Retaining attachment files for order guide/catalog item

[HMcNulty]

Hello experts!

We have an order guide in our instance that is rather large, and on that order guide we have two template files that are used to make larger requests within the guide. Each of the requested items on the order guide have a link within a label variable that references the sys_id's of those attachments so that users can download the templates and then attach them to their request when they finish filling it out. 

Our problem is that when we upgrade and clone, the attachments are not retained as the sys_attachment table is not retained during cloning. Because they disappear, I have to reattach them to the order guide every time, but this gives them a new sys_id, so I have to update all the links on the label variables with the new sys_id's. This is extremely tedious and results in downtime for the team that works these requests.

Is there some way we can retain these attachments or store them somewhere else on ServiceNow where they won't be deleted every time we clone? I have suggested storing them on a different site such as Sharepoint, but the concern there is that regular users requesting the order guide will not immediately have permissions to the Sharepoint link. Let me know if there is any more info I can provide! Thanks!

[Renat Akhmedov]

Hi @HMcNulty,

Based on your question, I believe you have to check and fix the clone profile so your template attachments are preserved. And long term, move away from hard-coded attachment sys_ids and resolve the attachment dynamically (by file/record) or host the templates on a dedicated "template store" table or a KB article.

I hope it helps. If my answer was helpful, please don’t hesitate to give it a thumbs-up - it only takes a second, but it means a lot to me. Thank you!

Best regards,
Renat Akhmedov

[HMcNulty]

Hello Renat!

So as far as I know, the only way to retain the templates as attachments in the cloning would be to uncheck the box for "Exclude large attachment data", which will affect more than those templates and would take up significant space on the platform, which is the main reason why sys_attachment is not retained in the first place. Normally you could create a data preserver to target them directly, but my understanding is that those also do not work on the sys_attachment table and other excluded tables (someone can correct me if I'm wrong on that).

Do you have any suggestions on how we would resolve the attachment dynamically? I don't know if we could use a custom table or KB article for them. They are excel files, fairly small, but with specific formatting and custom cells. For a KB article, we would still have to attach the file because the formatting could not be captured in the KB form, and I'm pretty sure it would be the same case with a custom table. Either way still involves sys_attachment, unless I am misunderstanding you.