question Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow? in Community Central forum

Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow?

KanishkaS814962 — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 07:42:56 GMT

Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow? I am looking for a solution similar to how PDF documents are generated. Has anyone implemented Word document generation for any record in ServiceNow? If so, I would appreciate guidance on how to configure it.

I want to create a UI Action in Workspace where a user can select a record and click a button to generate a Word document. We can generate PDFs, but I am not sure how to do the same for Word documents. Could you please provide the steps or a working solution?

Re: Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow?

GlideFather — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:37:09 GMT

hi @KanishkaS814962,

what is your business requirement behind this?

For DOC generation, you might need to purchase this app - DocGenerator

I am worried that ServiceNow can generate stricly PDF just and only. But perhaps I'm wrong...

Re: Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow?

Ankur Bawiskar — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 14:11:48 GMT

@KanishkaS814962

there is nothing OOTB available for this

there is a paid app from ServiceNow which has this capability

ServiceNow Document Designer with Word

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Re: Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow?

Ankur Bawiskar — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 14:12:23 GMT

@KanishkaS814962

do you want to generate and add from client side (UI) or server side?

Re: Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow?

KanishkaS814962 — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 10:33:12 GMT

@Ankur Bawiskar and @GlideFather Thanks for the updates. At the moment, we are looking for a custom solution. I have already reviewed the paid plugin mentioned above and discussed it with the management team, but they are not interested in a paid option. We need to implement document generation for one of our applications, so we are exploring a custom approach that can produce a document with a look and feel similar to our existing PDF generation.

I have tried the approach below and it is working, but I am looking for best practices and a better solution from fellow members.

try {

// Replace field names as needed

var html = "<html><head><meta charset='utf-8'></head><body>";

html += "<h2>Record: " + current.getValue('number') + "</h2>";

html += "Short description: " + GlideStringUtil.escapeHTML(current.getValue('short_description')) + "";

html += "Description: " + GlideStringUtil.escapeHTML(current.getValue('description')) + "";

html += "</body></html>";

var fileName = "Record_" + current.getValue("number") + ".doc";

var sa = new GlideSysAttachment();

// write(tableRecord, fileName, contentType, data)

var attachmentSysId = sa.write(current, fileName, "application/msword", html);

// Redirect user to the attachment download

action.setRedirectURL("/sys_attachment.do?sys_id=" + attachmentSysId);

} catch (ex) {

gs.addErrorMessage("Error creating DOC: " + ex);

gs.error("Export to Word failed: " + ex);

}

Re: Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow?

Ankur Bawiskar — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 11:53:21 GMT

@KanishkaS814962

you may not get exact same look and feel as that of word document when you use custom solution.

You will have to rely on some external library.

this is somewhat challenging.

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

Re: Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow?

indersinghp — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 06:07:31 GMT

Hi @KanishkaS814962 ,

You can achieve this requirement by implementing a UI Action. Specifically, you will need to configure a client-side UI Action together with a client-callable Script Include. Both components work in coordination to generate the Word document. The implementation details and code samples are provided below:

Here is the UI Action script:-

function onClick() {

var ids = g_list.getChecked(); // returns comma-separated sys_ids

if (!ids) {

alert("Please select at least one record.");

return;

}

// Call script include

var ga = new GlideAjax('BGHDownloadUtils');

ga.addParam('sysparm_name', 'downloadDoc');

ga.addParam('sysparm_ids', ids);

ga.getXML(function(response) {

var attId = response.responseXML.documentElement.getAttribute("answer");

if (!attId) {

alert("Failed to generate document.");

return;

}

// Start download

window.location = "/sys_attachment.do?sys_id=" + attId;

});

}

Here is the Script Include Script:-

var BGHDownloadUtils = Class.create();
BGHDownloadUtils.prototype = Object.extendsObject(AbstractAjaxProcessor, {

downloadDoc: function() {

var ids = this.getParameter('sysparm_ids');
if (!ids)
return "";

var idList = ids.split(',');

// This will hold the combined HTML
var mergedHTML = "";

// Loop through each selected record
for (var i = 0; i < idList.length; i++) {

var rec = new GlideRecord('incident'); // Change table if required
if (!rec.get(idList[i]))
continue;

// Build HTML content manually (NO TEMPLATE USED)
var html = "";

html += "<h2>Incident Details</h2>";
html += "Number: " + rec.getValue("number") + "";
html += "Short Description: " + rec.getValue("short_description") + "";
html += "Description: " + rec.getValue("description") + "";
html += "Priority: " + rec.getDisplayValue("priority") + "";

html += " <hr> ";

mergedHTML += html;
}

if (!mergedHTML)
return "";

// File name
var fileName = "Selected_Records.doc";

// Dummy record to attach the document
var dummy = new GlideRecord("sys_script");
dummy.initialize();
dummy.name = "Download Holder";
var dummyID = dummy.insert();

// Attach the HTML as Word file
var sa = new GlideSysAttachment();
var attachmentID = sa.write(dummy, fileName, "application/msword", mergedHTML);

return attachmentID;
}
});

If my response was helpful, please mark it as the correct answer ✔️ to help others in the community find the solution easily.

Re: Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow?

indersinghp — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 08:16:31 GMT

Hi @KanishkaS814962 ,

Here is the UI Action script:-

function onClick() {

var ids = g_list.getChecked(); // returns comma-separated sys_ids

if (!ids) {

alert("Please select at least one record.");

return;

}

// Call script include

var ga = new GlideAjax('BGHDownloadUtils');

ga.addParam('sysparm_name', 'downloadDoc');

ga.addParam('sysparm_ids', ids);

ga.getXML(function(response) {

var attId = response.responseXML.documentElement.getAttribute("answer");

if (!attId) {

alert("Failed to generate document.");

return;

}

// Start download

window.location = "/sys_attachment.do?sys_id=" + attId;

});

}

Here is the Script Include Script:-

var BGHDownloadUtils = Class.create();
BGHDownloadUtils.prototype = Object.extendsObject(AbstractAjaxProcessor, {

downloadDoc: function() {

var ids = this.getParameter('sysparm_ids');
if (!ids)
return "";

var idList = ids.split(',');

// This will hold the combined HTML
var mergedHTML = "";

// Loop through each selected record
for (var i = 0; i < idList.length; i++) {

var rec = new GlideRecord('incident'); // Change table if required
if (!rec.get(idList[i]))
continue;

// Build HTML content manually (NO TEMPLATE USED)
var html = "";

html += " <hr> ";

mergedHTML += html;
}

if (!mergedHTML)
return "";

// File name
var fileName = "Selected_Records.doc";

// Dummy record to attach the document
var dummy = new GlideRecord("sys_script");
dummy.initialize();
dummy.name = "Download Holder";
var dummyID = dummy.insert();

// Attach the HTML as Word file
var sa = new GlideSysAttachment();
var attachmentID = sa.write(dummy, fileName, "application/msword", mergedHTML);

return attachmentID;
}
});

If my response was helpful, please mark it as the correct answer ✔️ to help others in the community find the solution easily.

Re: Could you please help me with generating a Word document in ServiceNow?

Florisvmuijen — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 10:00:57 GMT

What’s implemented in the accepted solution is essentially HTML being exported as a Word file (.doc with application/msword). That can work as a workaround, but it’s not true Word document generation (.docx), so matching real Word templates with headers, footers, styling and layouts can become difficult.

In practice teams usually either generate PDFs using Document Templates, or use a document generation solution designed for Word templates when .docx output is required (for example apps from the ServiceNow Store like Office Templater).

The HTML approach can work for simple exports, but it tends to hit limitations once the document formatting becomes more complex.