Guards
A guardGuardA rule for one product variant at one location that pauses its ad targets when the available stock there falls to the pause threshold, and can turn them back on when stock returns. Read more → is one rule: when a product variant runs low at a location, pause these ads; when it is back, turn them on again. Everything Guardified does starts from a guard.
On this page
Section titled “On this page”- What a guard watches
- What a guard controls
- One guard per variant and location
- What a guard does on its own
- Where to manage guards
- See also
What a guard watches
Section titled “What a guard watches”A guard watches one variant of a product at one Shopify location. The number it compares is that location’s available stockAvailable stockThe quantity Shopify shows as available for a variant at one location, which is the number a guard compares with its pause threshold. Read more → , the quantity Shopify reports as available there.
Stock is not added up across locations. A variant you sell from two warehouses needs a guard for each warehouse you want to protect, and each one reacts only to its own location’s stock.
You guard variants, not whole products or collections. A product with one variant has exactly one variant to choose; for a product with sizes or colours, pick the variants whose stock should control the ads.
What a guard controls
Section titled “What a guard controls”A guard controls one or more ad targetsAd targetA campaign, ad set, ad group or single ad on Meta Ads, Google Ads or TikTok Ads that a guard pauses and turns back on. Read more → : the campaigns, ad sets, ad groups or individual ads Guardified pauses and turns back on. One guard can hold targets on Meta Ads, Google Ads and TikTok Ads at the same time.
Each guard also has its own Email recipients, who get an email whenever the guard’s ads are paused or resumed.
One guard per variant and location
Section titled “One guard per variant and location”There is at most one guard for each variant at each location. Creating a guard for a variant and location that already has one updates the existing guard instead of adding a second: it takes the new threshold, auto-resume setting, recipients and targets, replacing its old targets, and becomes active again.
When you create guards for several variants and several locations in one go, Guardified creates one guard for every combination, all with the same settings and targets. See Create a guard.
What a guard does on its own
Section titled “What a guard does on its own”Each time Shopify reports a new stock level for the variant at that location, Guardified checks it against the guard:
| Stock change | Guard is | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Available stock is at or below the pause thresholdPause thresholdThe stock level at or below which a guard pauses its ad targets, compared with the available stock at the guard's location. Read more → | Monitoring | The guard’s targets are paused |
| Available stock is above the threshold | Paused, with auto-resume on | The guard’s targets are turned back on |
Details, with examples, are in Thresholds and auto-resume.
Where to manage guards
Section titled “Where to manage guards”All guards are on the Guards page in the app’s navigation. From there you can:
- Create Guard: one form for one or many variants and locations (Create a guard).
- Bulk Import: create or update many guards from a spreadsheet (Bulk import).
- Search, filter, edit, activate, deactivate, pause, resume and delete guards (Manage guards).
See also
Section titled “See also”- Create a guard: the form, field by field.
- Ad targets: what you can pause on each platform.
- Guard states: Monitoring, Pause Pending, Paused and Resume Pending.
- How a pause happens: from a stock change to a paused ad.