Facebook Ads Dashboard Template: Free Excel File
This Facebook Ads dashboard template is one Excel file with eight number tiles and three charts, and it opens already filled with demo numbers, so you can see the result before you touch your own data. You need no connector and no signup. The trade-off is printed on the tab itself: “Filled in by hand from an export. It does not update by itself.” And when you paste your own numbers, the charts fill only if the export is broken down by day, which a default export is not.
What is on the tab
The tiles sit four across and two down:
| Spend | Impressions | Link clicks | CTR |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPC | CPM | Results of the type you pick | Cost per result |
Under each number is a line comparing it with the period before. For example, the demo Link clicks tile reads “Up 14.1% on the period before”. Below the tiles are three charts, Spend per day, Link clicks per day and Results per day, and below those a table headed “Day by day (the charts read this)”, so you can see where every bar comes from.
Three yellow cells control all of it:
- From and To. Leave them blank and the tab shows the latest month in your export against the month before it. Type dates and it compares them with the same number of days just before. The charts and a printed copy show the first 31 days of what you pick, and the table goes up to 62.
- Result type. A dropdown. Results of different kinds never add up, so you pick one kind, such as website leads, and the seventh tile, the eighth tile and the third chart all follow it.
The demo rows belong to a fictional design studio. Every number is made up and none is a benchmark.
Two numbers are not on the tab. Reach has no tile, because one person can appear in two rows, so adding rows counts them twice. ROAS has no tile either. If ROAS is the number you report, the workbook linked from the finished report example has a Monthly report tab with it, beside this same Dashboard tab.
The setting that decides whether your charts fill
A default export has no days in it. It is one block of dates, and a dashboard cannot chart a block. To fill the charts, choose Breakdown, then By time, then Day before you export. Here is what each kind of export gives you:
| What you export | Tiles | Change line | Charts and day table |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakdown, By time, Day | Fill for any dates | Fills when the period before is in the export | Fill |
| No breakdown by time | Fill for that one block | Stays empty, nothing is before it | Stay empty |
| By week or by month | A period counts a row only when all its dates fall inside it | Follows the same rule | Stay empty |
Without the Day setting the totals are still right, and the line at the top of the tab tells you so: “This export is one block of dates, not one row per day. Totals are right for those dates, and the day by day figures stay empty.”
Once you have turned it on, do not go hunting for a new column. The by day export we read, from the Ads tab, had no column called Day: on each row, Reporting starts and Reporting ends both held that day, and that is how the file knows.
Put your own numbers in
Replacing the demo rows takes one export and one paste. Meta can rename these menus, so treat the words as a guide.
| Where | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ads Manager, Campaigns tab | Open the ad account and stay here | The file reads Campaign name from this tab, and a paste from the Ads or Ad sets tab shows an instruction and no numbers |
| Date picker | Choose whole months, last month and the one before | Last 30 days cuts across two months, so neither is complete |
| Columns, Customize columns | Tick Amount spent, Impressions, Reach, Link clicks, Results, Landing page views, Leads, Purchases and Purchases conversion value | These are the columns the file looks for by name |
| Breakdown, By time | Choose Day | This fills the charts. Meta’s help page puts Breakdown between Columns and Reports |
| Reports, Export table data | Pick CSV | Open it in Excel and copy all of it, with the top row |
| Dashboard file | If a Protected View bar shows, press Enable Editing | Excel blocks pasting until you do |
| Paste your export tab | Select everything, press Delete, click cell A1, paste | This clears the demo rows first |
Leave the demo rows in and the line under the Dashboard title says: “Your rows and demo rows are mixed. Clear the Paste your export tab, then paste again.” When the line starts with Ready, the tiles are yours.
For next month’s numbers, do the export and the paste again. The file changes only when you paste, and nothing you paste leaves it.
How the tiles are worked out
Every rate is worked out from summed parts. The rate columns in an export are never read or averaged, because an average of rows counts a campaign with little spend the same as one with most of the budget.
- CTR = Link clicks / Impressions
- CPC = Spend / Link clicks
- CPM = Spend / Impressions x 1000
- Cost per result = Spend of the campaigns of that result type / Results of that type
CTR and CPC here use Link clicks, not Clicks (all). They are different numbers, so a figure in this file may not match a column you read elsewhere. Cost per result uses only the spend of campaigns of that type, so traffic campaigns are not charged to leads.
Reading the tiles in pairs
Two tiles read together narrow down where to look:
- CPM up, CTR flat. Showing the ads cost more, and people clicked at the same rate. CPC rises with it. Look at the audience and the time of year before you touch the ad.
- CPM flat, CTR down. Showing the ads cost the same and earned fewer clicks. Look at the ad itself.
- CPC flat, Cost per result up. Clicks cost the same and fewer of them became results. Look at what happens after the click: the page, the offer, the form.
- Spend up, Results flat. Use the day table to find when the two stopped moving together, then check what changed on that date.
This file against a connected dashboard
What you trade for skipping a connector:
| This Excel file | A connected dashboard | |
|---|---|---|
| How numbers get in | You export from Ads Manager and paste | It reads them from Meta after you grant access |
| When they change | Only when you paste again | On the tool’s own schedule |
| What you need to start | Excel, with no signup | An account with the tool, on its own pricing |
| Where your numbers go | Nothing you paste leaves the file | The provider handles them under its own terms |
| Several ad accounts | Keep one copy per account | Depends on the tool |
| Changing a campaign | Done in Ads Manager | Depends on the tool |
The file suits one ad account reported once a month. Once pasting is the job you want rid of, our checklist for choosing a Facebook Ads dashboard covers what to look for in a connected tool.
In DashOps, each ad account has a dashboard of key numbers and trend charts, and you can pin the numbers you watch and drag them into your own order. Plans are on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Does this Facebook Ads dashboard template update by itself?
Why do my tiles show numbers while my charts stay empty?
Where is the day in an export broken down by day?
Can I paste an export from the Ads or Ad sets tab?
Why is there no ROAS or reach tile?
See it in your own dashboard
DashOps brings Meta Ads reporting, campaign management, and white-label client portals into one place. Pick the plan that fits how you run ads.
