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Browser extension: connect Chrome to save ads from the Meta Ad Library
Settings > Browser extension connects the Nexus extension for Google Chrome to your store. The extension adds a Save to Nexus button to ads in the Meta Ad Library, and saved ads go to your store's Inspiration Library in Nexus.
Problem and intended user
The media buyer (the person who runs your paid ads) and the creative strategist (the person who plans and makes ad creatives) browse the Meta Ad Library for ideas. Ads found there are easy to lose. A screenshot or a copied link sits apart from the rest of your ad research, and the rest of the team never sees it.
Current workflow
Merchants usually take screenshots of the ads they like, or paste links into a spreadsheet or a team chat. Someone copies the advertiser name and the ad text by hand to share them. Each person keeps a separate collection, and nobody knows which ads a teammate already saved.
Prerequisites
- Google Chrome on a computer.
- The Nexus extension installed in that browser. The page shows where to get it. When it says Available soon, the extension is not in the Chrome Web Store yet.
- Access to the store you want to save ads to.
How Nexus works
Nexus links the extension in one browser to one store. It uses a one-time connect code that Nexus creates while you are signed in. The extension never sees your Shopify login. No AI is involved.
Install the extension
- Install the Nexus extension in Chrome. Save ads while you browse on this page shows where to get it.
- After the install, the extension opens a tab that reads Connect Nexus to save ads. It offers Connect, Open in Shopify admin and Enter a code, the same choices as the popup. The steps below describe them.
- Once the browser is connected, the tab reads Saving to with your store's name. Click Open the Meta Ad Library to start saving ads.
Connect this browser
- Open Nexus in the store you want to save ads to, and go to Settings > Browser extension.
- Click Connect this browser.
- Nexus creates a connect code and passes it to the extension in this browser. When that works, the page shows Connected with the name of the browser.
- When the page cannot reach the extension, it shows the code instead, with the line "Open the Nexus extension, choose Enter a code, and type this code."
- Click the Nexus icon in the Chrome toolbar, click Enter a code, and type the code. Upper or lower case and the dash do not matter. Click Copy on the page to copy the code.
The extension's own popup leads to this page too. Click the Nexus icon in the Chrome toolbar. Connect opens this page in the Nexus you used last from that browser. In Shopify, click Open in Shopify admin instead: on a Shopify admin tab it opens this page in that store; on any other page it asks for your store's name first.
A code works once and only for a short time. The page shows how long it stays valid. When the time runs out, the page says "This code expired. Connect again to get a new one." Click Connect this browser again.
Save to another store
Each browser saves to one store at a time. To change the store, click Switch store in the extension. It opens this page with a reminder. Each store connects on its own. In Shopify, open Nexus in the other store's Shopify admin and connect from there. In the standalone Nexus app, pick the other store with the brand switcher, then connect from this page. The new connection replaces the earlier one in that browser.
Use the popup
Click the Nexus icon in the Chrome toolbar to open the popup.
- The top shows your store's name under Saving to, with Switch store. Settings opens this page.
- On the Meta Ad Library, Saved recently lists your store's latest saves, with the date and a teammate's first name.
- Open Saved ads in Nexus opens the Saved tab of the Inspiration Library. On any other page, the popup offers Open the Meta Ad Library.
- The bottom line names who connected this browser and when, with Disconnect.
- The moon button switches the popup to night mode, and the sun button switches it back. Until you pick one, the popup follows your computer's setting.
To save ads, see Save ads from the Meta Ad Library with the Chrome extension.
Revoke a connection
WARNING
You cannot undo a revoke. The extension in that browser stops saving until someone connects it again.
- In Connected browsers, find the browser.
- Click Revoke on its row.
- In the dialog Revoke this connection?, click Revoke. Click Cancel to keep the connection.
To disconnect the browser you are using, you can also click Disconnect in the extension.
Exact output
The page has three parts: Save ads while you browse, Connect the extension and Connected browsers.
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Save ads while you browse | What the extension does, and where to get it from the Chrome Web Store. |
| Connect the extension | The Connect this browser button. After a click, it shows Connected, or a connect code with Copy and the time left. |
| Connected browsers | One row for each browser connected to this store. |
Connected browsers lists every browser connected to this store, by you or a teammate. It has these columns:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Browser | The browser and the computer system the extension reported, such as Chrome on macOS. |
| Connected | The date the browser was connected. |
| Last used | The date the extension last used the connection, or Never. |
| Expires | The date the connection stops working if the extension does not use it again. Each use moves the date later. |
| By | You, or the first name of the teammate who connected it. |
Revoke appears on your own rows. An owner or an admin sees it on every row.
What to do with it
| What you see | Decision or action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Connected after you click Connect this browser | Open the Meta Ad Library in that browser. | media buyer |
| A connect code instead of Connected | Type the code in the extension under Enter a code. | creative strategist |
| A browser you do not recognise, or a computer nobody uses any more | Click Revoke on its row. | ecommerce manager (the person who runs the store) |
| An Expires date that is close | Use the extension in that browser, or connect it again. | media buyer |
Expected value and measurement
The ads your team finds while browsing can land in one place in your store instead of in personal screenshots and chats. To check that the team uses it, look at Connected browsers. Each person who collects ads should have a row with a recent Last used date. A row that says Never belongs to a browser whose extension has not used the connection since it was connected.
Limitations and exceptions
- The extension is built for Google Chrome on a computer.
- It adds the button to the Meta Ad Library only. Nexus does not add it to other ad libraries yet.
- A browser saves to one store at a time.
- A connection stops working when someone revokes it, when it expires, or when your access to the store ends. The extension then asks you to connect again.
- Inside Shopify Admin the page may not be able to pass the code to the extension. Type the code in the extension instead.
- When the page shows "Couldn’t create a connect code. Please try again.", reload the page and click Connect this browser again. When it shows "Couldn’t load the connected browsers.", reload the page.
- In Demo Mode the page shows sample browsers with a Sample data badge and the line "Connect from a real store to use the extension." Connect this browser is off, and no row has Revoke.