ready → Control

1. When a message from Control appears on Speaker Ready, a reply input field is shown inside the message banner.
2. Type your reply and press Enter or click Reply.
3. The reply appears as a blue banner on Control.

11. Room Status Indicators

Control can assign a status to each room to provide at-a-glance situational awareness.

Available Statuses

Setting Status

In Control, click a status badge to activate it. Click the same badge again to return to Idle. The status is immediately visible on both the Room PC and Speaker Ready.

12. Network & Discovery

How Discovery Works

RoomDrop uses Zeroconf/mDNS to automatically discover rooms and senders on the local network. When a Room starts, it advertises a service on the network. Speaker Ready and Control browse for these services and display them automatically.

Group Isolation

Your license key doubles as a group key. Only devices with the same license key can see each other on the network. This means:

• Multiple organizations at the same venue on the same network won't interfere
• Each organization only sees their own rooms
• No configuration needed — isolation is automatic

Network Requirements

• Same network: All PCs must be on the same LAN (wired, Wi-Fi, or mixed)
• mDNS traffic: Multicast DNS (port 5353) must not be blocked by the network
• HTTP traffic: RoomDrop uses HTTP on port 8042 (configurable) for file transfers and API calls
• No internet required: Everything works offline

13. System Tray

When you close the RoomDrop window, it minimizes to the system tray (notification area) instead of quitting. This keeps the app running in the background — essential for Room PCs that need to receive files at all times.

Tray Icon

A green RD icon appears in the Windows system tray. Right-click it for options:

• Show RoomDrop — brings the window back
• Quit — fully exits the application

Double-click the tray icon to quickly show the window.

14. Troubleshooting

Rooms not appearing

• Verify all PCs are on the same network (same switch/router/SSID)
• Check that the Room PC has clicked Start Room — rooms only appear after starting
• Ensure the Windows Firewall is not blocking RoomDrop. Allow it through the firewall when prompted on first run
• Check that multicast/mDNS traffic (port 5353) is not blocked by the network
• Verify all PCs are using the same license key (group isolation)

Files not transferring

• Check that the Room is showing as Online (green dot)
• Verify the receive folder exists and is writable
• For large files, ensure there is enough disk space on the room PC
• Check the activity log on both sides for error messages

SOS / messages not arriving

• Messages are relayed through the Room server — the room must be online
• Ensure Control is connected to the correct room
• Check that Speaker Ready has discovered and connected to the sender

Notes from previous event appearing

• Press New Event on the Mode Selector to clear all notes and state
• If you reuse the same receive folder, old notes may persist until New Event is pressed

App not starting

• Ensure Windows 10 or later (64-bit) is installed
• Check that no other application is using port 8042
• Try running as Administrator if the app fails to bind to the network