When a planner deletes a line item (choice) in Assortment Plan, the record is removed from Toolio completely. Any system that received that choice in an earlier export has no way to tell the difference between "this choice was deleted" and "this choice just wasn't part of the latest file."
The Deleted Choices exporter closes that gap. It is a scheduled CSV export that lists every choice deleted since its previous run, so the systems you feed can retire those records on their side.
Use Cases
Keep a data warehouse, BI model, or reporting table in sync by removing (or tombstoning) choices that no longer exist in Toolio.
Push deletions to a downstream PLM or ERP that received the choice from an earlier Assortment Plan export.
Reconcile record counts when a full Assortment Plan export returns fewer rows than the previous one.
Keep an audit trail of which choices were removed and when.
How Deleted Choices Exports Work
At the moment a choice is deleted, Toolio stores a snapshot of that choice's record in its internal deletion archive. The Deleted Choices exporter reads from that archive — not from your live plan — which is why deleted records can still be reported after they are gone from the app.
Each run:
Reads every archived deletion since the start of the previous successful run, oldest deletion first.
Writes one row per deleted choice, using the columns you mapped.
Delivers the file to the destination configured on the exporter.
Every row carries a Deleted At column reporting when the choice was deleted, in UTC.
Where to Configure a Deleted Choices Export
Deleted Choices is a scheduled-only source module. Go to Settings > Exports > Exporters, click Add, choose an export path, and select Scheduled. Then set Module Name to Deleted Choices.
Export Path | Deleted Choices Available? |
AWS S3 | Yes (scheduled) |
SFTP | Yes (scheduled) |
Microsoft Azure | Yes (scheduled) |
Google Cloud Storage | Yes (scheduled) |
Snowflake | No |
NetSuite | No |
Manual (CSV) | No |
Unlike plan exports, this module has no scenario, date range, dataset, or granularity settings — the scope is always "choices deleted since the last run." You only need to set the schedule and the output mapping. For everything else about creating and managing exporters, see Configuring and Managing Exporters.
[Screenshot: Source Settings with Module Name set to Deleted Choices and the locked Delta export toggle]
Fields You Can Export
Configure the columns in Output Settings, the same way as any other exporter: each row of the mapping table pairs an export column name with a formula referencing a Toolio field slug, for example '{choice__external_id}'.
Available fields are the choice-level fields, including your own custom choice attributes, plus one field unique to this export:
Field | Slug | Notes |
Deleted At |
| When the choice was deleted, in UTC. Only available on this export. |
Choice Id |
| The external ID your other systems know the choice by. |
Title |
| The choice title captured at deletion. |
Custom choice attributes |
| Single-select attributes export their value, not the internal ID. |
The Sample Data grid at the top of Output Settings lists every slug available for your account. It uses current choices as example rows, stamped with the current time as Deleted At, so you can build and check your mapping with Preview before any deletions have happened.
At minimum, map an identifier your downstream system can match on (usually Choice Id) and Deleted At.
💡 Because the export reports a single choice record, offering-level, location-level, weekly, and metric fields are not available here, and neither are Actual Choice fields or Long Text attributes. A formula referencing a field the snapshot does not hold exports as an empty value rather than failing the run.
The Enable Formatting setting behaves as it does on other exports: with formatting on, currency and numeric values are rounded for presentation; with it off, raw values are written.
Full and Delta Exports
Deleted Choices exports are always delta. The Delta export toggle appears in Source Settings switched on and read-only — a deletion feed that re-sent every historical deletion on every run would be unusable, so the option cannot be turned off.
The first run is a full export. With no earlier successful run to measure from, the first run includes every deletion Toolio has on record for your account. This file can be much larger than the runs that follow.
Every run after that covers deletions since the start of the previous successful run. The
Next run:label next to the toggle tells you which mode the exporter will use.A failed run does not move the starting point. The next run re-covers the same window, so nothing is dropped because of a failure.
Changing the exporter's filters triggers one full re-baseline run. Toolio fingerprints the export's scope; when the fingerprint changes, the next run re-sends every archived deletion and then resumes delta runs. Changing the mapped columns, formatting, schedule, or destination does not.
The Full and Delta Exports section of the exporter article linked above covers these mechanics in more detail.
Runs With No Deletions
If no choices were deleted since the previous run, no file is produced or delivered. The run still completes successfully, and Export History records the message "No deleted choices to export since the previous run." An empty schedule slot is the expected result on a quiet day, not a failure.
File Naming
Deleted Choices files follow the standard scheduled-export convention, using the Assortment Plan prefix:
toolio_ap_{exporter_name}_{yyyymmdd_hhmmss}.csv
The timestamp is UTC. If you set a maximum file size on the exporter and a run exceeds it, the run is split into numbered parts (…_part01.csv, …_part02.csv).
Consuming the File Downstream
Treat the file as a list of deletion events to apply, not as a complete picture of your assortment:
Apply rows as deletes or tombstones keyed on the choice identifier you mapped. The file never contains your surviving choices, so replacing a whole table with its contents would wipe out valid records.
Make the load idempotent. The same deletion can legitimately appear twice — a deletion that lands exactly on a window boundary can be included in two consecutive runs, and a re-baseline run re-sends the full deletion history. Re-applying a delete for an already-removed record should be a no-op on your side.
Order is oldest deletion first, which lets you process a file top to bottom.
FAQs
Why don't I see Deleted Choices in the Module Name list?
Check that you are creating a scheduled exporter on S3, SFTP, Azure, or Google Cloud Storage. The module is not offered for manual CSV exports, NetSuite, or Snowflake. If you are in the right place and still don't see it, contact your Customer Success Manager.
Are choices deleted before I set this up included?
Yes, as long as the deletion is in Toolio's deletion archive. The first run of a new exporter includes every archived deletion, which reaches back well before you created the exporter. Deletions from before Toolio began archiving deleted choices are not available.
Does this export tell me which choices still exist?
No. It reports deletions only. Use a New Assortment Plan export for the current state of your plan.
Can a deleted choice be restored?
Toolio keeps the snapshot behind this export, so a deletion can often be reversed — contact your Customer Success Manager as soon as you notice it, with the choice IDs and roughly when the deletion happened. A restored choice reappears in your regular Assortment Plan exports, but the earlier deletion row stays in the deletion history, so a later re-baseline run will report that deletion again.
Can I filter which deletions are exported?
Yes. Use + Add Filter in Output Settings; filters apply to the mapped columns the same way they do on other exports. Remember that editing filters causes one full re-baseline run.
A choice I know was deleted never appeared in a file. What happened?
In rare cases, a deletion that is being committed at the exact moment an export is reading can be skipped by both that run and the next one. It is re-sent the next time the exporter performs a full run, such as after a filter change. If a specific deletion is missing downstream and you need it sooner, contact your Customer Success Manager.