How to increase the max character limit for Smart Assessment textarea questions

[anithaanime]

We are working on Smart Assessment questions where the textarea field is currently restricted to a maximum length of 1000 characters.

Our requirement is to increase this character limit to support larger responses.

Has anyone implemented this before or knows if this limit can be configured or customized? Any guidance on the table, property, or script controlling this behavior would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @anithaanime 

Navigate directly to System Definition > Dictionary.

Open the record for the multi-line field and modify the Max length field to match your new limit.

Check these KBs:

KB0685779 Why ServiceNow fields accept string inputs that exceed the max_length value 

KB0718701 Set the maximum character length for variables of single-line text or wide single line-tex... 

https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-forum/justification-charater-limit-increase-in-smart-...

[anithaanime]

Hi Thanushree Maiti,

This issue is related to Smart Assessment. Updating the dictionary attribute will not work in this case, as the restriction exists in the Assessment Workspace.

Also, the KB article you shared(Justification charater limit increase in Smart Assessment)
 describes the same issue we are facing, but it does not provide a solution or workaround for increasing the character limit.

[Subasree Kumara]

were you able to sort out this issue without updating the BR which is restricting the update?

[anithaanime]

Yes, you can fix this without updating BR

Solution

For example take the GRC Attestation template was already published, the Maximum characters field could not be updated through the user interface. A Fix Script was executed to update the ‘Maximum characters’ field value from 1,000 to 8,000(The text response field supports up to 8,000 characters) while bypassing the business rule.

Fix Script

var gr = new GlideRecord("sn_smart_asmt_question");

gr.addEncodedQuery('assessment_template.nameLIKEGRC At^assessment_template=e97a03e07dd23110f87737f2fbd73115^label=Explain');

gr.query();

if (gr.next()) {

    gr.max_characters = 8000;

    gr.setWorkflow(false);

    gr.update();

}

Result

The maximum character limit for the Explain field in the GRC Attestation template was successfully increased from 1,000 to 8,000 characters. Users can now enter responses up to 8,000 characters.

Note

For Draft assessment templates, the Maximum characters field can be updated directly from the questionnaire record(sn_smart_asmt_question) without using a Fix Script. The Fix Script approach is only required for published templates.