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Ad Containers: see every ad set across your campaigns
Ad Containers lists your ad sets, the level between a campaign and its ads. It shows ad sets you built in Nexus and ad sets made in Meta Ads Manager, in every status. Open it from Performance > Ad Containers.
Problem and intended user
This page is for the media buyer (the person who runs your paid ads). An ad set holds the budget, the dates and the targeting of the ads in it. When ad sets sit in many campaigns, it is hard to see which ones run, what they spend per day and which ads they hold. A paused or forgotten ad set can hold a budget or ads that you meant to stop.
Current workflow
You open Meta Ads Manager and switch to the ad sets level. You filter by campaign, status or name, and add columns for the budget and the schedule. To see which ads came from Nexus, you compare the ad names with the ads you deployed.
Prerequisites
- Connect Meta Ads and let the account sync. See Meta Ads.
- Have at least one ad set in your Meta ad account. Nexus lists the ad sets the sync brings in.
How Nexus works
Nexus reads your synced Meta campaigns, ad sets and ads. Fixed rules, not AI, build the table. The page changes your ad account only when you create an ad container, or edit, pause, resume or archive one built in Nexus.
The page depends on your ad sync. A new ad set, a new status or a new budget appears after the next sync.
Find an ad set
Use the controls above the table.
- The platform buttons in the page header read All Platforms, Google, Meta and TikTok. Google and TikTok are greyed out: point at one, or move to it with the keyboard, to see Coming soon.
- Source shows All, Built in Nexus (ad sets you created from Nexus) or Imported (ad sets made in Meta Ads Manager).
- Search by name, ID or campaign… matches the ad set name, the Meta ad set ID and the campaign name.
- Campaign is set to All campaigns at first. Choose a campaign to see only its ad sets. The arrow icon in the Ad Containers column of Campaigns opens this page with Campaign already set to that campaign. Type in Search campaigns… to find one. Built in Nexus campaigns come first, then imported ones, marked Imported. Each campaign shows its number of ad sets.
- Status is set to All statuses at first. Choose Active, Paused, Archived or Deleted to see one status.
- Clear filters appears next to the filters while one is set. Select it to remove them all.
- Select the Name, Budget, Start, End or Ads column heading to sort by it. Select it again to reverse the order, and a third time to return to the default order: the newest ad container first, by when it was created on Meta. On a phone, use Sort by and the arrow next to it. The Sort by list has a Created option for that default order.
A long list splits into pages. Use the arrows under the table to move between them.
Create an ad container
Create an empty ad set in one of your Meta campaigns, ready for ads you deploy into it later.
- Select Create ad container at the top right. A panel titled Create ad container opens.
- Under Platform, choose Meta. Google and TikTok show as Coming soon.
- Under Campaign, pick a campaign in the table, the same one the deploy dialog uses. It shows each campaign's objective, status and budget. All, Built in Nexus and Imported, the Budget buttons and Search campaigns… narrow it, and a column heading sorts it. The picked campaign folds into a card: select Change campaign to pick another. Under it, a line says whether the campaign has a Campaign budget or an Ad set budget. When Meta does not allow a new ad set in that campaign, a red message says why.
- Fill in the form. It is the New Ad Set form of the deploy dialog: a name, the audience, at least one location, the placements, a Schedule, the Age and Gender, and a daily budget when the campaign has an Ad set budget. See Review and deploy ads for each field and its checks.
- Select Create ad container. The button stays in view at the bottom of the panel while the form scrolls.
If another budget change for your Nexus Meta ad budget is still running, for example another create or a budget edit, Nexus refuses and reads "Another budget change is in progress. Try again in a moment." Select Create ad container again after a moment.
Nexus creates the ad set on Meta, paused, with no ads. A message confirms Ad container created, paused. The ad set appears in the table as Built in Nexus. Deploy ads into it from Review and deploy ads, then select the play icon (Resume) in its row.
Edit an ad set
The pencil icon (Edit) shows only on ad sets Built in Nexus that are ACTIVE or PAUSED. Select the ad set's name to open the same panel: the name is a link only for those ad sets, and plain text for the others. Change an imported ad set in Meta Ads Manager.
- Select the pencil icon (Edit) in the ad set's row, or its name. A panel titled Edit ad container opens and reads the ad set from Meta. At its top, the platform badge (the Meta logo and name) sits beside Open in Meta Ads Manager, which opens the ad set in Meta Ads Manager in a new tab, on the ad sets list, filtered to that ad set. Under it, a line names the campaign:
In <campaign name> campaign. Changes apply on Meta when you save. - Change what you need:
- Ad container name.
- Daily budget, when the ad set has its own daily budget. In a Built in Nexus campaign, the line above the field shows your Nexus Meta ad budget. A raise above what is unassigned shows in red, and Save changes stays off. A lower budget is not held against your Nexus Meta ad budget. If Nexus or Meta refuses a budget, a red message gives the reason. Nexus measures a raise from the ad set's budget as it last synced from Meta. Opening this panel brings that budget up to date, so a budget changed in Meta Ads Manager counts as soon as you open the panel. When another budget change for your Nexus Meta ad budget is still running, the save reads "Another budget change is in progress. Try again in a moment." A Campaign budget or a lifetime budget shows as text: change it on the campaign or in Meta Ads Manager.
- The audience, the locations and the placements.
- Start date, until that date has passed. After that, the start date stays. End date, or clear it to run with no end. A lifetime budget needs an end date.
- Age and Gender.
- Select Save changes. It stays off until you change something. If another change to the same ad set is still saving, for example from a second tab, the save reads "Another change to this ad set is still saving. Try again in a moment." Select Save changes again after a moment. Cancel and Save changes stay in view at the bottom of the panel while the form scrolls.
Nexus sends only what you changed. Targeting that the panel does not show stays as set on Meta, and the panel names it, for example "Kept as set on Meta: Detailed targeting, Languages." A message confirms Ad container saved.
Pause, resume or archive an ad set
These buttons show only on ad sets Built in Nexus that are ACTIVE or PAUSED. Change an imported ad set in Meta Ads Manager.
- Select the pause icon (Pause) to stop an ACTIVE ad set on Meta. Its ads stop delivering.
- Select the play icon (Resume) to start a PAUSED ad set again. It delivers only while its campaign is active too.
WARNING
Archive cannot be undone. Meta keeps an archived ad set read-only, and you cannot resume it. Meta also archives every ad in it, so the ads Nexus made for it move to archived in Review and deploy ads.
Nexus does not archive an ad set while an ad is still deploying into it. The message says "An ad is still deploying into this ad set. Archive it once the deploy finishes." It also waits for an edit of the ad set that is still saving. Archive it again once that finishes.
The same happens when someone archives or deletes the ad set in Meta Ads Manager: Nexus archives the Nexus ads inside it when it next checks with Meta, which is when you open a Deploy dialog or Create ad container, or at the next ad sync.
- Select the archive-box icon (Archive) in the ad set's row. A window titled Archive ad container opens.
- Select Archive to confirm, or Cancel to keep the ad set.
A short message confirms Ad container paused., Ad container resumed. or Ad container archived. The table shows the new status at once.
Open the ads of an ad set
The Ads column shows how many ads Meta reports in the ad set, made in Nexus or in Ads Manager.
When Nexus made ads for the ad set, an arrow icon shows next to the number. Select it to open Review and deploy ads in a new tab, with Ad Container set to that ad set. It lists the ads Nexus made for it.
Exact output
The page shows your ad sets in a table.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The ad set name, in full. For an ad set Built in Nexus that is ACTIVE or PAUSED, the name opens Edit ad container. Under it, Built in Nexus or Imported, the container type (Ad set on Meta) and the Meta ad set ID. |
| Status | ACTIVE, PAUSED, ARCHIVED or DELETED, as Meta reports it. |
| Platform | The ad platform's icon. |
| Campaign | The campaign the ad set belongs to. |
| Budget | The ad set's own budget, with /day for a daily budget or lifetime for a lifetime budget. Campaign budget means the campaign holds the budget and Meta spreads it across its ad sets. |
| Start | The date the ad set starts, in your Meta ad account's time zone, as Ads Manager shows it. |
| End | The date the ad set ends. A dash means it has no end date. |
| Ads | The ads Meta reports in the ad set, made in Nexus or in Ads Manager. An icon opens the ads Nexus made for it, when there are any. |
| Actions | Icons for ad sets Built in Nexus: a pencil (Edit), a pause icon (Pause) or a play icon (Resume), and an archive box (Archive). Empty for the others. |
Under the table, a line shows which rows you see out of the total, for example 1–25 of 60, and the page number.
What to do with it
| What you see | Decision or action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| An ACTIVE ad set you meant to stop | Select the pause icon (Pause) when it is Built in Nexus. Otherwise pause it in Meta Ads Manager. | media buyer |
| A PAUSED ad set you no longer need | Select the archive-box icon (Archive) when it is Built in Nexus. | media buyer |
| A campaign that needs a new ad set | Select Create ad container, then deploy ads into the new ad set. | media buyer |
| A high daily budget on an ad set | Check its results on Ad performance. Select the pencil icon (Edit) to change it when the ad set is Built in Nexus, else change it in Meta Ads Manager. | media buyer |
| A number in Ads with no icon | Nexus made none of these ads: they were made in Ads Manager. Check them on Ad performance or in Meta Ads Manager. | media buyer |
| 0 in Ads | The ad set holds no ads. Deploy an ad into it from Review and deploy ads, or leave it. | media buyer |
| Campaign budget | Change the budget on the campaign, on Campaigns or in Meta Ads Manager. | media buyer |
Expected value and measurement
This page can help you find ad sets that still spend or still hold ads you meant to stop. It does not improve results by itself. The changes you make to the ad sets do.
To check a change, open Performance > Ad performance and choose By ad set / ad group. Pick two equal date ranges, one before the change and one after. Compare Spend and ROAS for the ad sets concerned.
You cannot isolate one change when you change budgets, creatives or offers at the same time.
Limitations and exceptions
- Meta only. Google ad groups, Google asset groups and TikTok ad groups do not show yet. Google and TikTok are greyed out and show Coming soon.
- Imported ad sets. You cannot edit, pause, resume or archive an imported ad set on this page. Use Meta Ads Manager.
- Saved audiences. You can choose a saved audience only when you create an ad set, not when you edit one.
- Archived and deleted ad sets. Meta cannot bring them back, so they have no buttons.
- A failed change. If Meta refuses, an error message names the ad set and gives Meta's reason, for example a Meta connection to reconnect in Integrations. The ad set keeps its status.
- Read-only ad platform. When support turns off write access to Meta for your store, Create ad container, Save changes and the pause, play and archive-box icons are greyed out with the reason. See Read-only access in Meta Ads.
- Sync delay. The table shows what the last ad sync brought in. A change you make in Ads Manager shows after the next sync, or, for an ad set built in Nexus, as soon as you open its pencil icon (Edit): the panel reads the ad set from Meta and updates its row. If the ad set was archived or deleted in Ads Manager, the panel says it cannot be edited, and the row shows its new status.
- No ad sets yet. With no synced ad set, the page reads No ad containers yet. Connect Meta Ads, or wait for the first sync.
- No match. When your filters match no ad set, the page reads No ad containers match these filters. Select Clear filters.
- A failed load. If the list cannot load, the page reads Ad containers could not be loaded. Select Try again.
- Demo Mode. The page shows sample ad sets. The pencil icon (Edit) shows the sample values. Create ad container, Save changes and the pause, play and archive-box icons show a message asking you to turn off Demo Mode, and change nothing.