You can download leads from Facebook Ads Manager in three ways: through the Instant Forms section, from the Ads tab within a campaign, or from Meta Leads Center. Each method gives you a CSV file with the contact information people submitted through your lead ad forms. The whole process takes under a minute once you know where to click.
Download From Instant Forms
This is the most straightforward method and works well when you want to grab all leads tied to a specific form, regardless of which campaign used it.
- Open Meta Ads Manager and click “All Tools” in the left menu.
- Under the “Advertise” section, click “Instant Forms.”
- Find the form attached to your lead ad campaign.
- Click the “Download” button next to your form.
- Select the date range you want and click “Download.”
The file you get is a CSV that opens in Excel, Google Sheets, or any spreadsheet app. It contains every field from your form: name, email, phone number, and any custom questions you added. Each row is one lead.
Download From the Ads Tab
If you want leads tied to a specific campaign rather than a specific form, you can pull them directly from the campaign view. In Ads Manager, click on your lead ad campaign, then navigate to the Ads tab. Click “Results,” then select “On-Facebook Leads.” Click the download icon, choose your date range, and the CSV will export. This approach is useful when the same form runs across multiple campaigns and you need to isolate results from one.
Download From Meta Leads Center
Meta Leads Center is a standalone tool that lives outside of Ads Manager. It collects all leads submitted through your Facebook Page in one place, including leads from organic lead forms (not just paid ads). To access it, go to business.facebook.com/latest/leads_center. Select your Facebook Page from the dropdown, set your date range, and click the “Download” button in the top right corner.
This method is especially helpful if multiple people run ads for the same Page. Anyone with the right permissions can access Leads Center without needing to navigate individual campaigns.
Permissions You Need
Not everyone on your team can download leads. Facebook restricts lead data access because the files contain personal information. To download leads manually, you need “Leads Access” on the Facebook Page tied to the ad. You also need “Manage Page” and “Manage Ad Account” permissions.
If your Page is part of a business portfolio (formerly called Business Manager), your Facebook account must be added to that portfolio, and you need full control access for both the ad account and the Page. Without these permissions, the download button either won’t appear or will return an error. A business portfolio admin can grant you access through the business settings under “People.”
Why Manual Downloads Have Limits
Manual CSV downloads work fine if you’re running a small campaign and checking leads once a day. But they have a practical ceiling. Lead data is only available for 90 days from the date of submission. If you don’t download within that window, the data is gone. There’s no way to recover it.
The bigger issue is timing. If a potential customer fills out your form at 9 a.m. and you don’t download the file until 5 p.m., that’s eight hours of dead time. Studies on lead response consistently show that the faster you follow up, the more likely a lead is to convert. Downloading a spreadsheet once a day and then manually importing it into your email tool or CRM creates a gap that costs you responses.
Sending Leads to a CRM Automatically
To skip the manual download entirely, you can connect your lead forms to a CRM or email platform so new leads flow in automatically. There are two ways to do this.
The first is through Meta’s native integrations. Inside the Instant Forms setup, Meta offers direct connections to several popular CRMs. If your platform is on the list, you can link it during form creation and leads will sync without any extra tools.
The second is through a third-party connector like Zapier. You create what Zapier calls a “Zap” that triggers whenever a new lead comes in. The trigger fires and automatically creates or updates a contact in your CRM, sends a notification to your sales team, or adds the lead to an email sequence. You map the fields from your Facebook form (name, email, phone) to the corresponding fields in your CRM during setup. The sync can happen in real time or on a scheduled interval.
To use a connector, your Facebook account needs the same permissions listed above, plus “Business integration access” so the third-party tool can read your lead data. The Facebook Page must also be added to a business portfolio, and you need full control access for the associated ad account.
Checking That Your Data Is Complete
After downloading or syncing, compare the number of leads in your file to the lead count shown in Ads Manager for the same date range. Small discrepancies sometimes occur when a user starts a form but abandons it before submitting, or when duplicate leads are filtered. If your CSV has significantly fewer rows than Ads Manager reports, check that your date range matches exactly and that you’re looking at the correct form or campaign.
Also confirm that all your custom fields came through. If you asked a qualifying question like “What is your budget?” that column should appear in the CSV. Missing columns usually mean the form version you downloaded doesn’t match the one currently running, which can happen if you duplicated or edited a form mid-campaign.