Make field readonly using UI Action

[DevYadav]

Hi Community,
I’m trying to add a button on the Incident table form that, when clicked, should make the State and Short Description fields read-only. Could anyone guide me on how to achieve this?

Thanks in advance!

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @DevYadav 

Is there any specific reason to implement this using a UI Action? It might be better to handle it via a UI Policy, based on the state and other parameters."

[DevYadav]

@Dr Atul G- LNG 

Thank you for the response. However, the requirement is that both fields should become read-only only when the button is clicked.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-forum/setting-fields-to-read-only-in-ui-action/m-p/15...

https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-forum/how-to-make-a-field-read-only-using-ui-action/m...

[Edward Rosario]

Adding a button for this is overkill and not aligned with best practices in ServiceNow. You don’t need a button to control field visibility or read-only behavior—this is exactly what UI Policies are for. Buttons should be used for actions (like triggering scripts or flows), not for simple client-side UI manipulations.

• Navigate to:
  System UI > UI Policies
  (Table: Incident [incident])

• Click “New” and configure:

  • Name: Make State and Short Description Read-Only

  • Table: Incident

  • Conditions:
    Set the condition that should trigger the read-only behavior.
    (Example: State is “Resolved” or Assignment Group is “Network” — whatever your use case is.)

• Check:
  Reverse if false (optional—if you want the fields to go back to editable when the condition no longer applies)

• Save the UI Policy.

• Under the UI Policy record, go to the UI Policy Actions related list:

  • Click New for each field you want to affect:

    • Field name: State
      Make Read-Only: True

    • Field name: Short Description
      Make Read-Only: True

• Save everything.