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If you find the "Draft" status terminology in adCenter a little confusing, you are not alone. What does "Draft" mean? Are the ads live or are they disapproved? The answer is neither.
The first step to setting your ads live is to identify the cause. "Draft" status means one of two things: a) your ad group is complete and you just need to submit it, or b) your ad group is missing either ads or keywords or both. To determine which scenario applies to you, simply go into the ad group and check for ads and keywords. If you have both you are in Scenario A, if you are missing keywords or ads then you are in Scenario B.
Now that we know the reason for the "Draft" status we can fix. Depending on what scenario applies to you, follow the instructions below to set your ads live:
Scenario A
You have all the information, now all you need to do is submit it. Click on the campaign that has the ad group(s) in "Draft" status. Click the box next to each ad group in draft and then click the "Submit" button at the top. You should see the status change to "Active" and your ads should go live shortly.
Scenario B
Click on the ad group that is in draft status and click the "Continue" arrows at the top of the page. When you reach a page that is missing information, the "Continue" arrow will be grayed out and you will need to add the ads or keywords before you can move to the next page.
After you have entered all the information you will be taken to the review page where you can look over all the information. Once you verify that everything is correct, hit the "Submit" button and return to the ad group page.
The ad group status should be listed as "Active" now. If not, select the box next to the ad group name and click "Submit" (as in Scenario A).
For adCenter Desktop users:
Please note that when you create a new ad group you can choose whether you want your ad group loaded in "Active", "Draft" or "Paused" status. If you choose "Draft" you will need to submit the ad group separately for it to go live.
7/20/2009: Updated screenshots.
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Awesome article with a lot of very useful information. Cheera for sharing.
What about API users? Is there an API call to take campaigns out of draft?
NathanJ / Others - do you guys find out how API users can auto-submit their adgroups ?
I was scratching my head about this one. Adgroups are now active! Thanks for the helpful information.
For API, with an adGroup in Draft status, you would want to make a call to CampaignManagement.SubmitAdGroupForApproval. Note that can also create adGroups in Active state also, in addition to Draft.
Jeff Dillon, API Support
Having new AdGroups stuck in "Draft" status is very frustrating. I recommend that you provide multiple ways to activate these ads. I think this process is not user friendly, and you are losing out on revenue when people are stuck with AdGroups in draft status.
I have to agree with Scott. Having to "submit" an adgroup after creating it seems to be a rather assinine step. If memory serves, neither Adwords or YSM requires that extra step.
Thanks for this post. I noticed I had a lot of campaigns that were stuck in draft mode and not activated. Now I know how to activate them.
I don't seem to be able to change status from Draft to Active in your AdCenter desktop tool, even though my keywords and ad text have been populated. So I've been logging into the website to submit these adgroups. Seems like yet another necessary step.
My advertiser was having the same issue - and his ad groups, while submitted separately, were not going active until he went into the UI and changed the start date. After they went live he changed the date back. I wasn't aware you could do this, but live and learn.
Thanks! This information was useful.
Awesome... So much easier than MSN AdCenter Help.... You rock!
I was not able to change via Desktop, but I was able to change via adCenter, so thank you!
I finally found the answer.Thank you.
But,I can not use the desktop adcenter,it does not work.
Hello,
If you are having issues with youradCenter Desktop tool please contact our support team so that they may collect the necessary details to assist you with resolving this issue. I have provided a link below where you can access the support team contact information.
support.adcenter.microsoft.com/default.aspx
Thank you.
OMG thank you so much for this info!.... you saved my time and money!