How to Recover Deleted Facebook Ad Campaign
That heart-stopping moment you realize you’ve just deleted the wrong Facebook ad campaign is a feeling no marketer wants. Whether it was your top-performing sales driver or a complex lead-gen funnel, the knee-jerk reaction is always the same: panic, followed by a frantic search for an "undo" button that doesn’t exist. This article will walk you through exactly what happens when you delete a campaign and outline the single best way to "recover" it by rebuilding it from the data that’s still available in your account.
The Short Answer: Can You Restore a Deleted Facebook Ad Campaign?
Let's get the difficult news out of the way first. No, you cannot directly restore or undelete a Facebook ad campaign, ad set, or ad once it has been deleted. Unlike files on your computer that go into a recycling bin or trash folder, deleting a campaign in Facebook Ads Manager is a permanent action. There is no hidden menu or support chat that can magically bring it back to an editable state.
When you confirm the deletion, Meta removes it from your active list of campaigns forever. This finality is designed to keep ad accounts clean and prevent clutter, but it’s unforgiving when mistakes happen.
But don’t close the tab just yet. While the editable campaign itself is gone for good, its most valuable asset - your performance data - is not.
Don't Panic: Your Campaign's Ghost Is Still in the Machine
Here’s the most important thing to understand: deleting a campaign removes it from your active management view, but its historical performance data remains logged in your account. Facebook doesn’t scrub the record of how much you spent, how many conversions you got, or your cost per result. It simply archives it.
This means you have a blueprint of your deleted campaign. You can access all the metrics, see which ad creatives performed best, and review the targeting parameters you used. Your task is not one of magical "recovery," but of methodical "reconstruction." You’re going to use this performance data to build a perfect replica of the campaign you lost.
Your 4-Step "Recovery" Plan: How to Rebuild Your Campaign
Instead of trying to find a non-existent restore button, follow this step-by-step process to rebuild your campaign accurately and quickly. All the information you need is waiting for you in Ads Manager.
Step 1: Go Data-Mining in Your Ads Manager Reporting
First, you need to find the deleted campaign. By default, Ads Manager only shows active campaigns, but a simple filter change will reveal everything you’ve run in the past, including the deleted ones.
Navigate to Facebook Ads Manager. Go to the "Campaigns" tab.
Expand Your Date Range. In the top right corner, set the date range to "Maximum" or a custom range that you know includes the period when your deleted campaign was active.
Filter for Deleted Campaigns. Above the list of your campaigns, you'll see a search bar with a "Filters" dropdown. Click it and select Campaign Delivery > Delivery > Deleted.
Now, Ads Manager will display all the deleted campaigns within your chosen date range. You can breathe a sigh of relief - your performance data is right there. Find the one you need to resurrect.
Step 2: Collect Your Campaign's Core Components
With your deleted campaign now visible, you can click on its name (or view the related ad sets and ads) to gather the blueprint for rebuilding it. Treat this like an investigation. Here’s a checklist of the key details you need to find and jot down:
Campaign Details
Campaign Name: It helps to know what you called it.
Objective: What was its goal? Sales? Leads? Engagement? You can usually see this in the main campaign view.
Advantage Campaign Budget (CBO): Was the budget set at the campaign level? Note the daily or lifetime amount.
Ad Set DetailsClick into the Ad Sets tab to find this information for each ad set within the campaign.
Audience Targeting: This is critical. Note the locations, ages, gender, and especially the Detailed Targeting (interests, demographics, behaviors).
Placements: Did you use Advantage+ (automatic) placements or select them manually? Make a note of which.
Budget and Schedule: If you weren't using CBO, what was the daily or lifetime budget for this specific ad set?
Ad Creative DetailsNavigate to the Ads tab to see the final pieces.
Ad Copy: What was the exact Primary Text, Headline, and Description? You may have to use the "Preview" option to see the full content.
Media: What image or video was used? Note the file name if you can.
Call-to-Action (CTA): Which button did you use? "Shop Now," "Learn More," "Sign Up," etc.
Step 3: Resurrect Your Ad Creative (and Its Social Proof)
This is the most powerful trick in the book for "recovering" a deleted campaign, and it’s something many marketers overlook. When an ad runs, it accumulates likes, comments, and shares. This social proof significantly boosts its performance because it creates trust and validation.
If you just re-upload the same image and copy, you start from scratch with zero social proof. Instead, you can pull the original ad post back to life using its Post ID.
How to Find and Use an Ad's Post ID:
In Facebook Ads Manager, find your deleted ad creative.
Click the ad's Preview button (the icon with an arrow in a box).
From the menu dropdown, select Facebook Post with Comments.
That will open the ad in a new tab as a regular Facebook post. Now, look at the URL in your browser's address bar.
The URL will be structured something like this:
https://www.facebook.com/PageName/posts/POST_IDGrab that series of numbers - that's your Post ID. Copy it somewhere safe.
When you go to create your new ad in your rebuilt campaign, you'll reach the Create section.
Instead of uploading new content, choose Use Existing Post.
You'll see an option to Enter Post ID. Click that and paste the ID you copied.
Just like that, you have brought back not just the visuals, but also the engagement with them. This simple tactic can make a world of difference in your rebuilt campaign's performance.
Step 4: Rebuild, Double-Check, and Relaunch
Now that you have all the pieces:
Go back to the Campaigns tab and click the Create button.
Carefully go through the process to set up your campaign, referring to the notes you collected. Input your campaign objective and budget.
Set up your Ad Sets with the exact targeting parameters and budget you noted down.
Then, in the ad creation step, use the Existing Post method described above.
Before hitting "Publish," go through everything once more to verify your details. Congratulations, you've successfully rebuilt your campaign.
Final Thoughts
Accidentally deleting a Facebook campaign isn’t the end of the world. While you can’t directly restore it, you can efficiently rebuild it by mining historical performance data and using it to recreate the campaign complete with its social proof. This meticulous approach ensures that your efforts aren’t lost and that you can continue your growth trajectory.
To avoid risks and manual errors while recreating campaigns, consider using tools like Graphed. Integrated smoothly with Facebook Ads, Graphed provides an organized interface for campaign management that simplifies handling complex advertising needs. It’s an excellent aid in ensuring swift recovery from setbacks and maximizing advertising effectiveness.