Build creatives with Ad Canvas

Get oriented

Learn how to use Ad Canvas by watching this short video (6:08):

Learn how to use Ad Canvas

---

 

Ad Canvas is a visual editor you can use to build and edit creatives in real time. To get to Ad Canvas:

1. Open an advertiser.
2. In the left menu, click Creative, then Creatives.
3. Open a supported creative type or create a new one.

Supported creative types

You can edit the following creative types in Ad Canvas:

Audio, Blank Slate, Cue Cards, Native, Panorama, and custom data-driven formats.

Find your way around Ad Canvas

Use the image below as a map to find your way around Ad Canvas.

1. Asset panel. Add and edit images, text, landing page URLs, and CSS styling. The asset panel is divided into sections:
   1. Assets: Add images by dragging files from your computer and dropping them over the asset you want add or replace. Or, click Upload, then select an image file from your computer. To remove an asset, click Remove .
   2. Text: Enter taglines, descriptions, calls to action, and other text elements. Next, add landing page URLs for any call to action and background images. You can also pick colors and set opacity for rich text elements.
   3. Style: Pick colors for background colors and primary and secondary styles.
      
      If your creative has a swipe gallery or multiple frames, swipe through to see where each asset or element appears in the live preview (2).
2. Live preview. Preview and interact with your creative the same way your potential customers will.

For data-driven creatives only

---

3. Edit variant name. By default, the first variant is named after the format (for example, Panorama). To help you tell one variant from another in reports, give the variant a name that will help you distinguish between the other variants you create. Click on the name to edit it.

The variant name will be used in reports when you select “Variant Name” as a reporting dimension. Each variant includes the same the report dimensions available for a creative.

4. Make copy. Click Make copy to create a new variant. New variants have the same assets, text, and styling as the copied variant. After you make a copy, the new variant is selected and the original variant is de-selected, allowing you to immediately edit the new copies. To delete a variant, first select only the variant you wish to delete, then click Delete.

Select variants. Selected variants have a blue circle with a checkmark . While variants that are not selected have a gray circle with a checkmark . To change which variants are selected, click the checkmark on the upper left hand corner of the variant you want to select.

Select multiple variants when you want to edit more than one variant at the same time or make a copy of more than one variant at the same time.

Mixed values. When multiple variants share the same asset, text, and style values (for example, both variant 1 and variant 3 have the tagline "Refreshing & revitalizing essential oils"), the asset panel will show the specific value ("Refreshing & revitalizing essential oils"). When multiple variants have different assets, text, or style values (for example, variant 1 has a tagline "Refreshing & revitalizing essential oils" and variant 2 has a tagline "Relax and rejuvenate") the asset panel will show <mixed values>.

In both cases, you can overwrite these values by uploading a new asset, editing the text, or changing the styling. The new values will be applied to all selected variants.

5. Upload file. If you're working with a large number of creative variants, you may find it easier to work in a spreadsheet than in Ad Canvas. Click Upload file  to download a spreadsheet template, add a row for each creative, then upload all of your variants at once.

6. Filter variants. Click Filter to review or edit specific variants on the Ad Canvas. Only variants selected in the filter will be shown. Creatives that have been de-selected by the filter cannot be edited.

7. Switch views. Click List view  or Gallery view  to switch between editing views.

• List view displays all variants and assets in an editable table where you can copy and paste values.
• Gallery view displays large previews with the Asset panel.

8. Add to preview sheet. If you need to share creatives with someone to review, you can add them to preview sheets, add filters, then share them.

Find and edit landing page URLs

For data-driven and custom creative formats with URLs that can change for each variant, you can only edit landing page URLs in Ad Canvas. To edit landing page URLs, expand the Text section in the Asset panel on the right.

View and edit variants in a list

When you're working with a creative with a large number of variants and sizes, you may find it easier to switch to list view. List view displays the same information you see in gallery view in an editable table. In the table, each variant is a row, and each asset is a column.

Edit one size or all sizes of a variant

Responsive variants support multiple sizes, and each size has its own row. When you first open list view, the individual rows for each size of a variant are collapsed into a single row.

To show or hide all sizes, find the Dimensions column.

• To show individual rows for each size of the variant, click Expand all .
• To show all sizes in a single row, click Collapse all .

When all sizes are collapsed, editing a single cell will change that value for all sizes of the variant. This is the same as editing an asset in gallery view with all variant sizes selected. To edit only one size at a time, first expand to see all sizes, then edit the individual size and cell.

^{List view with collapsed sizes}

^{List view with expanded sizes}

Edit assets in list view

When a row is collapsed, updating a value will update all sizes. When a row is expanded, updating a value will only update the size in the selected row.

• To edit text or landing pages, double-click or click Edit .
• To edit an image, drag an image to the appropriate cell, or click Upload. To remove an image, click Remove .
• To edit colors, double-click or click Edit . The color and opacity pickers will appear in that field.

Note: Variant names can't currently be edited in list view. Instead, switch to gallery view to edit.

Copy and paste in list view

When you want to reuse the same text, colors, or URLs across different variants, you can switch to list view to copy and paste values between rows and columns. 

Note: Images can't be copied and pasted yet. Instead, upload them individually.

Copy and paste a single value

1. If the variant isn't already expanded, find the Dimensions column, then click Expand all . If you try to copy it when it's collapsed, you'll copy all of the values for each size variant instead of just one cell.
2. Find the cell you want to copy, then click to select it.
3. Press Ctrl + C or click Copy in the actions bar.
4. If the variant you want to paste into isn't already expanded, find the Dimensions column, then click Expand all .
5. Find the cell you want to paste to, then click to select it.
6. Press Ctrl + V or click Paste in the actions bar.

Copy all values for all variant sizes

1. If the variant isn't collapsed, find the Dimensions column, then click Collapse all . Collapsing the variant makes it easier to copy the values for every size.
2. Find the cell you want to copy, then click to select it. If the variant has different values for each size, the cell value will be "<mixed values>".
3. Press Ctrl + C or click Copy in the actions bar. All values for all rows will be copied.
4. If the variant you want to paste into isn't already collapsed, find the Dimensions column, then click Collapse all .
5. Find the cell you want to paste to, then click to select it.
6. Press Ctrl + V or click Paste in the actions bar. The collapsed row's value will be "<mixed values>". Expand the row and you'll see the copied values for each size.

Copy and paste multiple rows in a single column

You can select multiple consecutive rows in a single column, then paste them into different rows in the same column or a different column.

1. Click the first cell you want to select.
2. Press Shift and click the last cell you want to select.
3. Press Ctrl + C or click Copy in the actions bar. All values for all rows will be copied.
4. Click the first cell you want to copy into.
5. Press Shift, then click the last cell you want to copy into.
6. Press Ctrl + V or click Paste in the actions bar. All values will be pasted in order, from top to bottom.

Copy values between variants

When you want to copy all of the headlines for all sizes of one variant into another variant, first collapse the variant rows, then copy and paste from one to the other. If you only want to copy a headline from a single size of the variant, first expand the variant rows. Copying and pasting from both expanded and collapsed cells at the same time is not supported.

Unused rows

Rows for values that aren't used in a specific creative size are gray and can't be copied or pasted into. If you copy all values from a column that includes unused rows, you can still paste the values, and these rows will be skipped.

If you copy an unused row to a spreadsheet, you'll see the value "__DV360_UNUSED__". Leave this value in your spreadsheet. It's a placeholder that Display & Video 360 uses to skip unused rows when you copy and paste multiple values.

Copy and paste from a spreadsheet

If you have a large number of responsive variants, you may find it helpful to manage text and links in a spreadsheet. You can then share the spreadsheet, fill it out with your team, and copy final text directly into Ad Canvas from the spreadsheet.

Copy to a spreadsheet

1. Open Ad Canvas and switch to list view .
2. Make sure all variants are collapsed. (Find the Dimensions column, then click Collapse all .)
3. Find the column you want to copy, then click to select a row. Press Shift to select multiple rows.
4. Press Ctrl + C or click Copy in the actions bar. All values for all selected rows will be copied.
5. Open a spreadsheet in your favorite spreadsheet editor, then paste (Ctrl + V). You'll see one column of creative sizes, and one column of copied values.

If you copied values for more than one variant, the values for the second variant will appear as additional rows in the same columns. (Find where the sizes start to repeat to see which values belong to which variant.)

The order of sizes within a variant set doesn't matter, but make sure to keep each set of sizes together as a group to be able to copy them back to Display & Video 360 later.

Copy from a spreadsheet

Instead of copying and pasting values one by one from the spreadsheet, you can save time by selecting both the column in your spreadsheet that defines creative size and the column of values you want to copy.

For example, let's say you have a spreadsheet that looks like the one below, and you want to copy your headlines into a Blank Slate creative.

Sample spreadsheet

Size	Headline
320 × 320	Headline for square banners
336 × 280	Headline for square banners
300 × 250	Headline for square banners
250 × 250	Headline for square banners
728 × 90	Headline for wide banners
320 × 50	__DV360_UNUSED__
300 × 50	__DV360_UNUSED__
300 × 600	Short headline
160 × 600	Short headline
320 × 480	Short headline

 

Copy all of the headlines for every size: 

1. Select all of the rows in the "Size" column and all of the rows in the "Headline" column. (Omit the column headers.)
2. Press Ctrl + C to copy.
3. Open the Blank Slate creative in Ad Canvas and click List view .
4. Find the collapsed variant row you want to copy the headlines into.
5. Click the cell in the "Headline text" column.
6. Press Ctrl + V to paste.
7. To review all of the headlines you copied over, find the Dimensions column, then click Expand all .