How to give an agency access to a Meta ad account

In the business portfolio that owns the ad account, someone with full control opens Settings in Meta Business Suite > Partners > Add > Give a partner access to your assets, enters the agency's business portfolio ID, ticks the ad account, chooses Manage campaigns (or another level) and clicks Assign assets. The ad account and its payment method stay in your business portfolio; the agency works in it from its own. If the ad account is not in a business portfolio, you can add it to yours first, or give a person at the agency a role in Ads Manager.

Before you start

• Find out who owns the ad account. In Settings in Meta Business Suite, open Ad accounts under Accounts. An ad account can be in one business portfolio only. If yours is not listed, it may be a personal ad account outside any portfolio, or in someone else's portfolio.
• Full control. You need full control of the business portfolio that owns the ad account. If Partners is missing from your Settings, you may not have it.
• The agency's business portfolio ID. The agency finds it under Business portfolio info and sends it to you. See how to find a business portfolio ID.

Give the agency access from your business portfolio

1. Go to Settings in Meta Business Suite for the business portfolio that owns the ad account.
2. Under Users in the left menu, click Partners.
3. Click Add, then select Give a partner access to your assets.
4. Enter the agency's business portfolio ID and click Next.
5. Select the ad account and choose the level of access. For partial access, select the tasks.
6. Click Assign assets.

Meta also documents a shortcut from the asset: on the Ad accounts tab, click Assign Partner and enter the agency's business portfolio ID.

Someone else with full control of your business portfolio may need to approve the share before it takes effect. The partner access guide explains where the second person approves.

Which access level to choose

Meta offers these levels for an ad account, in its own words:

• View performance (partial access): view ads and access reports.
• Manage campaigns (partial access): view ads, create and edit ads, and access reports.
• Manage Creative Hub mockups (partial access): view, create and edit mockups in Creative Hub.
• Manage ad accounts (full access): everything above, plus control of the ad account's settings, finances and permissions.

An agency that runs your campaigns needs Manage campaigns. An agency that only reports, or one you are still evaluating, needs View performance. Manage ad accounts lets the agency change payment settings and decide who else has access, so give it only when the agency handles billing for you.

Ads also need a Page. Meta says that to advertise for a Facebook Page you need full control or partial access with Ads on that Page, so share the Page in the same step. For Instagram placements, Meta says only people with access to the ad accounts connected to the Instagram account can advertise with it.

The ad account is not in a business portfolio

You have three options.

Add the ad account to your business portfolio

1. In Settings, go to Accounts > Ad accounts.
2. Click + Add, then Add an ad account.
3. Enter the ad account ID. It is at the top of Meta Ads Manager, and in the address bar after act= (more in how to find your Meta ad account ID).
4. Accept the terms and click Claim ad account.

Meta warns that claiming may move the ad account into the portfolio permanently, so it cannot be moved to another portfolio later. If another person owns the ad account, they have to approve the claim. Once it is in, give the agency partner access as above.

Give a person at the agency a role in Ads Manager

For an ad account outside any portfolio, an ad account admin can add people directly:

1. On a computer, open Ad account settings in Meta Ads Manager.
2. In Ad account roles, click Add people.
3. Search for the person and choose a role: Admin, Advertiser or Analyst.
4. Click Confirm.

Advertisers can create and edit ads using the ad account's payment method; analysts can view ads and reports; admins can also change the payment method and manage who has access. Meta only lets you add people who are your Facebook friends, and this gives access to one person, not the agency's business.

Let the agency request it

An agency can request access from its own business portfolio with Request access to an ad account in another business portfolio, using the ad account ID. Meta says this also works for an ad account owned by a person. The request waits until the owner, or someone with full control of the owning portfolio, approves it. See how agencies request access.

Why apps cannot click this for you

Meta's business-to-business developer guide describes a call for giving another business access to an ad account, but says access to these endpoints has been limited since June 8, 2021, and apps without access get an error. Meta's reference page for an ad account's agencies documents reading and removing an agency, and lists no operation for adding one. So an app that does not have that access cannot make this share for you, and it happens on Meta's own screen.

Troubleshooting

The agency created the ad account

Meta says an ad account created in a business portfolio stays in that portfolio permanently and cannot be deleted or transferred. Only that portfolio can share it, so the agency would have to share it with you. If you want an ad account you own, create a new one in your own portfolio. The other assets an agency may hold are in how to get your Meta assets out of an agency's business portfolio.

The ad account is in someone else's business portfolio

You cannot claim it while it is there. Ask that business to give you or your agency access.

The agency cannot choose your Page when it builds ads

Meta lists "You don't see your Page's name in the dropdown menu when creating an ad in Ads Manager" (error #1443121) among the errors you may see without the right Page permissions. Give the agency the Ads task on the Page.

The ad account is restricted

Restrictions are handled in Meta Business Support Home: open the restricted account and follow What you can do. Meta's help on adding people says neither side can have a disabled or restricted account, so resolve the restriction first.

More cases, including two-factor authentication, are in Meta sharing errors and fixes.

Check it worked, and how to undo it

After the share, both you and the agency can see the ad account in Settings of your own business portfolios. Ask the agency to confirm that it appears on its side.

To remove the agency, go to Settings > Partners, select the agency, click Options > Remove from business portfolio, then Remove partner. For a person with a role in Ads Manager, open Ad account settings, find the person under Ad account roles and click Remove user. Anyone can remove themselves from an ad account without being an admin.

Doing it with an access link

Our access link covers this task, with one guided step. Meta closed the ad account part of its API to new apps in 2021, so you make the share on Meta's own screen: the box gives you the agency's business ID to paste, shows the steps and checks that the access arrived. The rest of the link, such as your Page, happens inside the box.