Publishing

When you click Publish, Whathead sends your canvas to your connected ad account. This page explains the difference between saving and publishing, what gets created or updated, and how to use the publish modal and retries.

Save vs Publish

Action	When	What happens
Save	You click Save in a campaign, ad set, or ad form.	Your changes are stored on the canvas only. Nothing is sent to Meta, TikTok, or Snapchat.
Publish	You click Publish in the top bar and confirm in the publish modal.	Whathead sends new or changed campaigns, ad sets, and ads to the platform. The platform creates or updates them and returns IDs; those are stored so future publishes can update the same items.

Saving only updates your local canvas. To create or update anything on the platform, you must click Publish.

What gets created, updated, or skipped

For each campaign, ad set, and ad on the canvas, Whathead decides:

Situation	What happens
New item (never published, or no platform ID)	Create — The platform creates it and returns an ID. Whathead stores that ID so the next publish can update it.
Existing item with changes	Update — Whathead sends only the editable fields that changed. The platform updates the existing campaign, ad set, or ad.
Existing item with no changes	Skip — Nothing is sent for that item. It’s left as-is on the platform.
Whole campaign unchanged	The whole campaign tree can be skipped and may not appear in the publish list.
Campaign already on platform but empty (no ad sets) and nothing to do	It may be excluded from the publish modal.

Change detection runs when you Save. If you edit and save, that item is marked as changed and will be updated on the next Publish. If you don’t change anything, it will be skipped.

When you save after editing, Whathead compares your form to the last loaded version and marks what changed. When you publish, it sends only what’s new or changed.

How we decide: Create, Update, or Skip

For every campaign, ad set, and ad, Whathead asks two questions:

Create — The item is sent to the platform and created. You get a new campaign, ad set, or ad.
Update — Only the fields you changed are sent. The existing item on the platform is updated.
Skip — Nothing is sent. The item on the platform is left as-is.

What happens when I… (all portals)

Use this as a quick reference for common actions. Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat all follow the same logic unless noted.

What you did	Campaign	Ad set	Ad	Works on
Create a new campaign (and ad sets, ads) and publish	Create	Create	Create	Meta, TikTok, Snapchat
Load existing campaign (Select Existing), edit name or budget, publish	Update	—	—	Meta, TikTok, Snapchat
Load existing campaign, don’t edit, publish	Skip	—	—	Meta, TikTok, Snapchat
Existing campaign + add a new ad set and new ads, publish	Skip or Update	Create	Create	Meta, TikTok, Snapchat
Load existing campaign → Expand (fetch ad sets/ads) → edit some, publish	Skip or Update	Update (changed) / Skip (unchanged)	Update / Skip	Meta, TikTok, Snapchat
Copy a campaign (or ad set, or ad) and paste → publish	Create (pasted tree)	Create	Create	Meta, TikTok, Snapchat
Move an ad to another ad set (reconnect) → publish	—	—	New ad under new ad set (platforms don’t support moving)	Meta, TikTok, Snapchat
Move an ad set to another campaign → publish	—	New ad set + new ads under new campaign	Create	Meta, TikTok, Snapchat
Bulk edit (e.g. status, budget) on several campaigns or ad sets → publish	Update (edited) / Skip (not edited)	Update / Skip	—	Meta, TikTok, Snapchat
Cross-transfer (Snapchat → Meta or Meta → Snapchat) then publish	Create (all new on destination)	Create	Create	Meta, Snapchat

Copy/paste and reconnect always create new entities on the platform. Whathead clears “existing” IDs so the pasted or moved item is treated as new. You don’t need to do anything special — just publish.

Scenario matrix

A full reference of what happens to each level (campaign, ad set, ad) when you publish in different situations. Use the tabs below to look up your case.

For a short summary of common actions, see What happens when I… above.

Legend

Outcome	Meaning
Create	Sent to the platform and created; you get a new entity and an ID is stored.
Update	Only changed fields are sent; the existing entity on the platform is updated.
Skip	Nothing is sent; the entity on the platform is left as-is.

Publish order

Whathead always sends in this order so parents exist before children: Campaign first → then each ad set → then ads (and creatives when needed) per ad set.

By scenario group

Everything on the canvas is new (no “Select Existing”, no prior publish).

Scenario	Campaign	Ad set	Ad
New campaign + new ad set + new ad	Create	Create	Create
New campaign + multiple ad sets + multiple ads	Create	Create	Create
New campaign + new ad set + carousel ads	Create	Create	Create (cards in one creative)
Publish the same canvas node again (no “Load Existing”)	Create	Create	Create

Canvas-origin nodes always create on the platform. To update an existing campaign/ad set/ad, you must load it via Select Existing (or Expand).

You loaded an existing campaign (Select Existing), then added new ad sets or ads on the canvas.

Scenario	Campaign	Ad set	Ad
Existing campaign (no edits) + new ad set + new ad	Skip	Create	Create
Existing campaign (you edited it) + new ad set + new ad	Update	Create	Create
Existing campaign + multiple new ad sets	Skip or Update	Create	Create

Whether the campaign is updated or skipped depends on whether you changed it after loading.

You loaded an existing campaign and existing ad sets (e.g. via Expand), and optionally added new ads.

Scenario	Campaign	Ad set	Ad
Existing campaign + existing ad set (no changes) + new ad	Skip	Skip	Create
Existing campaign + existing ad set (you changed it) + new ad	Skip or Update	Update	Create
Existing campaign (changed) + existing ad set (changed) + new ad	Update	Update	Create
Mix of existing and new ad sets under same campaign	Skip or Update	Skip/Update + Create	Create

You loaded existing campaign, ad set, and ad; you may or may not have edited.

Scenario	Campaign	Ad set	Ad
All existing, no changes	Skip	Skip	Skip
All existing, only ad changed (e.g. copy)	Skip	Skip	Update
All existing, only campaign changed	Update	Skip	Skip
All existing, only ad set changed	Skip	Update	Skip
All existing, all changed	Update	Update	Update

All platforms support updating existing ads when you make changes.

You used Expand to fetch ad sets or ads from the platform; then you may have edited some and left others unchanged.

Scenario	Campaign	Ad set	Ad
Expand campaign → no edits → publish	Skip	Skip	—
Expand campaign → edit some ad sets → publish	Skip or Update	Update (changed) / Skip (unchanged)	—
Expand ad sets → expand ads → no edits	Skip	Skip	Skip
Expand ad sets → expand ads → edit some ads	Skip	Skip	Update (changed) / Skip (unchanged)
Expand → add new ad under existing ad set	Skip	Skip	Create
Expand → bulk edit ad sets → publish	Skip or Update	Update	varies

Expand sets “existing” IDs on the loaded nodes so the next publish updates or skips them depending on whether you changed them.

You copied a campaign, ad set, or ad and pasted it (same or different parent).

Scenario	Campaign	Ad set	Ad
Copy new campaign + paste → publish both	Create + Create	Create	Create
Copy existing campaign + paste → publish pasted	Create	Create	Create
Copy existing ad set + paste under same campaign	—	Create	Create
Copy existing ad + paste under same ad set	—	—	Create
Copy ad + paste under different ad set	—	—	Create
Cut ad set + paste under different campaign	—	Create	Create

Pasted nodes never keep “existing” IDs — they always create new entities on the platform.

You moved an ad to another ad set, or an ad set to another campaign, by reconnecting the edge on the canvas.

Scenario	Campaign	Ad set	Ad
Move new ad from ad set A to ad set B	—	—	Create (under B)
Move existing/expanded ad to different ad set	—	—	Create (duplicate under new ad set)
Move existing ad to a new ad set	—	Create	Create (duplicate)
Move existing ad set (with ads) to different campaign	—	Create (duplicate)	Create (duplicate)

Platforms do not support changing an ad’s ad set or an ad set’s campaign. Whathead duplicates the moved node (and its children) under the new parent so nothing breaks.

You used Bulk edit to change status, budget, or creative fields on multiple campaigns, ad sets, or ads.

Scenario	Campaign	Ad set	Ad
Bulk edit status on multiple new campaigns	Create	Create	Create
Bulk edit budget on multiple existing ad sets	—	Update	—
Bulk edit creative text on multiple existing ads	—	—	Update
Bulk edit + some entities unchanged in same tree	Update (edited) / Skip (unchanged)	same	same
Load campaigns → bulk edit → publish	Update	Skip	Skip

Only the entities you actually changed are updated; the rest are skipped.

Same Create/Update/Skip rules; a few behaviors differ by platform.

Scenario	Platform	What happens
Existing ad, change creative (image/video/copy)	Meta	New creative created → ad updated to use it
Existing ad, change creative	Snapchat	Ad updated with new creative via Snapchat API
Existing ad, change creative	TikTok	Normal update (TikTok supports it)
New Smart+ campaign (Web Conversions / Lead Gen)	TikTok	Campaign + ad groups + ads sent in one payload
Carousel ads	Meta / TikTok	Multiple cards built from your setup; one creative (Meta) or image_ids (TikTok)
Spark Ads	TikTok	Requires valid TikTok post auth; publish can fail if auth expired

Platform differences (Meta vs TikTok vs Snapchat)

Same Create/Update/Skip logic applies everywhere; a few behaviors differ by platform.

Meta
TikTok
Snapchat

Changing creative (image, video, or copy) on an existing ad: Whathead creates a new creative and updates the ad to use it. The same ad stays; only the creative is new.
Carousel ads: Multiple cards are built from your carousel setup and sent as one creative.
Reconnect / paste: Pasted or moved ads keep their asset references (e.g. image hash); a new creative and new ad are created on publish so the duplicate works.

How to publish

Open the Publish modal

Click Publish in the Campaign Builder top bar. A list of campaigns (and their status) appears.

Choose what to publish

Use the mode: All (every campaign for the selected platform), Selected (only the campaigns you check), Multi-Platform (campaigns across several platforms), or Cross-Transfer (cross-transfer flow).

Start publishing

Click the button to start. Whathead checks your connection, then sends each campaign (and its ad sets and ads) in order. For Snapchat, a short delay is applied between campaigns to respect rate limits.

Check results

Each campaign row shows a status: waiting, publishing, done, or error. When done, new or updated IDs are stored so the canvas stays in sync with the platform.

Publish modes

All
Selected
Multi-Platform
Cross-Transfer

Publishes every campaign shown for the platform you have selected (e.g. all Meta campaigns on the canvas).

What you might see

Everything is new

When nothing on the canvas has been published before, every campaign, ad set, and ad is created on the platform. After a successful publish, IDs are stored so future edits can update those same items.

Some items already exist

If you loaded existing campaigns or ad sets (Select Existing) or published before, those items have IDs. When you publish again, only the ones you changed are updated; the rest are skipped.

Nothing to do

If a campaign and all its ad sets and ads are unchanged, the whole tree may be skipped and the campaign might not appear in the publish list (or you’ll see that it was skipped).

Something failed — retry

If a campaign row shows an error, you can click Retry on that row to try again. Use Retry Failed in the footer to retry all failed campaigns. You can retry up to a few times. There is no automatic retry; you choose when to retry.

Progress and status

Waiting — Not started yet (gray).
Publishing — Currently being sent (blue, with a spinner).
Done — Successfully published (green). Progress bar for that item is full.
Error — Something went wrong (red). An error message is shown; use Retry or Retry Failed to try again.

Overall progress is based on how many items have finished. Failed items don’t count as progress until they succeed on retry.

Retrying after an error

Each campaign row that failed has a Retry button. Click it to try publishing that campaign again.
The Retry Failed button in the footer retries all failed campaigns one after another.
You can retry up to a few times per campaign. If it still fails, check the error message (e.g. connection, permissions, or platform limits) and fix the issue before publishing again.

Campaign Builder

Where you edit and save before publishing.

Integrations

Connect ad accounts so you can publish.

Campaign Builder

Portal System

Targeting

Existing Campaigns

Bulk Operations

Asset Management

Cross-Platform Transfer

Export & AI

Reference (legacy)

Publishing

Save vs Publish

What gets created, updated, or skipped

How we decide: Create, Update, or Skip

What happens when I… (all portals)

Scenario matrix

Legend

Publish order

By scenario group

Platform differences (Meta vs TikTok vs Snapchat)

How to publish

Publish modes

What you might see

Progress and status

Retrying after an error

Campaign Builder

Integrations

Campaign Builder

Portal System

Targeting

Existing Campaigns

Publishing

Bulk Operations

Asset Management

Cross-Platform Transfer

Export & AI

Reference (legacy)

​Save vs Publish

​What gets created, updated, or skipped

​How we decide: Create, Update, or Skip

​What happens when I… (all portals)

​Scenario matrix

​Legend

​Publish order

​By scenario group

​Platform differences (Meta vs TikTok vs Snapchat)

​How to publish

​Publish modes

​What you might see

​Progress and status

​Retrying after an error

Campaign Builder

Integrations

Save vs Publish

What gets created, updated, or skipped

How we decide: Create, Update, or Skip

What happens when I… (all portals)

Scenario matrix

Legend

Publish order

By scenario group

Platform differences (Meta vs TikTok vs Snapchat)

How to publish

Publish modes

What you might see

Progress and status

Retrying after an error