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Group E: Expand Flow

These scenarios involve using the Expand feature to fetch existing ad sets and ads from platforms. Expanded entities have platform IDs and can UPDATE or SKIP, while new entities added under them CREATE.
Scenarios in this group:
  • Fetching campaign and expanding ad sets
  • Expanding ad sets to load ads
  • Editing expanded entities
  • Adding new entities under expanded parents
  • Bulk editing expanded entities

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Scenario E1: Fetch Campaign and Expand Ad Sets

Setup:
  • Load existing campaign using Select Existing
  • Right-click campaign → Expand
  • Ad sets load onto canvas with platform IDs
  • Publish without changes
Expected Behavior:
EntityHas ID?Has Changes?ActionResult
CampaignYesNoSKIPNo API call
Ad Set 1 (expanded)YesNoSKIPNo API call
Ad Set 2 (expanded)YesNoSKIPNo API call
Result:
  • All entities skipped (no changes)
  • No API calls made
Expand is useful for viewing campaign structure without making changes. You can expand, review, and close without affecting the platform.

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Scenario E2: Expand and Edit Ad Sets

Setup:
  • Load existing campaign
  • Expand to load ad sets
  • Edit Ad Set 1 targeting
  • Publish
Expected Behavior:
EntityHas ID?Has Changes?ActionResult
CampaignYesNoSKIPNo API call
Ad Set 1 (expanded)YesYesUPDATEAd set targeting updated
Ad Set 2 (expanded)YesNoSKIPNo API call
Result:
  • Campaign and Ad Set 2 unchanged
  • Ad Set 1 updated with new targeting

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Scenario E3: Expand Ad Sets and Load Ads

Setup:
  • Load existing campaign
  • Expand to load ad sets
  • Right-click Ad Set 1 → Expand
  • Ads load onto canvas with platform IDs
  • Publish without changes
Expected Behavior: 
Campaign: SKIP
  ├─ Ad Set 1 (expanded): SKIP
  │   ├─ Ad 1a (expanded): SKIP
  │   └─ Ad 1b (expanded): SKIP
  └─ Ad Set 2 (expanded): SKIP
Result:
  • All entities skipped (no changes)
  • No API calls made

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Scenario E4: Expand and Edit Ads

Setup:
  • Load existing campaign
  • Expand to load ad sets
  • Expand Ad Set 1 to load ads
  • Edit Ad 1a copy text
  • Publish
Expected Behavior: 
Campaign: SKIP
  ├─ Ad Set 1 (expanded): SKIP
  │   ├─ Ad 1a (expanded): UPDATE (copy changed)
  │   └─ Ad 1b (expanded): SKIP
  └─ Ad Set 2 (expanded): SKIP
Result:
  • Only Ad 1a updated
  • All other entities skipped
Expand allows granular editing—you can update a single ad deep in the hierarchy without affecting anything else.

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Scenario E5: Add New Ad Sets Under Expanded Campaign

Setup:
  • Load existing campaign
  • Expand to load existing ad sets
  • Add 2 new ad set nodes
  • Publish
Expected Behavior: 
Campaign: SKIP
  ├─ Ad Set 1 (expanded, existing): SKIP
  ├─ Ad Set 2 (expanded, existing): SKIP
  ├─ Ad Set 3 (new): CREATE
  └─ Ad Set 4 (new): CREATE
Result:
  • Campaign and existing ad sets unchanged
  • 2 new ad sets created under campaign

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Scenario E6: Add New Ads Under Expanded Ad Set

Setup:
  • Load existing campaign
  • Expand to load ad sets
  • Expand Ad Set 1 to load ads
  • Add 2 new ad nodes under Ad Set 1
  • Publish
Expected Behavior: 
Campaign: SKIP
  └─ Ad Set 1 (expanded): SKIP
      ├─ Ad 1a (expanded, existing): SKIP
      ├─ Ad 1b (expanded, existing): SKIP
      ├─ Ad 1c (new): CREATE
      └─ Ad 1d (new): CREATE
Result:
  • Campaign and ad set unchanged
  • Existing ads unchanged
  • 2 new ads created under Ad Set 1
This is a common pattern for A/B testing—expand an existing ad set and add new ad variations.

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Scenario E7: Bulk Edit Expanded Entities

Setup:
  • Load existing campaign
  • Expand to load 5 ad sets
  • Multi-select all 5 ad sets
  • Bulk edit to increase budgets by 20%
  • Publish
Expected Behavior:
EntityHas ID?Has Changes?ActionResult
CampaignYesNoSKIPNo API call
Ad Set 1YesYesUPDATEBudget increased
Ad Set 2YesYesUPDATEBudget increased
Ad Set 3YesYesUPDATEBudget increased
Ad Set 4YesYesUPDATEBudget increased
Ad Set 5YesYesUPDATEBudget increased
Result:
  • Campaign unchanged
  • All 5 ad sets updated with new budgets
  • 5 API calls made (1 per ad set)
Expand + bulk edit is powerful for managing campaigns at scale. You can update dozens of ad sets simultaneously.

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Scenario E8: Expand, Edit Some, Add New

Setup:
  • Load existing campaign
  • Expand to load 2 ad sets
  • Edit Ad Set 1 targeting
  • Add 1 new ad set
  • Expand Ad Set 2 to load ads
  • Edit Ad 2a copy
  • Add 1 new ad under Ad Set 2
  • Publish
Expected Behavior: 
Campaign: SKIP
  ├─ Ad Set 1 (expanded): UPDATE (targeting changed)
  ├─ Ad Set 2 (expanded): SKIP
  │   ├─ Ad 2a (expanded): UPDATE (copy changed)
  │   └─ Ad 2b (new): CREATE
  └─ Ad Set 3 (new): CREATE
Result:
  • Campaign unchanged
  • Ad Set 1 updated
  • Ad Set 2 unchanged
  • Ad 2a updated
  • Ad 2b created
  • Ad Set 3 created
You can mix updates to existing entities with creation of new entities in the same publish.

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Scenario E9: Expand Multiple Levels Deep

Setup:
  • Load existing campaign
  • Expand to load ad sets
  • Expand all ad sets to load all ads
  • Edit campaign budget
  • Edit Ad Set 1 targeting
  • Edit Ad 1a copy
  • Publish
Expected Behavior: 
Campaign: UPDATE (budget changed)
  ├─ Ad Set 1 (expanded): UPDATE (targeting changed)
  │   ├─ Ad 1a (expanded): UPDATE (copy changed)
  │   └─ Ad 1b (expanded): SKIP
  └─ Ad Set 2 (expanded): SKIP
      ├─ Ad 2a (expanded): SKIP
      └─ Ad 2b (expanded): SKIP
Result:
  • Campaign, Ad Set 1, and Ad 1a updated
  • All other entities skipped
  • 3 API calls made

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Common Questions

Select Existing loads a campaign node with its platform ID but doesn’t load its children (ad sets and ads).Expand fetches the children of a loaded entity and adds them to the canvas with their platform IDs.Use Select Existing to load campaigns, then use Expand to load their ad sets and ads.
No, you must expand one level at a time:
  1. Load campaign (Select Existing)
  2. Expand campaign to load ad sets
  3. Expand each ad set to load its ads
This gives you control over what you load onto the canvas.
No, expanded entities are the same as loaded entities. Both have platform IDs and can UPDATE or SKIP based on changes.The only difference is how they got onto the canvas (Select Existing vs Expand).
Yes. You can add new ad sets under expanded campaigns, or new ads under expanded ad sets. New entities CREATE, expanded entities UPDATE or SKIP.
All expanded entities are skipped (no API calls). Expand is safe for viewing campaign structure without affecting the platform.

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Next Steps

Group F: Copy/Paste

Learn about duplicating campaign structures.

Fetching Existing Campaigns

Learn how to load campaigns from platforms.

Bulk Edit

Learn about bulk editing multiple entities.

Decision Logic

Understand CREATE vs UPDATE vs SKIP logic.