All guides, by feature
Import a media plan from a spreadsheet
Upload your spreadsheet and Orbit turns it into a draft plan for you to review.
Before you start
- Who can do this
- Agency Owner, Admin, Manager or Specialist
- You need
- A spreadsheet saved as .xlsx, .xls, .xlsm or .csv, 10 MB or smaller.
- Where in Orbit
- Sidebar › Workspace › Media plans
Steps
Tick a step’s number when it’s done. We’ll remember where you were.
Open Media plans and use the Upload a media plan tile.
Choose an .xlsx, .xls, .xlsm or .csv file up to 10 MB.
When the card shows Ready, the Draft plan is created with an Imported badge. Open it and check its lines before you change its status.
When it worked
An import card shows Queued, then Parsing…. When it’s done, a Draft plan card with an Imported badge takes its place, and you get a “Media plan imported” notification.
If something goes wrong
Orbit showsUnsupported file type: .pdf. Allowed: .xlsx, .xls, .xlsm, .csv
Save the plan from Excel or Google Sheets as .xlsx or .csv, then upload it again.
Orbit showsFile too large: 12.4MB. Maximum is 10MB.
Make the file smaller, for example by removing tabs or images you don’t need, then upload it again.
Orbit showsAlready imported
Press Open plan to go to the plan it created. Import anyway won’t create a second plan while the first is still active.
The import failed.
Press Details on the failed card to read why, fix the file, and upload it again with the Upload a media plan tile. Press × on the card to dismiss it for everyone at your agency.
The import’s Confidence is under 70%, or Budget reconciled shows a percentage.
Open the Draft, press Edit and check every line and budget against your file before you approve it.
The imported plan has no client.
Press Edit on the Draft, choose the Client and save, before you approve it.
How it works
Limits: Spreadsheet imports: what Orbit accepts and shows
Upload one .xlsx, .xls, .xlsm or .csv file up to 10 MB. Orbit reads it and creates a Draft plan with an Imported badge for you to review.
| Badge | What it means |
|---|---|
| Queued | The file is uploaded and waiting to be read. |
| Parsing… | Orbit is reading the file into a Draft plan. |
| Ready | The Draft plan is created. Its plan card takes the import card’s place. |
| Failed | Orbit couldn’t read the file. Details shows why. |
| Archived | The file was imported before, and that Draft has since been archived. |
| Removed | The file was imported before, and that Draft has since been deleted. |
- One file at a time. If you drop several, only the first is uploaded. PDFs aren’t accepted.
- Everyone at your agency sees imports that are queued, parsing or failed, with their file names.
- The page shows your agency’s 10 most recent imports. A failed import shows only if it’s the latest attempt for that file name.
- Uploading the exact same file again while its plan is still active opens “Already imported”. Import anyway sends it again, but no new plan is created while the first one is active.
- If the plan from an earlier import was archived or deleted, importing the same file again creates a new Draft.
- Details on an import card shows the result: Lines read, Confidence (green at 70% or more, amber from 50%, red below), Budget reconciled (“Yes”, or how far off the total is) and any Unmapped columns.
- The person who uploaded gets a notification when the import finishes or fails. Selecting it opens the plan.
Explainer: Plan and line fields: what’s required
A plan needs a Client, a Campaign Name, a Status and at least one line. Each line needs a Media Type and a Channel. Everything else is optional.
The Plan Details grid has one row per line, with these columns: Line Name, Media Type, Channel, Funnel Stage, Campaign Objective, KPI Metric, KPI Goal, Audience, Tactic, Geo, Flight Start, Flight End, Budget ($), CPM ($) and Impressions.
Ad formats and sizes, creative specs, pixel strategy, metadata and UTMs are on the Creative Specs, Pixel Strategy and UTMs tabs, with one card per line.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Client | Yes | Carries through to the campaign and to The Trade Desk routing. |
| Campaign Name | Yes | The plan’s title. |
| Status | Yes | Starts as Draft. |
| Start Date, End Date | No | A duplicated plan starts with these empty. |
| MSA ID, Invoice ID | No | Your own references. |
| Notes | No | Shown on the plan’s page. |
| Media Type and Channel, on each line | Yes | Choose Other to type your own. |
| Every other line field | No | Such as Budget ($), CPM ($), Audience and Geo. |
- Media Type options: Programmatic, Social, Search and Other. Channel options: Display, Video, Social, CTV, Audio, OOH, Search, Native and Other. Other opens a Specify… box.
- Funnel Stage: Awareness, Consideration, Conversion or Retention. KPI Metric: CTR, CPA, CPL, ROAS, CPM or CPC.
- Changing a line’s Channel replaces its Ad Format, Ad Sizes and Creative Specs with that channel’s defaults. Display, for example, fills in 300x250, 728x90, 160x600, 300x600, 320x50 and 320x480.
- Each plan gets a number such as MP-2026-014, counted per agency and year. You can’t change it.
- Press Enter to move to the next field. Duplicate line puts a copy right below a line, and Remove line deletes one. The last line can’t be removed, and lines can’t be reordered.
Explainer: Media plan statuses
A plan’s status says where it is in its life. You pick Draft, Planning, Pending Approval, Live, Completed or Paused yourself. Approved and Changes Requested are set only by an approval.
| Status | How it’s set | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The default for new, duplicated and imported plans. | The only status where Delete shows on a plan that isn’t archived. |
| Planning | You pick it. | Nothing else. |
| Pending Approval | You pick it. | Counts in Pending Approval on the Media plans page, and raises a pending-approval alert on the Dashboard. |
| Approved | Approve Plan, or a client approving it in their portal. | Creates the plan’s campaign in Command Center. The button reads Plan Approved. |
| Changes Requested | A client presses Request Changes in their portal. | Approve Plan is still available. |
| Live | You pick it. | Counts in Live Now and shows in the Dashboard’s Active campaigns. Plan Launched replaces Approve Plan. |
| Paused | You pick it. | Plan Launched replaces Approve Plan. |
| Completed | You pick it. | Plan Launched replaces Approve Plan. |
- Pick a status under Status on the Plan Overview tab.
- Approved and Changes Requested aren’t in the Status list, so you can’t choose them yourself.
- Approve a plan before you set it to Live, Paused or Completed. Only approving creates its campaign, and those three statuses hide Approve Plan.
- Restoring an earlier version brings back that version’s status too.