# Defining Profile Re Entry Criteria

Re-entry criteria decide what happens when a profile that has already been through a journey qualifies for it again: it starts over, or it stays out because it already converted. Choose the setting deliberately before you launch, because goal completion never expires and the setting cannot be changed afterward — not even in a later version of the journey.

1. Open Treasure Console.
2. Navigate to the Audience Studio.
3. Select a parent segment and then select a journey.


You can only define re-entry criteria when a journey is in draft mode.

1. Select **Open journey**.
2. Select the pencil icon (![Pencil icon for editing journey details](/assets/defining-re-entry-criteria-2025-03-05.e1b7a3af06ed33dcaac5437fd781d2eabccda76f3293083a34f07633fdb3206c.cf3845cb.png) ) to edit journey details.


![Edit Details panel showing the Re-entry of Stale Profiles options: Never allow re-entry, Allow unless goal has been met, and Allow even if goal is met](/assets/d831b20c-bd22-4c31-8b83-dd7573db30c2.f543eaa0aedec2381e3ca6109927f54da30952741174c3db7c9d7009881f81a1.9e7171ae.png)

1. Under **Re-entry of Stale Profiles**, choose one of the following:


* Select **Never allow re-entry** to prevent profiles from re-entering the journey.
* Select **Allow unless goal has been met** to permit profiles to re-enter the journey.
* Select **Allow even if goal is met** to permit profiles to always re-enter the journey.


1. Select **Save details**.


After the first version is launched, the **Re-entry of Stale Profiles** option cannot be changed for any future version of the journey, and neither can stage names, numbers, or order. If you later need different re-entry behavior, you have to build a new journey.

## Re-entry Behavior

| Profile meets  | Never allow re-entry  | Allow unless goal has been met  | Allow even if goal is met  |
|  --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Exit criteria in current journey (**out of journey**) | Can't re-enter | Can re-enter journey | Can re-enter journey |
| Goal in current journey (**out of journey**) | Can't re-enter | Can't re-enter | Can re-enter journey |
| Exit criteria in current or different journey (**from select a destination option**) | Can't re-enter | Can re-enter journey | Can re-enter journey |
| Goal in a different journey (**from select a destination option**) | Can't re-enter | Can't re-enter | Can re-enter journey |
| Jump in current or different journey (**from select a destination option**) | Can't re-enter | Can re-enter journey | Can re-enter journey |


## How Long Goal Completion Blocks Re-entry

Journey Orchestration records the moment a profile meets the journey goal and keeps that record for the life of the journey. The record has no expiry date. **Allow unless goal has been met** therefore asks "has this profile *ever* met the goal?", not "did it meet the goal recently" — a profile that converted a year ago is still blocked from that journey today.

Two consequences shape how you plan a long-running program:

* **A new journey version does not release profiles that met the goal.** When you launch a new version, it excludes profiles that are still associated with earlier launched versions of the same journey. Under **Allow unless goal has been met**, profiles that left through exit criteria are released into the new version, but profiles that met the goal are not. (Under **Allow even if goal is met**, both groups are released.)
* **A separate journey starts fresh.** Goal history belongs to a single journey, so a journey you build later for a new campaign evaluates every profile from scratch, past converters included.


To reach converters again in a later campaign, choose one of the following approaches:

* Select **Allow even if goal is met** when you first create the journey, and use exit criteria or stage rules to control how often a profile flows through it. Decide this up front — the option is locked once the first version launches.
* Create a new journey for the later campaign.


**See also:** [Journey FAQs](/products/customer-data-platform/journey-orchestration/batch/journey-faqs)