How to share a Meta pixel (dataset) with an agency

Meta now keeps a pixel's events in a dataset. To share it, someone with full control of the business portfolio that owns the dataset opens Settings in Meta Business Suite > Data sources > Datasets, clicks Assign partners, enters the agency's business portfolio ID and chooses the access. The agency's business must accept the share, and the dataset must also be connected to the ad account the ads run from, if it is not already.

Pixel or dataset: the same thing under two names

A Meta Pixel is the code on your website that records actions such as purchases. It sends those events to Meta, and Meta keeps them in a dataset, together with events from other sources such as the Conversions API. If your pixel was linked to a dataset, the dataset ID is the same number as the pixel ID. Meta's menus now say Datasets, or Datasets & pixels in some places, so look for either. The glossary lists Meta's other renamed terms.

Who owns your pixel

Only the business portfolio the pixel is in can share it with another business portfolio. Check that first:

• Open Settings in Meta Business Suite, then Data sources > Datasets. If your pixel is listed there, your business portfolio holds it.
• If you created the pixel from an ad account that is not in a business portfolio, the pixel is not in one either. Meta's fix is to add that ad account to your business portfolio first; see how to give an agency access to a Meta ad account for the claim steps.
• If the agency created the pixel in its own business portfolio, the agency owns it. Meta says a dataset cannot be deleted or transferred to another business portfolio, so it stays with the agency.

Share the dataset with the agency

You need full control of the business portfolio that owns the dataset, and the agency needs its own business portfolio.

1. Go to Settings in Meta Business Suite.
2. Click Data sources, then Datasets.
3. Select the dataset.
4. Click Assign partners.
5. Enter the agency's business portfolio ID.
6. Turn on the level of access you want to give.
7. Click Next.

The first time you share a dataset with a business, Meta asks you to declare what kind of business relationship you have, to confirm the Meta Business Tools terms again, and it waits for the agency's business to agree. You do this once per business. Until the agency accepts, the share is pending: you see it under Data sources > Datasets & pixels > Partners.

What access to give

Meta offers two levels for a dataset:

• Use events dataset: view the data and the analytics, and create conversion ads with this dataset.
• Manage events dataset: all of the above, plus control of all settings, adding or removing events, editing who has access, and creating audiences.

An agency that runs conversion campaigns needs Use events dataset. Meta lists creating audiences only under Manage events dataset, so if the agency builds audiences from your website visitors, it may ask for that level. It also lets the agency change settings and access, so give it only to an agency you trust with your tracking.

Connect the dataset to the ad account

In Meta's help, sharing a dataset with a business and connecting it to an ad account are separate steps. There are two cases.

• The ads run from your own ad account. Connect your dataset to it yourself: Settings > Data sources > Datasets, select the dataset, click Add assets, select the ad account and click Add. The ad account has to be in your business portfolio. Then share the ad account with the agency as well.
• The ads run from an ad account in the agency's portfolio. After you share the dataset, the agency's business can assign it to ad accounts in its own portfolio. That step is on the agency's side.

If the agency owns the pixel

Because a dataset cannot be transferred, you have two choices. Ask the agency to share its dataset with your business portfolio, so you keep access to the data. Or create your own dataset and switch your website to it.

To create a dataset: Settings > Data sources > Datasets & pixels > + Add, enter a name, pick any categories and click Create. A new dataset has its own ID, and Meta says you use that ID the way you used the pixel ID, so the code on your website or your Conversions API setup has to change to it. Where the ID shows is in how to find your Meta pixel (dataset) ID, and the other assets an agency may hold are in how to get your Meta assets out of an agency's business portfolio.

Troubleshooting

You do not see Datasets or Assign partners

You need full control of the business portfolio that owns the dataset. Ask the person who has it.

The dataset is not in your list

It is in another business portfolio, or it belongs to an ad account outside any portfolio. Only the owner can share it; see "Who owns your pixel" above.

The agency cannot see the dataset

The share waits until the agency's business accepts it. Check Datasets & pixels > Partners for a pending request, and ask the agency to accept.

The agency cannot use the dataset in a campaign

Check that the dataset is connected to the ad account the campaign runs from. Sharing and connecting are separate steps; connect it as described above.

More causes are in Meta sharing errors and fixes.

How to remove the access

1. Go to Settings > Data sources > Datasets.
2. Select the dataset.
3. Select Partners, find the agency and click Manage, then Remove access.
4. To disconnect an ad account, select Connected assets, click Disconnect next to the ad account and Confirm.

The offboarding guide covers the other assets too.

Doing it with an access link

Our access link covers this task as a guided step. The dataset is shared 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.