Create display variants and assign rules offline

When you're working on a large number of display variants, you might find it easier to work offline. You can download project sheets with your variant content and rule assignments and fill them out. Then, upload up to 250 variants at once.

Step 1: Upload your assets

The assets you use in bulk sheets must be uploaded to the asset library. Asset URLs from other websites aren't currently supported.

After you upload assets, you can copy the asset paths to use in your sheet. The easiest way to do this is to put all of the assets in a folder, then upload the folder to the asset library. You can also upload assets one at a time.

Step 2: Create your display template

Before you can download a variant sheet, you need to create a project and customize a template. As you edit your template, keep these tips in mind:

• Static elements can't be edited offline. If your template has elements that are the same across variants, you can choose the content for these elements as you set up your template. Or, edit them later. Static elements can only be edited in the template in Ads Creative Studio. They don't appear in variant sheets.
• Variants in the project might be replaced. If you create variants in your project first, they will be replaced with the variants in your sheet. Make sure all the variants you need are in the sheet before you upload.

Step 3: Create rules

Create rules to define the content needed for each variant. If you're not ready to create rules yet and just want to create variants, you can skip this step.

1. After you create rules, download a rule assignment sheet.
2. (Optional) Download a rule sheet to get more information about the rules for each variant. Rule sheets are for your reference only. They can't be uploaded to display projects.
   1. In the project where you created the template, click Variants.
   2. Click MoreDownload sheet.
   3. Click Rule sheet. A rule sheet unique to your project is downloaded to your computer.

Step 4: Download a variant sheet

After you finish setting up your template and save it, download a variant sheet. Variant sheets use comma-separated values (.csv) format.

1. In the project where you created the template, click Variants.
2. Click MoreDownload sheet.
3. Click Variant sheet. A variant sheet unique to your project is downloaded to your computer.

All variant sheets have the following columns:

• Variant Id: This is the unique id for a variant provided by Ads Creative Studio. Leave this column blank.
• Variant Name: This is the unique name for each variant.
• Swappable elements columns: The rest of the columns in the sheet are the elements in the template you set as swappable. For example, if the template has a single swappable text element named "Headline", the sheet will have 3 columns: variant ID, variant name, and headline.

Variant sheets you download for display projects also have a Dimension column. This is used to set variant content for the different display ad sizes your template supports.

Step 5: Add a row for each variant and size in the sheet

Open the variant sheet and add your variants and the content you want to use for each swappable element.

Tip: In Google Sheets, you can add other sheets (or tabs) for your own use. When you upload, Ads Creative Studio will only use the first sheet. Any other sheets will be ignored.

1. Open the variant sheet you downloaded in your favorite spreadsheet editor.
2. Add a row to the sheet for each display variant in each size you want to create. You can add up to 250 variants at once. Different sizes of the same variant do not count toward this total.
3. For each row:
   1. If you're creating a new variant, leave the "Variant Id" column blank. Ads Creative Studio creates this ID when you upload.
   2. Enter a unique name in the "Variant Name" column to create a new variant. If you're adding another size of a variant, use the variant name you want to add the size to.
   3. Enter the ad size in the "Dimension" column. For example, 300×600.
   4. Add content for each of the swappable element columns.
      • For buttons or text elements, enter the text content to use for that variant. For example, you might enter "Buy now" for a call-to-action button. To add a line break, press Alt + Enter.
      • For images, videos, or audio files, enter the asset path from the asset library. For example, you might enter "ASSET:cBalm/cBALM_spring.mp4" for a video named cBALM_spring.mp4 that you uploaded to a folder named cBalm in the asset library.
      • For colors, enter the hexadecimal color code for the color you want to use. For example, you might enter #4285F4 for blue.
   5. Repeat for each variant and size you want to add.
4. After you're done adding variants, save the sheet.
   • If you're using Google Sheets, share view access with the service email provided so that Ads Creative Studio can copy the variants. The email address is unique to your Ads Creative Studio account, but will end with @partnercontent.gserviceaccount.com.
   • If you used another spreadsheet editor, save it as a .csv file.

Step 6: Upload your finished variant sheet

1. Sign in to Ads Creative Studio.
2. Open the project you want to add variants to.
3. Go to the Variants tab.
4. Click MoreUpload sheet.
5. Click Variant sheet.
6. (Optional) If you created a rule assignment sheet, click Rule assignment sheet. Both sheets can be uploaded at the same time.
7. Click Start upload.
8. Select your finished variant sheet.
   • If you're using a .csv file, click Select a file from your computer, then select the file.
   • If you're using Google Sheets, click Link an existing Google Sheet, then select the sheet.
9. Click Apply. Ads Creative Studio will process the bulk upload sheet and check for formatting errors. When the sheet is processed, you'll get an overview of the total number of variants that will be created, edited, or deleted. Note: Display projects always start with one blank variant. If you didn't create any variants, you might still find one deleted variant. This is the blank variant.
10. (Optional) If you're uploading a rule assignment sheet, select the file or Google Sheet to use.
11. Click Apply.
    • The variants in the sheet will replace any variants you have in Ads Creative Studio. You can preview the variants to make sure everything was added correctly. If you have trouble uploading your sheet, learn how to troubleshoot bulk variant upload errors.
    • If you uploaded a rule assignment sheet, variants will be assigned to the rules in the sheet.
12. If everything is correct, click Save to save your project. The variants and rule assignments from the sheets won't be saved to the project unless you save. If you made a mistake, you can close the project without saving.

Next steps

• Review your display project