Email Notifications for ServiceNow ServiceNow notifications are triggered by events and send emails, SMS, or other alerts to users. Notification Components Component Table Purpose Notification sysevent_email_action Main notification record Email Template sysevent_email_template Reusable email layouts Event sysevent Triggers notifications Event Registration sysevent_register Defines custom events Email Script sys_script_email Dynamic content scripts Creating Notifications Basic Notification Structure Notification: Incident Assigned ├── When to send │ ├── Table: incident │ ├── When: Record inserted or updated │ └── Conditions: assigned_to changes AND is not empty ├── Who will receive │ ├── Users: ${assigned_to} │ └── Groups: (optional) ├── What it will contain │ ├── Subject: Incident ${number} assigned to you │ ├── Message: HTML body with ${field} references │ └── Email Template: (optional) └── Advanced ├── Weight: 0 (priority) └── Send to event creator: false Notification Conditions // Simple field conditions assigned_to CHANGES priority = 1 state = 6 // Resolved // Script condition (ES5 only!) // Returns true to send, false to skip ( function ( ) { // Only notify for VIP callers var caller = current . caller_id . getRefRecord ( ) ; return caller . vip == true ; } ) ( ) // Advanced condition with multiple checks ( function ( ) { // Don't notify on bulk updates if ( current . sys_mod_count
100 ) return false ; // Only for production CIs var ci = current . cmdb_ci . getRefRecord ( ) ; return ci . used_for == 'Production' ; } ) ( ) Email Templates Template Variables
${number}
${caller_id.name}
${opened_at.display_value}
${URI}
${URI_REF}
${mail_script:script_name}
${mailto:assigned_to}
Template Example < html
< body style = " font-family : Arial , sans-serif ; "
< h2
Incident ${number} - ${short_description} </ h2
< table border = " 0 " cellpadding = " 5 "
< tr
< td
< strong
Priority: </ strong
</ td
< td
${priority} </ td
</ tr
< tr
< td
< strong
Caller: </ strong
</ td
< td
${caller_id.name} </ td
</ tr
< tr
< td
< strong
Assigned to: </ strong
</ td
< td
${assigned_to.name} </ td
</ tr
< tr
< td
< strong
Description: </ strong
</ td
< td
${description} </ td
</ tr
</ table
< p
< a href = " ${URI} "
View Incident </ a
</ p
${mail_script:incident_history} </ body
</ html
Email Scripts Basic Email Script // Email Script: incident_history // Table: incident // Script (ES5 only!): ; ( function runMailScript ( current , template , email , email_action , event ) { // Build activity history var html = "
Recent Activity
" var history = new GlideRecord ( "sys_journal_field" ) history . addQuery ( "element_id" , current . sys_id ) history . addQuery ( "name" , "incident" ) history . orderByDesc ( "sys_created_on" ) history . setLimit ( 5 ) history . query ( ) while ( history . next ( ) ) { html += "
" template . print ( html ) } ) ( current , template , email , email_action , event ) Email Script with Attachments // Add attachments from the record to the email ; ( function runMailScript ( current , template , email , email_action , event ) { var gr = new GlideRecord ( "sys_attachment" ) gr . addQuery ( "table_sys_id" , current . sys_id ) gr . addQuery ( "table_name" , "incident" ) gr . query ( ) while ( gr . next ( ) ) { email . addAttachment ( gr ) } } ) ( current , template , email , email_action , event ) Dynamic Recipients // Email Script to add CC recipients dynamically ; ( function runMailScript ( current , template , email , email_action , event ) { // Add all group members as CC var group = current . assignment_group if ( ! group . nil ( ) ) { var members = new GlideRecord ( "sys_user_grmember" ) members . addQuery ( "group" , group ) members . query ( ) while ( members . next ( ) ) { var user = members . user . getRefRecord ( ) if ( user . email ) { email . addAddress ( "cc" , user . email , user . name ) } } } } ) ( current , template , email , email_action , event ) Custom Events Registering a Custom Event // Event Registration // Name: x_myapp.incident.escalated // Table: incident // Description: Fired when incident is escalated to management // Fired by: Business Rule // In Business Rule (ES5 only!) ; ( function executeRule ( current , previous ) { // Check if escalation occurred if ( current . escalation- " + history . sys_created_on . getDisplayValue ( ) + ": " html += history . value . substring ( 0 , 200 ) + "
" } html += "previous . escalation ) { // Fire custom event gs . eventQueue ( "x_myapp.incident.escalated" , current , current . escalation . getDisplayValue ( ) , // parm1 current . assigned_to . name , // parm2 ) } } ) ( current , previous ) Notification on Custom Event Notification: Escalation Alert ├── When to send │ ├── Send when: Event is fired │ └── Event name: x_myapp.incident.escalated ├── Who will receive │ └── Users/Groups: Escalation Managers └── What it will contain ├── Subject: Escalation: ${number} - ${event.parm1} └── Message: Incident escalated. Assigned to: ${event.parm2} Recipient Types Who Will Receive Type Description Example Users Specific users ${assigned_to}, ${caller_id} Groups User groups Service Desk, CAB Group Managers Group manager field ${assignment_group.manager} Event Parm 1/2 From event parameters ${event.parm1} Additional Recipients Email addresses External emails Recipient Script // Recipient Script (ES5 only!) // Returns comma-separated list of emails or sys_ids ; ( function getRecipients ( current , event ) { var recipients = [ ] // Add the caller if ( ! current . caller_id . nil ( ) ) { recipients . push ( current . caller_id . email . toString ( ) ) } // Add VIP's manager var caller = current . caller_id . getRefRecord ( ) if ( caller . vip == true && ! caller . manager . nil ( ) ) { recipients . push ( caller . manager . email . toString ( ) ) } return recipients . join ( "," ) } ) ( current , event ) Notification Weight Priority system for multiple matching notifications: Weight Use Case 0 Default priority 1-99 Higher priority (lower weight = higher priority) -1 to -99 Lower priority 100+ Rarely used // Only highest weight notification sends if "Exclude subscribers" checked // Weight 0 notification beats Weight 10 notification Digest Notifications Configuring Digest Notification: Daily Incident Summary ├── Digest: Checked ├── Digest Interval: Daily ├── Digest Time: 08:00 └── Content: Summary of all incidents Digest Email Script // Summarize digest records ; ( function runMailScript ( current , template , email , email_action , event ) { var count = 0 var html = '
' html += "
" html += "" // 'current' is a GlideRecord with all digest records while ( current . next ( ) ) { count ++ html += " Number Description Priority " html += " " } html += "" + current . number + " " html += "" + current . short_description + " " html += "" + current . priority . getDisplayValue ( ) + " " html += "Total: " + count + " incidents
" template . print ( html ) } ) ( current , template , email , email_action , event ) Outbound Email Configuration Email Properties // System Properties for email glide . email . smtp . active // Enable/disable outbound email glide . email . smtp . host // SMTP server glide . email . smtp . port // SMTP port (usually 25 or 587) glide . email . default . sender // Default from address glide . email . test . user // Test recipient (all emails go here) Testing Notifications // Background Script to test notification (ES5 only!) var gr = new GlideRecord ( "incident" ) gr . get ( "sys_id_here" ) // Fire event to trigger notification gs . eventQueue ( "incident.assigned" , gr , gr . assigned_to . getDisplayValue ( ) , gs . getUserDisplayName ( ) ) gs . info ( "Event queued for incident: " + gr . number ) Best Practices Use Templates - Reuse layouts across notifications Test Thoroughly - Use test user property during development Consider Digests - For high-volume notifications Weight Carefully - Prevent duplicate emails ES5 Only - All scripts must be ES5 compliant Limit Recipients - Don't spam large groups Include Context - Provide enough info to act without login Mobile-Friendly - Keep HTML simple for mobile clients Common Issues Issue Cause Solution Email not sent Event not fired Check business rule fires event Wrong recipients Script error Debug recipient script Missing content Template variable wrong Check field names Duplicate emails Multiple notifications Check weights and conditions Delayed emails Email job schedule Check sysauto_script