What is the limit of worknotes / additional comments on incident form in servicenow?

[shabbir5]

HI All,

How many activities ( worknotes / additional comments) we can post on incident form.

and how to change the acticity count number ?

Thank you,

Shabbir Shaik

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@shabbir5 

Hope you are doing good.

Did my reply answer your question?

If my response helped please mark it correct and close the thread so that it benefits future readers.

[_ukasz Rybicki]

Problem Identification

ServiceNow stores all work notes and additional comments in the sys_journal_field table, which has no hard cap on the number of entries you can insert into a record (ServiceNow, ServiceNow). However, the UI only shows a finite number of these entries per form load, making it appear as if there is a “limit” on how many you can post (ServiceNow, ServiceNow). In Service Portal, a separate property controls comment visibility, which can further restrict what end users see (ServiceNow).

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OOTB / No-Code Solution

Adjust the system properties that govern how many journal entries the form and portal display. This requires no scripting—just update glide.history.max_entries (or glide.stream.max_entries in older releases) and glide.service_portal.stream_entry_limit to your desired values (ServiceNow, ServiceNow).

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Step-by-Step Configuration

1. Open System Properties

   • Navigate to System Properties > All Properties.

2. Update Form Display Limit

   • Search for glide.history.max_entries.

   • If missing, click New and enter Name = glide.history.max_entries, Type = integer, Value = your desired maximum (default 250).

   • Click Save (ServiceNow).

3. (Older Versions)

   • Some releases use glide.stream.max_entries instead. Update or create that property if you don’t see glide.history.max_entries (ServiceNow).

4. Update Portal Display Limit

   • Search for glide.service_portal.stream_entry_limit.

   • Adjust its Value (default 100) to control how many entries the Service Portal shows (ServiceNow).

5. Clear Cache & Test

   • System Diagnostics > Cache.do, then reload your Incident form.

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Alternative Approach

If you must enforce a hard cap on journal entries (e.g., prevent users from posting beyond N notes), create a Before Insert Business Rule on sys_journal_field:

(function executeRule(current) {
  var maxEntries = 500;                // your limit
  var gr = new GlideAggregate('sys_journal_field');
  gr.addQuery('element_id', current.element_id);
  gr.addAggregate('COUNT');
  gr.groupBy('element_id');
  gr.query();
  if (gr.next() && gr.getAggregate('COUNT') >= maxEntries) {
    gs.addErrorMessage('Max ' + maxEntries + ' notes allowed.');
    current.setAbortAction(true);
  }
})(current);

This ensures no more than maxEntries can be added (ServiceNow).

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Testing the Solution

1. As admin, add > 250 comments/work notes to an Incident.

2. Reload the form: you should now see up to your new glide.history.max_entries value (ServiceNow).

3. In Service Portal, repeat > 100 posts and verify the portal displays your updated stream_entry_limit (ServiceNow).

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✨ Please mark this as the correct answer if it helps! 🙌

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Sources

1. Limit the number of entries allowed in an activity stream (Docs; default 250 display limit)

2. Activity Formatter limiting number of activities (Community; property renamed to glide.history.max_entries)

3. Adjust the number of updates displayed (Support KB0724317; default 250)

4. Maximum number of portal ticket screen activities (Community; glide.service_portal.stream_entry_limit default 100)

5. How to Limit additional comments and work notes to latest 10 (Community; Business Rule example)

6. sys_journal_field max length (Community; journal storage unlimited by UI metadata)

7. Journal field display limits (Docs; journal fields can grow large)

8. Difference between glide.stream.max_entries and glide.history.max_entries (Support KB0695419)

9. Journal Fields reference (Docs; sys_journal_field stores comments)

10. Limit activity stream entries (Docs; set system property)

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@shabbir5 

Would you mind closing your earlier questions by marking appropriate response as correct?

Members have invested their time and efforts in helping you.

[mohdarbaz]

Hi @shabbir5 ,

There is no hard limit on the number of activities (worknotes/additional comments) that you can post on an incident form. However, the performance and usability of the form can be affected if there are a very large number of activities.

[Sohail Khilji]

Hi @shabbir5 

Let me share you a story which may be of 5yrs old, i remember with one of my client,  one of the incident which was reopened several time and the work notes and additional comment flooded with 100s of joural entry and over the time.

it was observed that the particual incident ended up loading for several minutes with no responnse on screen. the conclution was ServiceNow doesn't have a hard upper limit in the default configuration for the number of work notes or comments the more num of entries it make on the record the slower the record resonse eventaully impacting the performance,

As a conclution we created a duplicate incident in continuation to previous incident. i hope this helps...