Coupon restrictions for free shipping problem!

Hi,

I have certain categories in which I offer a free shipping coupon code. I have over 300 categories and only a handful of them are free shipping with a coupon code.

The problem is, when I deny all and only allow these categories, it works to apply the discount to these cats, HOWEVER, say my customer is buying 10 items and only one is from a category in which a free shipping coupon works, it is giving free shipping on the entire purchase!

I am using zen 1.3.8 and the zones shipping mod pricing per unit. If they buy 10 items it would be x amount of $$, but if one of them is free, then it should show the price for 9 items, not 10.

Does anyone know how to get around this without going into each product (hundreds) that are in these categories and checking always free shipping? Would that even work?

Thank you in advance!

I also have this problem too, I want it to only give discount to the individual item, not the complete order...

How can we make this work...