Sheets Import lets you connect a Google Sheets file to a campaign and generate creatives at scale — each row in your sheet creates a separate creative.
When to use Sheets Import
Sheets Import is built for situations where you'd otherwise be building dozens or hundreds of near-identical creatives by hand. Common use cases:
Product catalogue campaigns — a retailer running an end-of-season sale across 80 SKUs, where each creative shows a different product image, name, and price pulled from the same product feed
Localised campaigns across markets — one campaign rolled out across 12 countries, where each row in the sheet represents a language version with translated copy, localised CTA and a market-specific landing page
Multi-size production from a media plan — a media plan that already lists every required size and placement variation per creative concept; the sheet becomes the source of truth and the import generates all sizes at once
Recurring campaigns with rotating content — a weekly or monthly campaign where the structure stays the same and only the assets, copy, or destination URLs change between runs
Asset updates across a live ad set — needing to swap out 50+ creatives' hero image or CTA URL after a brand refresh or a price change, without touching each creative individually
If your workflow already starts in a spreadsheet — a media plan, a translation matrix, a product feed export — Sheets Import is the fastest path from that spreadsheet to live creatives in NEXD.
Before you start
Sheets Import works with Creative Masters — template creatives used to generate multiple creatives from spreadsheet data. Before connecting a sheet, your campaign must contain at least one Creative Master.
A Creative Master is a standard creative marked as a Master. It defines the asset slot names that your sheet columns will map to during import.
Creative Masters cannot be published directly. They are used only as templates for the creatives generated through Sheets Import.
To mark a creative as a Master:
Open your campaign and create a new creative, or use an existing one.
In the creative settings, enable the Master toggle.
Name your asset slots clearly — these names appear in the mapping interface during import. Using names that match, or closely resemble, your sheet column headers makes mapping quicker and easier.
You can have multiple Creative Masters within the same campaign, each with different layouts or sizes. During import, each row in the sheet generates a creative using the referenced Master.
Creative settings with the Master toggle enabled
Step 1 — Prepare your Google Sheet
Your file must be a Google Sheets file. If your data is currently in Excel (.xlsx) or another format, convert it first by opening the file in Google Drive and selecting File → Save as Google Sheets. Use the converted Google Sheets file for the import.
Structure the sheet so that each row represents one creative, with column headers in the first row. NEXD reads only the first tab of the spreadsheet and automatically treats the first row as the header row, so all import data should be placed there.
Only include the data you want to import. Sheets Import does not support excluding rows or columns during import, meaning every row and column in the first tab will be processed. Helper tabs, notes, or working data are fine, as long as they are not included in the first tab.
At a minimum, your sheet must include columns for:
Creative name — the name assigned to the generated creative in your campaign
Creative Master — the name of the Creative Master exactly as it appears in NEXD Campaign Manager. This tells each row which Master to use as its template. The name must match exactly, including spaces and capitalisation.
You can also include columns for creative size, platform or DSP, asset slots, click actions, and trackers. These fields are mapped during setup.
Any values not included in the sheet automatically fall back to the settings defined in the referenced Creative Master. For example, if no size or DSP column is provided, generated creatives inherit those values from the Master.
One tab per Master structure
Same Master, different content (different copy, different images, different sizes) — keep everything on one tab, one row per creative. The asset slot count is the same across rows, so a single tab works.
Different Masters with different asset slot counts — use a new sheet/import per Master. Because the column structure depends on the Master's asset slots, mixing Masters with different slot counts on the same tab will leave empty cells and complicate mapping. The cleanest approach is one tab per Master structure.
Assets must be hosted at a public URL. A URL is the only accepted source for assets — you cannot upload files directly through the sheet. Two requirements for any URL you reference:
The URL must be publicly accessible — no login, no restricted sharing. If you're linking to assets stored in Google Drive, set sharing to Anyone with the link for each file. Restricted files will fail to load in the generated creatives.
The asset at the URL must match the Master's spec — correct dimensions, supported file format, and within file size limits for the slot it's mapped to. Assets that don't match the Master's spec will fail validation.
Example Google Sheet structure
Step 2 — Add a Feed Connection
Open the campaign where your Creative Masters are set up.
Click Feed Connection. The Data Integration modal opens.
Click Import from Google Sheets and complete the Google authentication flow. You'll be asked to grant Read and Write access to your Google Drive. Write access is needed so NEXD can write the generated ad IDs back to your sheet after import.
Once authenticated, select the Google Sheets file you want to connect.
NEXD will automatically read the first tab of the file and use the first row as column headers.
Import from Google Sheets modal
Step 3 — Map your columns
This is where you connect your sheet columns to creative fields and asset slots. The interface shows the fields on the left and lets you select the matching sheet column on the right.
Required fields — must be mapped before you can import:
Creative Name — the column containing the name for each creative
Creative Master — the column referencing which Master creative each row is based on
Optional fields — mapped if you have them in your sheet, otherwise inherited from the Master:
Creative Size — if unmapped, the size of the referenced Master is used
Platform / DSP — the target platform for each creative; if unmapped, the Master's DSP setting is used
Asset slots — the interface shows the combined list of asset slot names across all Creative Masters in your campaign. Map each slot to the sheet column containing the relevant asset URL:
master_1_asset_1→ [your sheet column]master_1_asset_2→ [your sheet column]
Click Actions — map globally (applies to all assets in the creative) or per individual asset slot:
Global click action → [your sheet column]
Per-slot click action → [your sheet column]
Tracking — impression and click trackers can be mapped globally or per asset slot:
Impression Tracker (Global) → [your sheet column]
Impression Tracker (per slot) → [your sheet column]
Click Tracker (Global) → [your sheet column]
Click Tracker (per slot) → [your sheet column]
Any mapping errors are flagged here before you proceed. Fix these before triggering the import.
Column mapping, asset slot dropdown open
Step 4 — Run the import
Once all required fields are mapped and no errors are shown, click Import. NEXD reads each row in your sheet and creates a creative in the campaign based on the referenced Master. After the import completes, the generated ad IDs are automatically written back to your sheet.
Import in progress
Large sheets may take a moment to process. Don't close the tab while the import is running.
Things to keep in mind
Creative Masters cannot be published. Only the creatives generated from them can be published.
Master names in your sheet must exactly match the names in your campaign. Any mismatch fails validation before import — check casing and spacing.
Row-level errors during import are not currently reported individually. Errors are surfaced in the mapping validation step before import begins.
Only Google Sheets is supported as a data source. Excel files must be converted to Google Sheets before connecting.
Asset URLs must be public and per-spec. Public hosting (no login, no restricted Drive sharing) and the asset at the URL must match the Master's dimensions, format, and file size limits.
Sheets Import is currently available upon request. If you'd like access, reach out to your customer success manager and we'll get you set up.