Spreadsheet Add-ons vs Desktop Editor for Amazon Ads

The Appeal of Spreadsheet Solutions

When advertisers search for ways to bulk edit Amazon campaigns, spreadsheet-based solutions often come up first. Tools like az Bulk Ops for Google Sheets let you pull Amazon Ads data into cells, edit them, and push changes back.

The appeal is obvious:

• You already know how to use spreadsheets
• Google Sheets is free (the add-on isn't)
• Formulas can calculate new bid values
• You can share sheets with team members

But after the initial appeal wears off, the limitations become clear.

The Hidden Costs of Spreadsheet Workflows

1. Spreadsheets Weren't Designed for Hierarchical Data

Amazon Ads has a clear hierarchy: Portfolios → Campaigns → Ad Groups → Keywords/Targets/Ads. This parent-child relationship is fundamental to how campaigns work.

Spreadsheets are flat. They show rows and columns. To represent hierarchy, you need multiple sheets, lookup formulas, and careful organization. One wrong filter or sort can break your mental model of which keywords belong to which ad groups.

2. No True Offline Mode

Google Sheets requires an internet connection to sync with Amazon's API. If you're on a plane, in a coffee shop with spotty wifi, or just want to work without distractions — you're stuck.

A desktop application stores your campaign data locally. Edit 10,000 keywords on an airplane. Your changes are saved to your machine, ready to upload when you're back online.

3. No Change Staging or Review

When you edit a cell in a spreadsheet add-on and click "sync," what happens? Usually, the change goes straight to Amazon. There's no staging area, no review step, no "are you sure?"

Professional advertisers need to:

• Make a batch of changes
• Review everything before uploading
• Selectively revert specific changes
• See a diff of what will change

Spreadsheets don't give you this. Desktop editors like Google Ads Editor (and ads command center) make it standard.

4. Formula Errors Can Break Everything

Spreadsheet power users love formulas. "I'll just use =A2*1.1 to increase all bids by 10%!" But what happens when:

• A formula references a deleted row
• Text accidentally ends up in a numeric column
• Someone pastes values and breaks your formula chain
• Currency formatting adds symbols to numbers

The API rejects the upload, and you're debugging spreadsheet formulas instead of managing campaigns.

5. No Account-Level Operations

Can your spreadsheet add-on:

• Copy campaigns between Amazon accounts?
• Automatically convert currencies when copying?
• Clone an archived campaign back to life?
• Duplicate a campaign structure to create a B2B variant?

These are account-level operations that require understanding campaign structure. Spreadsheets deal in rows, not campaign hierarchies.

What a Purpose-Built Editor Offers

Feature	Spreadsheet Add-on	Desktop Editor
Visual campaign hierarchy	✗ Flat rows	✓ Tree navigation
True offline editing	✗ Needs internet	✓ Fully offline
Change staging & review	✗ Direct sync	✓ Review before upload
Selective revert	✗ Undo only	✓ Revert any change
Copy between accounts	✗ Manual export/import	✓ Built-in wizard
Clone archived campaigns	✗ Not possible	✓ One-click clone
Bulk selection UI	~ Shift+click rows	✓ Multi-select with filters
Keyboard shortcuts	~ Generic sheet shortcuts	✓ Ad-specific shortcuts
Performance data overlay	~ Separate columns	✓ Integrated metrics

The Google Ads Editor Standard

Google figured this out years ago. Google Ads Editor is a free desktop application that lets you:

• Download all campaigns locally
• Edit offline at your own pace
• Stage changes and review before posting
• Copy campaigns between accounts
• Work with thousands of entities without lag

Nobody in the Google Ads world uses spreadsheet add-ons for bulk editing. The desktop editor is simply better for the job.

"Why use a Swiss Army knife when you need a scalpel?"

Amazon advertisers deserve the same purpose-built tool. That's why we built ads command center — to be the Google Ads Editor for Amazon.

When Spreadsheets Make Sense

To be fair, spreadsheets aren't always wrong. They work well for:

• Data analysis — Pivot tables, charts, custom calculations
• Reporting — Combining data from multiple sources
• One-time imports — Initial campaign setup from product feeds
• Team collaboration — Reviewing changes with stakeholders who need spreadsheet access

But for ongoing campaign management — the daily work of adjusting bids, pausing keywords, optimizing ad groups — a purpose-built editor is faster, safer, and more intuitive.

The Bottom Line

Spreadsheet add-ons are workarounds. They adapt a general-purpose tool to a specific job. Sometimes workarounds are fine. But when you're managing advertising spend — real money — you want tools designed for the task.

Google Ads advertisers have Google Ads Editor. Amazon Ads advertisers have been stuck with bulksheets and spreadsheet add-ons.

Until now.