---
title: Dismissal Rules
description: Suppress a recommendation you've judged not applicable so it stops reappearing in future audits, and manage those rules from the Revision Plan.
---

Every audit re-derives its recommendations from scratch. That means a recommendation you've already considered and rejected — one that doesn't apply to your app, or that you tried and it didn't work — comes back on the next run. A dismissal rule tells Apptonomy to suppress that specific recommendation going forward, so your audit surfaces only the work you actually still care about.

A dismissal is keyed to the recommendation's identity (its engine and target), not to a single audit. Once you dismiss it, it stays suppressed across every future audit for that project until you restore it.

## Before you start

- Any role in the organization can dismiss and restore recommendations: Owner, Manager, or Standard.
- You need an audit with recommendations open in front of you — dismissal starts from a specific recommendation, not from a settings screen.

## Dismiss a recommendation

### 1. Find the recommendation

Open an audit and locate the insight or action you want to suppress.

### 2. Dismiss with a reason

Click the dismiss control (the archive-box icon) on the item. A dialog asks **Why are you dismissing this recommendation?** Pick the reason that fits:

- **Not applicable**
- **Already done**
- **Tried, didn't work**
- **Bad recommendation**
- **Other**

For the first four, the dismissal saves as soon as you pick. **Other** opens a short note field — a memo is required so there's a record of why. The note also helps the engine learn what to skip.

### 3. Undo if needed

A confirmation toast appears with an **Undo** action right after you dismiss, in case you clicked the wrong item.

## Manage your dismissal rules

All of a project's dismissal rules live in one place: the **Revision Plan** page. Filter the list by **Dismissed rules** to see every recommendation you've suppressed, each showing its reason and any memo.

From that list you can:

- **Edit the reason** — change the reason tag or memo on an existing rule. If you switch a rule to **Other**, a memo becomes required.
- **Restore** — remove the rule so the recommendation is eligible to appear in future audits again.

:::note[Reasons are a signal, not just a label]
The reason you pick is recorded with the rule. Beyond keeping your own list readable, the reasons feed telemetry that informs how recommendations are tuned — so choosing an accurate reason (rather than always reaching for "Other") is worth the extra second.
:::

## Verify it worked

After dismissing, the item drops out of the current view and appears under **Dismissed rules** in the Revision Plan. On your next audit, that recommendation no longer surfaces. If you restore a rule, the recommendation becomes eligible again the next time an audit would produce it.

## Troubleshooting

### A dismissed recommendation came back

Dismissal is scoped to a specific recommendation identity — its engine plus the exact target it points at. If the recommendation reappears with different wording, it's most likely a different target (a new keyword, a different screenshot, a changed field), which is a genuinely new recommendation rather than the one you dismissed. Dismiss the new one if it also doesn't apply. Also confirm the rule is still present under **Dismissed rules** and wasn't restored.

### I can't dismiss or restore

Any role can dismiss and restore, but both actions need the organization's billing to be in good standing. If the trial has expired, or the subscription is canceled or past due, the change is blocked until billing is resolved.

## Related

- [Understanding your report](/docs/audits/understanding-your-report)
- [Audit History](/docs/audits/history)
- [Audit Engines](/docs/audit-engines/overview)