Tour settings and defaults
Set the house style every new tour starts from in Tour Defaults, and change one tour's name, look, voiceover, delivery and serving in the builder.
Most of your tours should look and behave the same way, and a few need to be different. Tour Defaults holds your house style, so every new tour starts from it without you setting it each time. The builder's Settings panel changes one tour on its own: its name, its look, how its link opens and whether it's served at all.
This article covers both levels: Settings → Tour Defaults and the builder's per-tour Settings panel, with every setting on each, and which one wins.
You're in the right place when you want every new tour to start the same way, or one tour to look, sound or open differently from the rest.
How do the two levels fit together?
| Level | Where | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Tour Defaults | Settings → Tour Defaults | What every new tour starts with: display, style guide, screen transition and pace. |
| Tour settings | Settings in the builder's top bar | This one tour. Anything you set here overrides the default for this tour. |
The per-tour setting always wins. Tour Defaults only fills in what a new tour starts with, and Pace when a tour is left on Same as Tour Defaults.
Colors, fonts and button styles live in a style guide, which each tour picks. See Style guides.
What can you set in Tour Defaults?
Go to Settings → Tour Defaults. The page has one card with a row per default. Each change saves on its own: Saving… then Saved appears at the top right. If it says Save failed, change the setting again to retry.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Display | How screens meet the viewer's window: Fit screen (default), Responsive, Scale width or Fixed. See Display options. |
| Theme | The style guide new tours use: ShowPilot Modern (default) or any guide you've made. Your brand kit's colors and logo apply regardless. |
| Screen transition | How the player moves between screens: Fade, Slide or Cut. |
| Pace | How your agent carries a tour when it presents it: Brisk keeps momentum, Relaxed gives each screen room to breathe. Self-guided plays aren't affected. |
Which tours do defaults apply to?
- Display, Theme and Screen transition are copied onto a tour when it's created. That covers tours built from new captures or a collection, blank tours and tours made from a video. Changing a default later doesn't change tours you've already made.
- Pace works differently. A tour whose Pace is Same as Tour Defaults follows the default at the moment the agent presents it. Changing the default changes the pace of every such tour, straight away.
- A tour made with Copy a tour or Clone tour keeps the settings of the tour it was copied from. Defaults aren't applied to it.
What's in a tour's Settings panel?
Open the tour in the builder and select Settings in the top bar. The panel opens on the right as a set of cards.
Change what you need
Work through the cards below. Nothing saves while you edit.
Select Update
Select Update at the bottom of the panel to save. It's greyed out until you've changed something. If you close the panel without selecting Update, your changes are dropped.
Publish, if the setting is frozen at publish
Some settings reach viewers as soon as you select Update. Others are frozen into the published tour and wait for your next publish. See When do setting changes reach viewers?
Tour card
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | The tour's name, up to 120 characters. It shows in your Tours list, on the tour's share preview and in the builder header. |
| Description | What the tour shows and who it's for, up to 500 characters. It's used on the tour's share preview. |
| Cover | Shows the tour's cover: its first screen, which cards, share previews and the link preview all use. To change it, move a different screen to the front of the storyboard. There is no upload. |
Appearance card
The Style guides link at the top of this card opens Settings → Style Guides in a new tab.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Style guide | The style guide this tour uses. ShowPilot Modern (default) is the built-in look. See Style guides. |
| Display | How screens meet the viewer's window. See the options below. |
| Screen transition | Fade (default), Slide, which swipes the next screen in from the right, or None, an instant cut. |
What do the display options do?
The default. The whole screen is scaled to fit inside the viewer's window, so nothing is cut off and nothing scrolls. On a window with a different shape from your capture, there's empty space at the sides or top and bottom.
Choose it when you want every viewer to see the full screen, whatever their window.
AI voiceover card
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Narrate this tour | Turns narration on for the tour. With it on, when ShowPilot writes or rewrites the tour's copy, each step's words also become its spoken narration. |
| Voice profile | Appears when Narrate this tour is on. Pick one of your workspace's voice profiles. Until you do, it shows Default, the profile the tour uses when none is picked. The profile tunes how every step in this tour is read: its speed, loudness, expressiveness and pronunciations. The voice itself is ShowPilot's standard tour voice. Profiles are set up in Settings → Voice. See Voice profiles. |
Each step also has its own Voiceover setting with a Narration line, for writing or changing a step's spoken words by hand. See Step settings.
Embed card
The embed code for this tour, with a copy button. What it embeds depends on the Delivery card:
- Self-guided: the tour player.
- Agent-led: the tour with the agent presenting inside the frame. For Agent-led · Live, the code includes microphone permission so the viewer can join the call inside the frame.
Before the tour is published, the code points at the admin preview, so it's only for testing. Copy it again after you publish. For every embed option, see Embed a tour.
Delivery card
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| How the tour link opens | How the tour's own link plays. A tour in a hub offers Same as the hub (default), which follows the hub's setting. A tour on its own offers Self-guided (default). You can also pick Self-guided, the tooltip player, Agent-led · Chat, where the agent presents in text, or Agent-led · Live, where viewers join a call and a voice and video avatar presents. |
| Pace (agent-led) | Same as Tour Defaults (default), Brisk or Relaxed. It shapes how the agent carries this tour when it presents. Self-guided plays aren't affected. |
| Serving | While on, the tour is served to visitors through its share links and embeds. Turn it off to take the tour down. See Publish a tour and manage revisions. |
Agent-led delivery needs the tour in a hub and a live agent in your workspace. Without those, the link plays self-guided. See Let your agent present a tour.
Details card
Shows when the tour was Created and last Updated, and its Status: draft or published.
When do setting changes reach viewers?
Select Update in the panel first. After that:
| Setting | When viewers see it |
|---|---|
| Name and Description | At your next publish. |
| Style guide, Display and Screen transition | At your next publish. |
| How the tour link opens and Pace (agent-led) | As soon as you select Update. |
| Serving | As soon as you select Update. |
To publish, select Publish or Update in the builder's top bar. The builder's Preview shows your saved settings straight away, so you can check them first.
Test it
Your settings are working when:
- You change Screen transition in Settings → Tour Defaults, and Saved appears.
- You create a new blank tour, open its Settings panel, and Screen transition shows the new default.
- You change Display in the panel, select Update, then select Preview, and the screens fit the window the new way.
- You publish the tour, open its share link in a private window, and it plays with the new display and transition.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | What to check |
|---|---|
| Update is greyed out | Nothing has changed since the last save. Change a setting first. |
| A setting went back after closing the panel | The panel only saves when you select Update. |
| A new default doesn't show on an existing tour | Defaults apply to new tours only, except Pace. Change the setting in that tour's Settings panel. |
| A copied tour ignores your defaults | Copies keep the settings of the tour they came from. Change them in the copy's Settings panel. |
| Viewers still see the old name or look | Name, description, style guide, display and transition are frozen at publish. Select Update in the top bar. |
| An agent-led tour plays self-guided | The tour must be in a hub, and your workspace needs a live agent that can reach it. See Let your agent present a tour. |
| The embed code shows an admin address | The tour isn't published yet. Publish it, then copy the code again. |
FAQ
If I change Tour Defaults, do my existing tours change?
No, except Pace. Display, theme and transition are copied onto a tour when it's made. A tour left on Same as Tour Defaults for pace follows the default whenever the agent presents it.
Which wins, the hub's delivery or the tour's?
On the tour's own link, the tour's setting wins. If it's Same as the hub (default), the tour follows the hub. The hub's own link uses the hub's setting. See Hub settings.
Can I upload a cover image?
No. A tour's cover is always its first screen. To change it, drag a different screen to the top of the storyboard.
Why does the voice profile list look empty?
The list shows your workspace's voice profiles. Every workspace has a Default profile. If the list is still loading or empty, check Settings → Voice. See Voice profiles.
Does turning off Serving delete the tour?
No. The tour stays in your Tours list with its revisions. It just stops being served through share links and embeds until you turn Serving on again.