Issue with the Activity Filter configuration

[mania]

Hi,

I am facing an issue with the Activity Filter configuration.
I am trying to place the Worknotes field under the Additional Comments field. In Configure Available Fields, I have selected and positioned the Worknotes field under Additional Comments in the slush bucket and saved the changes; however, this order is not reflected in the Activity Filter.(Both incident and case)

Additionally, I want both Additional Comments and Worknotes to be visible under the All option in the Activity Filter by default for all users.

Could someone please help clarify whether this behavior is configurable, or if there is a supported way to achieve this? This would be very helpful.

Thanks!

[Itallo Brandão]

Hi Mania,

This is a very common requirement, but there is a distinction between how the System stores the configuration and how the UI renders it.

Here is the clarification for both of your points:

1. The Ordering Issue (Configurable? No)

Short Answer: No, the order in the Activity Filter dropdown is not configurable via the slushbucket.

The Explanation:

• The Slushbucket: When you configure the "Available Fields" in the Activity Formatter, you are simply telling the system which fields to track.

• The Dropdown Menu: The UI component that renders that list (the funnel icon) automatically sorts the available fields Alphabetically by Label.

• Even if you place "Work notes" directly under "Additional comments" in the configuration, the UI will always re-sort them (A-Z). Since "W" (Work notes) comes after "A" (Additional...), they will be separated by other fields like "Asset", "Assigned to", etc.

2. Default Visibility (Configurable? Yes)

You want Additional comments and Work notes to be checked by default for all users. You can achieve this using a System User Preference.

ServiceNow stores the state of those checkboxes in the sys_user_preference table. You can create a "System" default that applies to everyone who hasn't manually changed their filter yet.

Steps to configure default visibility:

1. Navigate to User Administration > User Preferences.

2. Click New.

3. Fill in the form as follows:

   • Name: [table_name].activity.filter (e.g., incident.activity.filter or sn_customerservice_case.activity.filter).

   • System: Checked (True).

   • User: Leave Empty (This makes it apply to everyone).

   • Type: String.

   • Value: Enter the comma-separated database names of the fields you want checked by default.

     • Example: work_notes,comments

4. Submit.
   
   

Important Note: This will set the default for new users or users who have never touched the filter. If a user has already unchecked "Work notes" in the past, their personal preference (where 'User' is not empty) will override this System default.

Hope this clarifies the platform behavior!

If this response helps clarify the platform behavior and solve your requirement, please mark it as Accepted Solution.
This helps the community grow and assists others in finding valid answers faster.

Best regards, Brandão.

[mania]

Created User Preferences as you mentioned so i user given user name

So it should be visible to that person which is mentioned in user field so here i created on new test user and checked with that test user so she can able to see the Additional comments and worknotes checked already

can you please help on this, it will be helpful

Thanks!

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@mania 

here in below image I believe it will always show in alphabetical order, you can't change this OOTB behavior, even if you move the fields up/down in the Slush bucket

To show Comments and Work notes always, your user should have READ Access to those fields.

💡 If my response helped, please mark it as correct ✅ and close the thread 🔒— this helps future readers find the solution faster! 🙏

[mania]

@Ankur Bawiskar 

I’m using a user preference to have certain fields checked by default. However, I recently created two new fields, and I noticed that they are also checked by default even though they were not added to the user preference configuration.

Is there any reason why these custom fields are being checked by default? Is there a system-level behavior or fallback that causes newly created fields to inherit the default checked state?

Thanks!