Carousel Ads

A carousel ad shows 2 to 10 cards that people swipe through. Each card has its own image or video, and can have its own headline, description and link. Use a carousel when the order matters, such as telling a story step by step or showing several products.

Open the Builder

After you upload media, use the Build split button in the toolbar above the Uploaded Media table:

• If the button reads Build Carousel Ads, click it.
• Otherwise, click the arrow next to it and choose Build Carousel Ads.

The button remembers the builder you used last in this browser, so next time it shows Build Carousel Ads.

Build Carousel Ads

The Build Carousel Ads window has your media on the left and your carousel groups on the right. Each group becomes one carousel ad, and each asset in it becomes a card.

1. Click New Group to start a group, or use Auto Group (see below).
2. Click a group on the right to make it active.
3. Click media on the left to add it as the next card. You can also drag media from the grid into a slot.
4. Drag cards within the group to change their order. The order is the swipe order people see.
5. Repeat for more groups. You can rename a group by editing its name.
6. Click Create All (N Carousel Groups). N is the number of valid groups, each with 2 to 10 cards.
7. Choose what happens to the original files (see Keep or replace your originals), then click Continue.

Each group row has 10 numbered slots and buttons that work on the active group:

• Duplicate copies the group, with its cards, into a new group just below it. This is handy for making a second carousel that differs by only a card or two.
• Clear All empties the group.
• Remove deletes the group.

Find Media

Filters above the media grid help you find files in a large upload:

What You Can Add

• Images and videos, mixed in the same carousel if you like
• Grouped aspect ratio variations, which appear once as their main file

What You Cannot Add

• Another carousel, flexible or Multi Media ad (no nesting)
• Media from a different ad account

Use Aspect Ratios per Card

Carousel cards support the same aspect ratio variations as single image and video ads. Each card can adapt to the placement it lands in, for example square in feeds and vertical in Stories and Reels.

You do not need to do anything special in the builder. Upload each card's ratios with the normal naming rules (for example card1_1x1.jpg and card1_9x16.jpg). Ads Uploader treats them as one card with several versions, and the versions come along when you add the card to a carousel.

This works across campaign objectives, including website traffic and lead form campaigns.

A carousel that contains aspect ratio variants can have only one primary text. The text editor limits it to one for you.

Auto Group

Auto Group spreads your media across several carousels for you.

1. Click Auto Group.
2. Choose your options.
3. Click Auto Group to create the groups.

Your choices are remembered in this browser for next time.

Keep or Replace Your Originals

After you click Create All, the Carousel Ad Build Options window asks what to do with the individual files you used:

• Keep Original Media (the default): add the carousels to your session and keep the individual files too. Each file can still become its own ad.
• Replace with Carousel Ads: remove the individual files that are now inside a carousel, so they do not also become separate ads.

Either way, the individual files stay available in your Media Library.

Write Text for Each Card

A carousel can have different text on each card when you use the Write unique ad text for each ad text option.

1. In the ad text options, select Write unique ad text for each ad.
2. In the text table, find your carousel's row.
3. Below it, click Show N Cards to open the card editor.
4. Edit each card's headline, description and link.

Any field you leave blank uses the text from the main carousel row.

After You Create Them

Each carousel appears as a row in the Uploaded Media table, and in your Media Library:

• The Type column reads carousel.
• The thumbnail is a 2x2 grid of the first four cards. A +N badge shows how many more there are when a carousel has more than four.
• Hover the thumbnail for a larger view, or click it to preview.

Carousel or Flexible?

If you want different text per asset without a swipeable carousel, see Multi Media Ads.

Tips