Create test account

[Matthew Cloy]

Hi All,

Trying to get started with the API, but really don't get how to create a test account.

In the info here: it says we have to use the API to create the account (which makes sense because the 3 accounts I created in the UI don't seem to be test ones)

https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/first-call/overview?hl=en#test_account

But  info on creating account using the API is missing any documentation on test accounts, and how to create them?!

https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/account-management/create-account

Other documentation mentions clicking on CREATE TEST ACCOUNT in the UI, but the all docs here seem rather lacking in good info.

Can anyone give me a clue how to get a test account up and running?

[Matthew Cloy]

I have literally set everything else up (OAuth, all the GCP stuff, refresh tokens - which I guess will need to redo once the test account is created) - but the account  I did it with is not a test one so I can't call the API 

We are just evaluating it - and now am stuck on the most basic part, how to create a test account to use with our API key.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Matthew,

Thank you for reaching out to our API support team.

The guide you provided should provide the steps for you to create your test manager account. 

When creating test client accounts, you will then need to create a separate set of OAuth2 credentials using the email address that has access to the test manager account, and once these credentials are set up, you can then perform a request by following this example to create the client account.

Should you encounter issues with the above steps and in your API request, you may provide the complete request and response logs with the request-id, so our team can take a closer look. If you haven't yet, logging can be enabled by navigating to the Client libraries > Your client library (ex. Java) > Logging documentation, which you can access from this link.

You may then send the requested information via the Reply privately to author option. If this option is not available, you may send the details directly to our googleadsa...@google.com alias instead.

Best regards,

Peter Laurence Napa Oliquino Google Ads API Team

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[Héctor Urbina]

Hi,

so, to create the test account, is this documentation the right one? I haven't tried yet, but I'm wondering how is that it will result in a "test account" and not simply a normal account...

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Héctor,

Thank you for your question.

Yes, you are correct that this should be the documentation to follow / refer to when creating production or test client accounts via the API. In addition, in order for a client account to be created as a test account, the below conditions should be followed :

• You use a test manager account's ID as the value for the managerId
• You authenticate or use OAuth2 credentials generated by a user / email address that has access to the test manager account

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Peter Laurence Google Ads API Team

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[Accounts Test]

This is the OP (inceptit.org email) -

Still no joy. What I have found so far is that one of the links in the documentation has a hidden magic query parameter (st=mt) that is super not clear in docs, but vital to creating a test manager account.

The other key I found is being LOGGED INTO CHROME with the fresh google account when clicking the link in the documentation page. (not super easy when that google account is managed by the company - infosec is not happy)

However:

When I click that link with my private email as used in my OP then I get the little red test account box. (so have figured the flow correctly)

When I use this freshly set up office account for work (this one I am posting with rn) - I do not.

When clicking the link in the documentation, I was taken to a wizard, and had to jump through the "company creditcard" hoops to get it set up - could it be related? 

[Matthew Cloy]

https://ads.google.com/um/Welcome/?sf=mt is the link - if I try it on this account I get the "create a new account" popup, and when clicking I see the red test account box. If I try it on the actual account I need to use mentioned above I just end up on the "campaigns" screen with no red test account box.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Matthew,

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, the step that they mentioned on that thread discussed here including the link and to use a new Google account. 

As for this issue below, to take a closer look at it, would you be able to provide the steps with screenshots on how you encountered it? You can provide it via Reply privately to author option. If this option is not available, then send it instead on this email address googleadsa...@google.com.

"When I click that link with my private email as used in my OP then I get the little red test account box. (so have figured the flow correctly)
When I use this freshly set up office account for work (this one I am posting with rn) - I do not.

When clicking the link in the documentation, I was taken to a wizard, and had to jump through the "company creditcard" hoops to get it set up - could it be related? "

Regards,

Ernie John Google Ads API Team

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[Marcelle Kuphal]

To those that read this:

The issue was the account was called "accoun...@companyname.com" (the setup instructions use theis specific email as an example: "test-m...@mycompany.example.com")

HOWEVER: Google/gmail IGNORES after the minus sign in email addresses - so given our main account is "acco...@companyname.com" it was somehow getting confused / using the same address.

With this new account I managed to get set up, it just worked straight off. Only figured it out as accounts team started getting spam from the google group on their main email :D

Perhaps reconsider using a dash in your example email, google :) 

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Marcelle,

Thank you for reporting this, could you privately send us the email accounts that experienced this issue? I found that gmail accounts (accounts having '@gmail.com') cannot have dashes and raised this with my team. You may monitor our test account guide for an update.

Regards,

Aryeh Google Ads API Team

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