About automated rules in Meta Ads Manager, explained
Meta’s help article “About automated rules in Meta Ads Manager” only loads with JavaScript. Here it is in plain words, with the actions, the steps and how to manage rules, from Meta’s help center as read on October 9, 2026.
On this page · 8 sections
- What are automated rules in Meta Ads Manager?
- What can an automated rule do for you?
- Which actions can a rule take?
- How do you create an automated rule?
- What do time range, schedule and subscribers do?
- How do you manage and check your rules?
- Why should you still watch your ads?
- How does Adwize compare with automated rules?
Automated rules in Meta Ads Manager check your campaigns, ad sets and ads for you, then make a change or notify you when they meet conditions you set. A rule has three parts: the conditions that trigger it, the action it takes, and the campaigns, ad sets or ads it applies to. The available actions are turning items off or on, sending a notification only, adjusting a budget, adjusting a manual bid, and scaling a budget or bid. Rules apply at the ad account level, so they work whoever on your team creates the ads. You create a rule from the Campaigns table for specific items, or from the Automated rules page for all of them, then set a time range and a schedule. Most actions run without asking you first. Meta still advises you to watch overall performance, because a rule only does what its conditions say.
TL;DR
- A rule checks your campaigns, ad sets or ads and acts or notifies you when conditions are met.
- Six actions: turn off, turn on, notification only, adjust budget, adjust manual bid, scale budget or bid.
- Create it from the Campaigns table for chosen items, or from the Automated rules page for all.
- Time range sets how many days of data count. Schedule sets how often the rule checks.
- Adwize alerts are written in one sentence and never change anything without your approval.
What are automated rules in Meta Ads Manager?
They are checks that run on your campaigns, ad sets and ads on their own. When an item meets the conditions you set, the rule updates it or sends you a notification. Beyond checking and notifying, a rule can take the action for you, such as turning off an ad or raising a budget.
Every rule is built from three choices: the conditions that trigger it, the action it takes, and the active campaigns, ad sets or ads it should affect.
Rules apply at the ad account level. That means they keep working whoever on your team creates the ads, which matters when several people share one account.
- Conditions
- = what triggers the rule
- Action
- = what the rule does
- Apply rule to
- = which campaigns, ad sets or ads
- Time range and schedule
- = which data, how often
What can an automated rule do for you?
It can take over the checks you already do by hand. Meta suggests a simple test: think about what you look at often in Ads Manager and what you do next. If the same metric always leads to the same move, a rule can do the checking for you while you manage several ads at once.
Meta’s own questions give the idea. Do you pause a weak ad when it hits a certain metric? Raise a budget when enough people click? Raise a bid when daily spend stays low? Raise a budget based on ROAS? Turn off a campaign every Friday?
Each yes is a candidate rule. Each one also hands a decision to a machine, so pick the ones where you are sure of your answer.
Which actions can a rule take?
Meta lists six actions. A rule can turn off campaigns, ad sets or ads, or turn them on. It can send a notification only. It can adjust the daily or lifetime budget of an ad set up or down. It can adjust a manual bid, and it can scale a budget or a bid toward a target.
Two of them have limits. Adjust manual bid only works on ads that use manual bids. Scale budget or bid adjusts toward a target field: Meta’s example scales a bid by Cost per mobile app install, so the bid moves toward the cost per install you want.
Example. You want to know when someone clicks your ad and buys something worth $5 to $10 on your site, without changing anything. Meta’s answer: choose the action Send notification only.
| Action | What it does | Works on |
|---|---|---|
| Turn off | Turns off the item | Campaigns, ad sets, ads |
| Turn on | Turns the item on | Campaigns, ad sets, ads |
| Send notification only | Notifies you, changes nothing | Campaigns, ad sets, ads |
| Adjust budget | Raises or lowers daily or lifetime budget | Ad sets |
| Adjust manual bid | Raises or lowers the bid | Ad sets with manual bids |
| Scale budget / bid | Moves budget or bid toward a target | Budget or bid |
How do you create an automated rule?
There are two ways in. To target specific items, open the Campaigns table in Ads Manager, check the box next to the campaign, ad set or ad, open the More dropdown and choose Create a new rule. To cover all campaigns, ad sets or ads, go to the Automated rules page and click + Create rule.
From the Campaigns table you then pick Custom rule to build your own, or one of two ready-made rules: Reduce auction overlap, which stops your ad sets competing against each other, and Reduce audience fragmentation, which combines audiences so ad sets spend their budgets more efficiently.
For a custom rule, give it a Rule name, choose what to Apply rule to, pick the Action, then choose the Conditions and select Add. Use + for more conditions. Select Create, and the rule is active.
- Check items in the Campaigns table
- Open More, choose Create a new rule
- Pick Custom rule, name it
- Choose the Action, then Conditions
- Set time range and schedule, select Create
What do time range, schedule and subscribers do?
Time range sets how many days of data the rule looks at when it checks its conditions. Schedule sets how often the rule checks. A rule on a cost per result over the last 7 days, checked daily, behaves very differently from one on today’s data, checked every few hours.
Subscribers receive the rule’s notifications, which helps when several people work on the ad account. Meta sets a condition: a subscriber must have admin permissions on the ad account and full control access to the business portfolio that owns it.
If a teammate cannot be added, check their roles first. Our permissions checklist covers that part.
How do you manage and check your rules?
Open Automated rules and look at the Manage rules table. Each rule has a toggle: blue means on, gray means off. Select Activity on the left to see what each rule did, from No action and Notification sent to items turned off, or budgets and manual bids raised or lowered.
The activity log shows the change by a percentage or a dollar amount, so you can see exactly what a rule did to a budget or a bid, and when.
If a campaign, ad set or ad turns off without meeting your rule’s conditions, look elsewhere. Meta notes that ad sets also turn off on their own when they spend their budget, reach their end date or under-deliver.
Why should you still watch your ads?
Because a rule only does what its conditions say. Meta itself notes that rules can cut the time you spend managing ads, but that you should still monitor overall performance to make sure your ads meet your marketing goals. A rule has no idea why a number moved.
Most actions run without asking you first. A rule that raises a budget on a good day can raise it again each time the condition is met, and a rule that turns off an ad cannot tell a weak creative from a tracking problem.
So start with Send notification only for anything new, read the Activity log, and switch to an action once you trust the condition.
How does Adwize compare with automated rules?
Adwize takes the notification side, not the automatic one. You write an alert in one sentence, for example: tell me when the cost per lead goes above my target. Adwize watches it and warns you in plain words. See the Automate page.
When a change makes sense, Adwize proposes it with the reason in one sentence, and nothing happens until you approve. It does not turn off ads, raise budgets or move bids on its own. Adwize also reads your results each day; see the Optimize page.
Your Meta automated rules stay in Ads Manager and keep working as you set them. Adwize works with Meta ads only, inside your own ad account.
Frequently asked questions
Do Meta automated rules act without asking me?
Yes, except Send notification only. Once a rule is active, actions such as turning off an ad or adjusting a budget run when the conditions are met, and you see them in the Activity log.
Can a rule apply to every campaign in my account?
Yes. Create it from the Automated rules page to apply it to all campaigns, ad sets or ads. Create it from the Campaigns table to apply it to the items you selected.
Why can’t I add a teammate as a subscriber?
Meta requires subscribers to have admin permissions on the ad account and full control access to the business portfolio that owns it.
My ad set turned off but the rule conditions were not met. Why?
Ad sets also turn off automatically when they spend their budget, reach their end date or under-deliver. Check those before blaming the rule.
Does Adwize create rules that change my ads automatically?
No. Adwize alerts are written in one sentence and only warn you. Any change is proposed with its reason and waits for your approval.
Sources
- Meta Business Help Center, About automated rules in Meta Ads ManagerAccessed 10/09/2026
- Meta Business Help Center, Create an automated rule in Meta Ads ManagerAccessed 10/09/2026
- Meta Business Help Center, About actions for automated rules in Meta Ads ManagerAccessed 10/09/2026
- Meta Business Help Center, Manage automated rules in Meta Ads ManagerAccessed 10/09/2026
