If an account is deactivated or deleted

If an account is deactivated or deleted, it could be because an owner or manager closed it, or it was deactivated under Microsoft Advertising policy for being inactive too long. Here's what that means and what you can do.

There may come times when strategies or priorities shift, and some accounts might slow down or get less attention. But if an account falls inactive for an extended period of time, it might be subject to deactivation or deletion, under Microsoft Advertising policy.

An account is deactivated by Microsoft Advertising if it has had no spend—meaning, none of the account's ads have generated any charges for clicks—for 15 months. If you find an ad account has been deactivated or deleted, check first that nobody else who has access to the account has paused its campaigns or deactivated it manually. But if neither of those are the case, the account might be deleted because it was dark for too long.

Here is what happens when an account is subject to the Microsoft Advertising deletion policy due to inactivity.

Status When What happens What you can do
Deactivation 15 months of account inactivity
  • No ads surface from affected campaigns
  • You receive notification and email about deactivation
  • You can sign in to access account information and download campaign data
  • You can request any billing adjustments
Contact Microsoft Advertising support within 30 days to request account reactivation
Deletion 180 days after deactivation
  • All account information and data are deleted and cannot be restored
  • You receive notification and email about deletion
  • Any remaining charges are made to your primary payment method
  • No billing adjustments are available
Deleted accounts cannot be restored. To resume running ads, you must create a new account.

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