Why Does Ads Manager Say Update Required?

Ads Manager shows Update required when Meta says an issue is preventing the ad from being delivered. Meta’s page says this can appear after you create or edit an ad, for example when the ad contains an offer that has ended or the Page has been deleted. An error message in Ads Manager explains what went wrong. Fix that error, then switch the ad set back on yourself.

What does Update required mean?

Meta’s page says that after you create or edit an ad, there may be an issue that prevents the ad from being delivered. If there is, the status reads Update required. The page ties the status to error 2859002 on a Facebook or Instagram ad, and says updates need to be made to make the ad active.

Meta’s two examples are an ended offer and a deleted Page. In both cases, an error message appears in Ads Manager explaining what went wrong.

What you can do: open Ads Manager, find the status in the Delivery column and read the error message attached to it before you change anything.

How do you tell it apart from a rejection or Not delivering?

Meta tells you to look in the Delivery column first. For an ad rejection, Meta lists these statuses, depending on the rejection type:

• Ad set errors in the Campaign column
• Ad error in the Ad sets column
• Rejected in the Ads column

Meta also says Not delivering is different from an ad rejection. It appears if the ad, ad set or campaign has been turned off, or has finished its scheduled course of delivery.

What you can do: check which of these labels your Delivery column shows. Meta lists them as separate statuses. For rejections, see why a Facebook ad is rejected.

Which errors and fixes does Meta list?

Meta introduces its list as “potential errors and fixes”, with eight entries.

Error	What Meta says it means	What Meta says to do
Page post can’t be used	The post can’t be promoted in an ad	Choose a different post
Ad post is not available	The Facebook post may have been removed, or you may not have permission to view it	Choose a different Page post or get permission
Shared post can’t be boosted	Shared posts can’t be promoted	If you own the original post, boost it directly
Offer has ended or expired	The ad contains an offer that has ended or expired	Offers can’t be updated: create a new offer and ad in a different ad set
Page is unpublished for ad	The Page running the ad is unpublished	Publish the Page
Event has ended	The ad contains an event that has ended	Edit the event
Missing product ID	The product is no longer in the catalog, or has an issue that stops it showing, such as a missing or invalid image, a policy violation, or being archived, out of stock or expired	Meta links a guide to troubleshooting product issues
Product set is empty, or insufficient products in the set for a collection	The set has no products, or not enough unique products available to display	Meta links a guide to troubleshooting product set errors

Meta says “include”, so read the table as examples, not a closed list. Start from the error message Ads Manager shows for your ad. For the product set case, see why a product set is empty.

What do you do after you fix the error?

Meta says to update the ad and fix the error. Once you have made the necessary update, you have to manually toggle the ad set back to active.

If you did not fix the issue and tried to activate the ad, Meta says the ad may show as active but will reset to Update required again.

What you can do: fix the error first, toggle the ad set to active second, then check the Delivery column to confirm the status has cleared.

What it does not cover: this page is about the Update required status. If your ad shows as active but is not delivering, see why a Facebook ad is not delivering.

FAQ

Why did my ad go back to Update required after I turned it on?

Meta says that if the issue was not fixed and you attempted to activate the ad, the ad may show as active but will reset to Update required. Fix the underlying error first, such as an unpublished Page or an ended offer, then toggle the ad set back to active.

Can I fix an expired offer by editing it?

No. Meta says an ad containing an offer that has ended or expired cannot be fixed by updating the offer, because offers can’t be updated. Meta’s fix is to create a new offer and a new ad in a different ad set, then continue from there.

Does Update required mean my ad was rejected?

Meta lists separate statuses for a rejection: Ad set errors, Ad error and Rejected. Update required is the status Meta describes for an issue that prevents delivery, such as an ended offer or a deleted Page. Check your Delivery column to see which label you have.