1 free item coupon apply to cart

I am looking to make a coupon that only applies to one single item download that is free. each coupon module i have tried applies to the entire cart, i only want the coupon to extract 1 item to be free, not the whole cart. is there a way to make a coupon that only allows one item to be free, when the rest is not? i need it to be something where specific items dont have to be selected by the admin, rather, it is the whole database is open, but only one item can be free in the cart.

In the coupon set up process there are options to apply a coupon to specific products only.

not helpful as they order multiples of the same item... 1st item free each additional same item needs to be paid for

Ah I see, I thought you meant just one type of product, not more than one of the same.

Have you looked to see if there is an extension that can do this?

This might be what you are after: Free product w/ Coupon

That let's you assign a free item that gets added to the cart 1 time, regardless of how many purchased. You can also limit the free product from working only when a specific item is in the cart

For example, if you want to give a free teddy bear when a customer buys a a dozen roses, then you can add that with coupon code. If the customer buys 5 dozen roses, they still only get 1 free teddy bear