Import Management


Every Ads Import assigned a specific ID and therefore may be managed separately to some degree.

Select appropriate method (Ads Import or Ads Import Plus) for reference below:
 

Ads Import

Click Ads Import from Admin Tasks page. If you previously run Ads Import, then for every import there will be a record in the list with the import details.

The "Database" column lists the name of the Import database used for this import and confirms if the Import database for current Import set is still within the "Import" folder.
The "Images" column lists the images subfolder within the "000000" folder for the current Import as well as confirms the subfolder presence.
Clicking on a "User" column would bring a standard for RC "all ads for user .." page with all ads posted by current user.
Clicking on an "Ads" column would bring the list of ads for currently selected Import set only.

Action column would have 3 links:

Stat - Displays ads statistics. Number of total, active, expired and disabled ads within the selected Import set.

Cache - During Import the cache for ads is not created. Here is your chance to cache all ads under a specific Import set.

Delete - Not happy with some ads? Many inconsistencies in ads data? You may delete all imported ads with one click. Review and correct data in an import database and then run import again.

Note: Cached ads if created for this import would also be deleted. NO images however would be deleted from the designated image folder NOR import database itself would be modified. However if at list one ad was deleted individually (via delete link on any other page other than ads import management page) the images for the ad deleted individually would be removed. So if you decided to delete entire set and then run deleted import over, at the evaluation stage you would receive an error about missing images. You would need to restore images deleted while ad was individually deleted.

Expiration

The expiration for imported ads is handled differently than for the ads posted manually. Imported ads do not expire naturally. Instead a notification about ads expiration is sent to administrator (one notification per one Import set). At this point expired ads are marked for expiration but remain online. If you go to Ads Import management you would see the import status expired (online) and a new link in "action" column:

Take Offline - If you do not click this link, imported ads would stay online forever (even though expiration would display a past date). When you click this link, all ads for the current import would actually be taken offline and would be considered as "true" expired. At which point the import status would be changed to expired (offline) and a new link would appear at the "action" column:

Repost - This link provides an opportunity to repost all expired ads at once. Clicking the link, would bring a small text box with the default ads duration. Before reposting you may change the imported ads duration for the next term and then click "Submit". All ads for the selected Import set would be reposted at this point for a new duration.

Note: The global expiration/repost may only be managed by administrator. User cannot be involved in this process. No notifications would be sent to client. Individual ads from the import set may however be reposted/deleted/disabled by a clients if they wish to do so.

There are many scenarios you might face during taking ads offline and  reposting them, related to individually reposted, disabled and enabled ads by a client. Review Import highlights to get some answers.

Ads Import Highlights:

Q. May all ads be disabled at once within current import set?
A. No, all ads may only be deleted at once. You may however disable/enable selected ads (up to 30 at a time) at user ads page or at the import view page (click on a number of ads within Import Management page).

Q. If some ads are individually disabled would they expire as global expiration occur?
A. No, ads would retain disabled status. If manually enabled after expiration but before global reposting, those ads would expire the next day sending another notification (see the next question).

Q. Why did I receive multiple mortifications about ads expiration for the same Import set?
A. If some ads were disabled before expiration but manually enabled AFTER formal expiration or after you used "Take offline" link, then you might receive another notification. Moreover the status expired (offline) might be reverted to expired (online). In such a case use "Take Offline" link over. But the best way to handle this, is simply to use "Repost" ads link to repost all ads including disabled right after you used "Take Offline".

Q. What would happen to disabled ads during global repost process?
A. Disabled ads would retain disabled status. But the duration would be reset and be in sync with the rest of the ads in an Import set.

Q. If after global formal expiration and after clicking the "Take Offline" link client went ahead and reposted some ads from an Import set manually, what would be the duration for those ads (given that I did not use global repost and left all ads in expired status)?
A. The duration for ads reposted manually (NOT from Import Management page) would be calculated based on the original duration the import set was posted with.

Q. What would happen if after client reposted some ads manually (from import set John's ads for example), I went ahead and globally reposted  John's ads Import Set but used a different duration other than the original?
A. Let's say the 365 days duration was used with originally Imported John's ads set. After global expiration client went ahead and reposted some ads for the same 365 days. Then some time later you decided to repost the entire John's ads set for the 180 days. ALL Ads in the set (including those reposted manually by a client) would be reposted for 180 days starting from the day you clicked the "Repost" link. This is done to keep the entire Import set in sync.

 

Ads Import Plus

Click Ads Import Plus from Admin Tasks page. If you previously run Ads Import, then for every "import plus" there will be a record in the list with the import details.

The "Database" column lists the name of the Import database used for this import and confirms if the Import database for current Import set is still within the "Import" folder.
The "Images" column lists the images subfolder within the "000000" folder for the current Import as well as confirms the subfolder presence.
Clicking on an "Ads" column would bring the list of ads for currently selected Import set only.

Action column would have 3 links:

Stat - Displays ads statistics. Number of total, active, expired and disabled ads within the selected Import set.

Cache - During Import the cache for ads is not created. Here is your chance to cache all ads under a specific Import set.

Delete - Not happy with some ads? Many inconsistencies in ads data? You may delete all imported ads with one click. Review and correct data in an import database and then run import again.

"Delete" do not remove Imported user accounts! Only ads posted under newly created accounts are deleted. If you delete the Import and run it again, user accounts would NOT be created but ads would be posted under the correct user accounts created in the first place.

Note: Cached ads if created for this import would also be deleted. NO images however would be deleted from the designated image folder NOR import database itself would be modified. However if at list one ad was deleted individually (via delete link on any other page other than ads import management page) the images for the ad deleted individually would be removed. So if you decided to delete entire set and then run deleted import over, at the evaluation stage you would receive an error about missing images. You would need to restore images deleted while ad was individually deleted.

Ads Import Plus is less manageable than the Ads Import when it comes to expiration and reposting. This method is more user oriented. Ads posted under this method expire the same way as regular ads and expected to be reposted by users who own the ads.

Note: The "Expired (default)" column displays the expiration date based on a global duration, set during ads import and does not reflect the actual expiration of ads which might be different if the duration is also set individually per ad within the import template.