So I changed the wording of some ads, and then realized that when you Save Changes, you lose your stats for those ads. You've essentially created a new ad, and the numbers zero out again. Sure, the stats for the edited ads are saved in the Edited or Deleted Ads line. But they are in aggregated form and you can't match numbers to specific ads anymore. So now I pause unwanted ads--basically parking them forever--and creating new ads. Am I reading this wrong?
You are right about losing history and stats on ads, even if you move them them to another campaign. Parking them forever still requires you to create a new ad for a replacement. It is a give and take, do you make a new ad with the hope of a better click through, or do you keep the same ad to retain a moderate good history. I chose the latter. Pit the one you are considering against a new ad, edit your settings in your campaigns so they "rotate move evenly" and let the numbers tell the story. If you create one with a better click though and conversion, it's worth exing the other so the new one will show the other 50% of the time is was not during your test.
Select the date range and below that check the box that says 'Deleted items for the date range' and I think that should show you the ad that you edited with the stats for that ad.
Ah, you may be right... It definitely pulled up the edited ads. I can't tell if it's intended to pull up the stats, too, because my stats for those ads were all zeroes. Which is why I edited them in the first place. Thanks.