The inbound email flow in ServiceNow streamlines the process of capturing, processing, and managing incoming emails within the platform, helping organizations to efficiently handle various tasks and requests.
Out of the box (OOB), ServiceNow's inbound email flow typically doesn't include the capability to directly read the email body for parsing or processing. Instead, the system primarily focuses on extracting key metadata such as the sender, subject, and attachments.
Yes, using a flow action like the one created by Ben Scherer from ServiceNow Share can indeed enable parsing of email bodies within ServiceNow. By leveraging this flow action, ServiceNow users can extract specific information from the email body and trigger subsequent actions or workflows based on that extracted data.
The flow action provided in the ServiceNow Share link allows users to incorporate custom parsing logic into their ServiceNow instance, enhancing the capabilities of the platform's inbound email processing. This can be particularly useful for organizations looking to automate the handling of incoming emails and extract relevant data to streamline their workflows.
By utilizing community-contributed solutions like the one provided by Ben Scherer, ServiceNow users can extend the functionality of their instances and tailor them to their unique business requirements without having to develop everything from scratch. This fosters collaboration and innovation within the ServiceNow community while empowering users to achieve their goals more efficiently.
Sharing one example how to use it.
Step 1 : Go to the provided link: Parse Email Flow Action on ServiceNow Share.
Step 2: Download the xml and commit the update set.
Step 3 : Once done you will be able to see the action in your instance :
Step 4: Add the action.
Step 5: Drag and drop email record from the data Inbound email.
Step 6 : To populate a text field, you can directly utilize the extracted value from the parsed email body by assigning it to the field's value attribute. However, when aiming to populate a reference field, you'll need to introduce a variable to store the value extracted from the email body. Subsequently, conduct a lookup operation in the respective table to find the corresponding record based on this variable.
Now, once you add the email variable, click on the function to add the key you want to extract from the email. In my case, I want to read the email as follows:
CI: [Server Name]
Alert Created Time: [Date and Time]
Alert description: [Description]
Be careful as it is case-sensitive. Next, you can do the lookup in the CMDB CI table with the name and then use the same while creating the incident.
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Special thanks to @Ben Scherer for sharing the wealth.
Created a video for same. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYnwEfcUNnU
Sure @Pratiksha , Thanks for your response. Please find the details as follows.
Yes. I have introduced new variable "Requested by" . I am not getting data in the variable. Doing lookup for sys_user table with name. Please find attached screenshots for your reference. I am trying to get Opened by value from email body text.
1. Screenshot of email body.
2.
3. I am not sure why Key value is not getting saved.
4.
After testing showing error in lookup step. As not getting required user record because in previous step flow variable not getting opened by from email body text.
Hope it helps. Let me know if anything is not clear.
Regards,
Priyanka Salunke
@Community Alums I just tried it works fine.
Created a field on incident form date/time.
variable name is date
The email body is : caller:abel.tuter@example.com
please mark appropriate response as correct & helpful so that the question will appear as resolved for others who may have a similar question in the future.
Regards,
Pratiksha
I've followed your instructions and downloaded the Email Parse action.
I'm getting the same error as @AbdulNow is when I process the emails either from the Mailbox or as a Flow Test.
The strange thing is, the Test will create the RITM and Update the original email, while the email box reprocess will not.
Here is the email i get.
As you can see, when tested I do get values.
Any idea why the mailbox processing isn't working like the Flow Test?
Hello together,
I'm facing some kind of weird issue.
I watched the video and documentation over and over again.
I get the same error on PDI as well as on our DEV Instance in my company.
It looks like the output variable of the parse action itself is empty, but I've no clue why.
This is my parse action with the "Email Record" data record.
Can anyone advice what to do ? Or someone faced the same issue ?
Thank you
Best Regards
Manu
Hi Pratiksha,
This Custom Action is not working for Email Body having Table Content.
Something like Below.
Not able to retrieve data for catalog variables.
its working only for email body having plain text.
