How to relaunch existing Facebook ads

Already have a winning ad running in your Meta account? You don't need to re-upload the file or rewrite the copy to put it into new ad sets. uplads can pull your existing ads straight from the Graph API, let you sort them by performance, and recreate the best ones into whatever campaigns and ad sets you pick.

This article covers how the Existing Ads source works inside the Ad Launcher. If you're new to the launcher, start with Understanding the Ad Launcher.

Opening the Existing Ads source

Relaunching starts from the same Load Media dialog as a normal launch.

1. Open the Ad Launcher and pick your Meta ad account in the top bar (see How to connect your Meta account if you haven't connected yet).
2. Click Load Media in the Ads panel. At the top right of the dialog, switch Media to Existing Ads.
3. uplads queries your account and loads your ads, ranked by spend, so your real spenders appear first.

You don't pick files here - you pick live ads that already exist in your account.

Searching, filtering and sorting

The Existing Ads source gives you a full performance table so you can find the right ads to reuse without bouncing into Meta Ads Manager.

• Search by typing in the box at the top - it matches the ad name, campaign name and ad set name.
• Date range controls the metrics columns. Choose Lifetime, Last 7 / 14 / 30 / 90 days, This month or Last month. Changing this re-fetches fresh numbers for that window.
• Minimum spend hides ads below a spend floor in that window; Any spend shows them all.
• Status filter lets you show All statuses, Active only or Paused only.
• Campaign filter appears when more than one campaign is loaded. A green dot means at least one ad in that campaign is delivering; an amber dot means the campaign is fully paused.
• Sort by clicking any column header - Spend, Impressions, Reach, Clicks, CTR, CPC, CPM, ROAS, Purchases, Cost per purchase, Leads or Cost per lead. Click again to flip the direction.

Hover any ad thumbnail and click the eye icon to preview the live ad before you decide.

Selecting ads to relaunch

Tick the checkbox on any row (or click the ad name) to add it to your relaunch selection. A few things worth knowing:

• The Select all checkbox in the header selects every ad matching your current filters - not just the visible page.
• A "N selected" counter appears once you've picked at least one ad, with a Clear selection control to empty the whole selection.
• All money columns show metrics in the ad account's original currency, not a hardcoded dollar sign - so a EUR account reads in euros.

Confirm with Use N existing ads. The dialog closes and the Ads panel switches to relaunch mode: instead of media tiles it lists the Existing ads to relaunch, each with its spend and an X to drop it again. Edit Selection reopens the dialog on the same list.

The relaunch method (copy as a new ad vs. reuse the original Post ID) is auto-detected per ad when you select it, so you don't need to set anything here beyond picking the ads. See Post ID vs Creative ID relaunch for what the two methods keep.

Why the copy fields stay out of the way and the Page is optional

Relaunching is different from a fresh launch, so the launcher adapts:

• No copy to write. A relaunch reuses the original ad's copy, headline, URL and CTA exactly as they ran - there's nothing to re-author, and the Ad Setup card says so with From original ads. If you want to change the copy, write a new ad instead (see How to write ad copy, URLs and CTAs).
• Page selection is optional. Each existing ad's post or creative already carries its own Facebook Page, so you don't have to pick a Page in the top bar. You still tick your ad sets in the Ad Sets card - see How to select your Page, campaign and ad sets.

Respecting the 50-ad-per-ad-set limit

Meta caps every ad set at 50 ads, including paused and archived ones. Every ad set row in the Ad Sets card shows its current count as N of 50 ads, and uplads adds the ads you're about to relaunch on top of that. If any ad set would go over 50, the launcher warns you before you launch: Meta refuses the 51st ad in an ad set.

You can still launch - only the ads beyond the cap will be rejected by Meta, and uplads tells you which ones. To avoid losing any, spread your selection across more ad sets or trim the count first. For more on this, see Ad set limits and common Meta errors explained.

Launching

Click the Launch button. The confirmation dialog reads Confirm & Relaunch and shows the math: ads times ticked ad sets. The launch then appears in the Ad Launches tab below the launcher.

Next steps

Once you've launched, follow along on How to track launch progress and read results. To duplicate an ad set's targeting as a fresh relaunch target, see How to duplicate an ad set with the same targeting.