Editing a Campaign
A saved campaign can be reopened to change its audience, template and schedule. The edit wizard has the same steps as the create wizard, with the fields that cannot change shown but locked.
Who Can Edit Campaigns
Every role that can create a campaign can edit one: Campaigner, Campaign Manager, Admin and Org Admin. See Roles and Permissions.
When You Can Edit
A campaign can be edited at any time, including while one or more of its runs are sending. There is no need to wait for a Run In Progress to finish, and editing never interrupts a run that is underway.
Each run keeps its own copy of the campaign as it stood when the run was created, and sends from that. Editing the campaign only affects runs created after the edit, whatever state the existing runs are in. That is why editing is safe while a run is in progress: the sending run is working from a copy your changes cannot reach.
For a change to take effect on the next send, make the edit and then create a new run. A run created before the edit still sends the old content, even if it has not started yet.
Editing versus deleting
| Action | While a run is in progress | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Edit | Allowed | The run in flight sends from its own copy, so the edit cannot reach it. It applies to runs created afterwards |
| Delete | Blocked | Deletion removes the campaign together with every run and message belonging to it, including the run that is still sending |
To delete a campaign with a Run In Progress, wait for the active run to finish or stop it first. Once no run is active the campaign returns to Ready to Run and Delete becomes available. Deleting a single run is gated the same way: see Actions from the Run View.
How to Edit a Campaign
- Open Campaigns.
- Find the campaign and open its action menu.
- Select Edit. The wizard opens in edit mode, titled "Update Campaign".
The breadcrumb and the Previous and Next buttons move between steps as usual.
Step 1: Overview
The overview step is the same as during creation.
Step 2: Basics
The campaign's name, description and delivery channel are shown so the setup can be reviewed, but they are locked.
| Field | Editable? |
|---|---|
| Campaign name | No |
| Description | No |
| Delivery channel (SMS / Email) | No |
| Schedule (Manual / Repeat) | Yes |
To change the name, description or delivery channel, create a new campaign.
Editing the schedule
The schedule can be changed, including switching between Manual and Repeat and adjusting the repeat rules. The calendar preview opens in the campaign's timezone and resets to it each time it is closed and reopened. Changing the schedule clears any previously skipped or overridden occurrences, and the wizard warns: "Changing your campaign schedule will reset any previously skipped dates."
Step 3: Changing the Audience
What the audience can be changed to depends on what it was set to when the campaign was created:
| Created with | Can be changed to |
|---|---|
| All Contacts | A Segment |
| Segment | All Contacts, or a different segment |
| File | Nothing. The campaign keeps the file it was created with |
The two dynamic sources are interchangeable because both resolve against the contact store when a run starts. A file is different: it was supplied once for this campaign and is not held for re-mapping, so a campaign created with a file audience keeps it, and no campaign can be changed to a file.
To send the same content to a file, create a new campaign with a file audience. To send to a different file, do the same.
For a campaign that uses a file, this step shows the columns from the original upload and the role each one was given, with the dropdowns disabled. That is worth a look before editing the template, since it is the list of values the template can insert.
Switching between All Contacts and a segment updates the audience summary, so check Total Contacts and the estimated reach before continuing. See Choosing an Audience.
Step 4: Message Template
The template step is fully editable, and the choice between a saved template and one built in the campaign can be revisited.
- A saved template stays read only in the campaign. It can be previewed, swapped with Change Template, or cleared so a template can be built here instead. Both swapping and clearing discard the test data entered against the old template. See Adding a Template.
- A template built in the campaign can be edited in place, and can be replaced by a saved template at any time.
For SMS campaigns, the message text, variables and quick text can be edited, the phone preview updates as you type, and under Sender Selection the Sender can be changed.
Sender and strategy changes
If an Org Admin has changed the organisation's sender strategy since the campaign was created, the edit wizard adapts:
- Switched to Sender Pool: the sender field is not shown, even where the campaign previously had a sender assigned, so there is no value to maintain that is no longer used. The saved sender is kept but unused while Sender Pool is active.
- Switched to Sender Selection: the Org Admin assigns a sender to every campaign that does not already have one as part of making the switch, so campaigns arrive with a sender in place. It can be changed here like any other campaign sender.
For email campaigns, the full editor is available: body content in the design or code editor, sender settings, attachments, test data and test sends. Switching between the design and code editors behaves as it does during creation.
A saved template with no sender
A brand can supply the sender a template uses, and that sender can be cleared from the brand later. The field then unlocks on every template that took its sender from that brand, which leaves those templates with no sender until one is set.
A campaign whose saved template is in that state cannot be saved, so an edit cannot be finished until the template has a sender again. A Campaigner cannot open the Templates library, so the fix belongs to a Campaign Manager or an administrator: ask one of them to set a sender on the saved template, then reopen the edit.
Where the template was built in the campaign instead, the sender can be set here on this step and the campaign saved as usual.
The same missing sender also stops a run being created, covered in A template with no sender.
What Can Be Changed
| Element | Editable? |
|---|---|
| Audience, between All Contacts and a segment | Yes |
| Audience, to or from a file | No |
| Template, including swapping saved for built or the reverse | Yes |
| Template content, where the template is built in the campaign | Yes |
| Sender (SMS, Sender Selection) | Yes |
| Sender settings: From, Reply-to, Subject (Email) | Yes |
| Attachments (Email) | Yes |
| Test data values | Yes |
| Schedule (Manual / Repeat) | Yes, and it clears skipped dates |
| Campaign name and description | No |
| Delivery channel | No |
| Column mappings on a file audience | No |
Finishing an Edit
Select Finish on the template step.
- The same validation applies as during creation. For email, the From Email, Reply-to Email and unsubscribe link are required, and under Sender Selection a sender is required.
- Once the required checks pass, the campaign is updated. Editing does not change its status, so a campaign with a run still sending stays Run In Progress. Future runs use the updated definition, and existing runs are unchanged.
Next Steps
- Choosing an Audience. The three sources in full
- Campaign Runs. Create a run from the updated campaign
- Starting a Run. Start a run once the edits are complete