Service Portal Data table from Instance Export Issues

kemmy1 · 3 weeks ago

We have an issue where we are using a Data Table from Instance out of the box widget, and the table was pointed to Table A, but most of the columns that we show are from a reference field of Table B. Normally users were able to export the records with all the fields from what was shown on the columns, now it only exports all the fields from Table A?????

What could be the issue?

Lisa

Matthew_13 · 3 weeks ago

Thanks for the details — this behavior is expected when switching users from snc_internal to snc_external, and it’s not related to the glide.partial_record_optimizer.enabled property.

External users are subject to stricter ACL enforcement, especially in Service Portal widgets. While an internal user may be able to dot-walk fields without issue, an external user must have explicit read access to every table, reference, and field involved in the dot-walk. Even if the user has read access to both Table A and Table B, missing ACLs on referenced fields or dot-walk paths can cause the widget to return no data.

This is why switching the user back to snc_internal works as expected, while snc_external does not. The dot-walk itself is supported, but it requires the appropriate ACLs to be defined explicitly for external users.

The recommended approach is to:

Review read ACLs on all referenced tables and fields used by the widget, or
Avoid dot-walking in the widget and retrieve related records explicitly (for example, via a Script Include using GlideRecordSecure).

Please let me know if you’d like help identifying which ACL is blocking access — I’d be happy to assist.

View solution in original post

Matthew_13 · 3 weeks ago

This usually happens when something changes in how the platform handles dot-walked (reference) fields during export not usually because the widget is misconfigured.

What’s likely going on is that the export is now only pulling data from Table A (the base table) and no longer materializing fields from Table B (the referenced table). Users can still see those fields in the widget, but when they export, ServiceNow falls back to exporting only the base table.

The most common reasons this changes are:

A system property flipped during an upgrade (very common). Some of the “partial record / optimizer” properties stop referenced fields from being fully resolved during export.
ACL differences. Exports tend to enforce stricter read access than the widget display. If users don’t have read access to the referenced table or fields, those columns get dropped.
Export behavior changed for the widget. In some releases, the “Data Table from Instance” export uses the base table definition instead of the displayed column set.

The quickest way to narrow it down:

Test export as admin vs non-admin.
Check if anything changed recently (upgrade, property, ACL).
In sub-prod, temporarily disable the partial record optimizer and retry the export.

If it works again after that, you’ve found the cause. If not, it’s almost certainly ACL-related on the referenced table.

@kemmy1 - Please mark as Accepted Solution and Thumbs Up if you find Helpful!

Matthew_13 · 3 weeks ago

Also too if helps; tell me:

what Table A and Table B are (or at least the reference field name),
whether this is Service Portal or ESC,
and what export type (CSV/Excel/PDF),
I can point you to the most likely property/ACL to check first.

@kemmy1 - Please mark as Accepted Solution and Thumbs Up if you find Helpful!

kemmy1 · 3 weeks ago

Thank you so much! It's Service Portal and we are exporting excel (pdf and csv would be nice to work as well). PDF always only showed table a fields, and we are still working on that as well.

Matthew_13 · 3 weeks ago

@kemmy1 - If you dont mind click the Accepted Solution button so this updates. Thanks Kindly!