> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.lobyco.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Exclude products from challenges

> Stop chosen products and categories from counting towards challenges.

This page helps you list the products and categories that should not count towards challenges. The list is global, so it covers every challenge at once.

> [!WARNING]
>
> Saving applies to all challenges, including the ones that are already running.

## Open Product exclusions

1. In the left panel of Lobyco Nexus, open **Global Settings**. It sits in the **Promotion Platform** group.
2. Select the **Product exclusions** tab.

The screen is headed **Settings**, and it has one tab for each setting you can open. The **Product exclusions** tab shows the lists saved so far. If nothing has been saved yet, the lists are empty.

Not every admin user can change the lists. Some admin users can open the tab but only read it. For them, the fields are greyed out and there is no **Save** button.

![The Settings screen in Global Settings, with four tabs: Product exclusions, which is selected, Base bonus earn %, App configuration and Channels. The Product exclusions panel shows Product IDs with an information icon and its IDs, shortened to 57012340…, next to a pencil icon, then Category IDs with 123 and a pencil icon, then Activities included, a required field set to Challenges, with the hint Select which promotional activities the product exclusion should apply to. Save is at the bottom right.](https://mintcdn.com/lobyco-4c9fb3ad/rG971_5ZfS49bcjM/images/administer-01-product-exclusions-tab.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=rG971_5ZfS49bcjM\&q=85\&s=cf1788d25f25d1c177d2b758f6012e11)

*The Product exclusions tab*

## Add the product and category IDs

You can fill in **Product IDs**, **Category IDs** or both. Use the IDs from your product catalogue. To look one up, open the **Product** picker on a [segment rule](/business-documentation/audiences-and-data/segment-attributes#product). Categories are in the columns to the left of **Product**. Each column is one level of your product catalogue. Every product and category shows its ID in bold under its name.

| Field | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Product IDs** | The products that should not count. |
| **Category IDs** | The product categories that should not count. A category also covers every category below it. |

Do this for each field:

1. Select **Add items**. If the list already has IDs, the button shows them with a pencil icon instead. Select it.
2. A panel opens with an **Upload** button, a **Download** button and a text box. Type or paste the IDs into the text box, one ID per line.
3. To fill the list from a file instead, select **Upload** and choose a `.csv` file. The file replaces what is in the text box.
4. Click anywhere outside the panel to close it. The button now shows the IDs you entered.

The file needs one ID per line and nothing else. Every line is read as an ID, so a header row would be added as an ID too. Empty lines are skipped.

To keep a copy of a list, open the panel and select **Download**. The file is named after the field, for example `Product IDs.csv`. **Download** stays greyed out while the list is empty.

To remove a product, delete its line in the text box. To empty a list, delete every line.

![The Product exclusions tab with the Product IDs panel open below the Product IDs button. The panel has an Upload button and a Download button, and a text box holding three product IDs, one per line: 5701234000017, 5701234000024 and 5701234000031. Save is at the bottom right of the screen.](https://mintcdn.com/lobyco-4c9fb3ad/rG971_5ZfS49bcjM/images/administer-02-product-ids-panel.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=rG971_5ZfS49bcjM\&q=85\&s=37ff24e3efa39126e8189deb73733911)

*The Product IDs panel, with one ID per line*

## Choose the activities

**Activities included** decides which kinds of activity the lists apply to.

| Field | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Activities included** | The activities the exclusions apply to. Select **Choose activities** and pick from the list. The list offers **Challenges**. |

You have to choose at least one activity. If the field is empty, it shows an error and **Save** stays greyed out. This also applies when you only want to empty the lists.

## Save the changes

1. Select **Save** at the bottom right.
2. A window opens with the title **The update will apply to all selected activities and campaigns**. It says that the changes apply to everything selected, including activities that are running now. Select **Continue**. To go back, select **Cancel**.

The tab then shows the lists as saved. After you save, the update usually takes 5 to 15 minutes to take effect. This tab doesn't show when it has.

To check that it worked, use a challenge with an earn rule whose **Earn method** is **Purchase amount** and whose **ID's action** is **Exclude**. On an **Include** rule, the global lists don't apply at all. Pick an excluded product that the challenge's own lists don't already exclude.

1. Download the [challenge report](/business-documentation/activities/challenges/challenge-report) for that challenge and pick a customer from the **MemberId** column. If none of their purchases has an excluded product, pick another customer.
2. Search for that member ID in [Members](/business-documentation/self-service/find-a-customer) and open **Receipts**. Find a purchase with the excluded product in it, made at least 15 minutes after you saved. Note its receipt ID.
3. In the report, add up **Progress** on every row with that **ReceiptId**. A purchase that completes a [card](/business-documentation/activities/challenges) is split over two rows: the first holds what the card still needed, and the second holds the rest, which carries over to the customer's next card on a renewable challenge.

The total leaves out the excluded product's price. If the challenge is set to **Exclude Discounted Items**, it leaves out discounted lines too. The report can be up to 30 minutes old. If the purchase isn't in it yet, download it again later.

If you leave the tab with changes you haven't saved, a **Confirm navigation** window says **You have unsaved changes.** Select **Stay** to go back and save, or **Discard changes** to leave without saving.

## What excluded products do in a challenge

The global lists apply on top of each challenge's own lists.

* They only affect **Purchase amount** earn rules and **Store visits** challenges. **Product quantity** earn rules and **Payment method** challenges ignore them. A **One purchase** challenge can have both kinds of earn rule, and then the lists only apply to its **Purchase amount** rules.
* A challenge's earn rule can list products with **ID's action** set to **Include**. A product listed there still counts in that challenge, even if it is excluded here.

[Accumulation types](/business-documentation/activities/challenges/accumulation-types) explains each rule type and the challenge's own **Product IDs** and **Category IDs**.

## Troubleshooting

> **Why can't I select Save?**
>
> **Save** stays greyed out until **Activities included** has at least one activity chosen. If you can't see **Save** at all, your admin user can only read this tab. Ask the person who manages access to Nexus in your organisation to let you change it.

> **Why is an excluded product still counting in a challenge?**
>
> Check three things. The challenge's earn rule may list that product with **ID's action** set to **Include**, which beats the global list. The earn rule that counted it may be a **Product quantity** rule, or the challenge may be a **Payment method** challenge. Both ignore the global lists. Or you saved recently, and the update hasn't taken effect yet.

> **Why can't I see Global Settings or the Product exclusions tab?**
>
> Your admin user doesn't have access to it. Ask the person who manages access to Nexus in your organisation.

## Related

* [Accumulation types](/business-documentation/activities/challenges/accumulation-types) — how each challenge rule counts purchases, and how the global lists combine with a challenge's own.
* [Why isn't a customer's challenge progressing?](/business-documentation/activities/challenges/why-isnt-a-customers-challenge-progressing) — the checks to run when a purchase doesn't count.
* [Set the base bonus customers earn](/business-documentation/self-service/set-the-base-bonus-earn) — the bonus percentage customers earn on their purchases, on the **Base bonus earn %** tab of the same screen.
* [Upload images for the app](/business-documentation/self-service/upload-images-for-the-app) — background images and icons for the app, on the **App configuration** tab of the same screen.


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