Turning ServiceNow into an Inbox: A Simple, Effective Setup

[Rob Greeley]

Turning ServiceNow into an Inbox: A Simple, Effective Setup

Introduction

Sometimes, navigating ServiceNow can feel less intuitive than a classic email inbox. In an email client, new replies bubble to the top, you’re instantly notified, and there’s no guesswork about where your attention is needed. Out of the box, ServiceNow doesn’t recreate that same experience—so let’s fix that!

In this post, I’ll share a straightforward solution that uses two custom fields, an inbound email rule, a notification, and some list sorting tricks to make ServiceNow tasks work more like an inbox.

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The Problem

• Hard to See New Responses
  When a user replies via email to a task, there’s no built-in way to have that task jump to the top of your queue.
• Manual Checking
  Agents often open tasks one by one or rely on the Activity Stream to see if a new reply arrived.
• No Clear “Inbox” Concept
  Email clients have an “unread” indicator. ServiceNow tasks do not—unless you customize.

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The Goal

1. Flag Tickets That Have New Inbound Emails
   Much like “unread” in an inbox, we want a visible indicator that something new has arrived and needs attention.
2. Easily Sort or Highlight Those Tickets
   When new emails arrive, those tasks should appear at the top of your view, so you know exactly what needs follow-up.
3. Send a Notification
   Ensure the assignee immediately gets alerted when a new inbound email arrives.

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The Proposed Solution

1. Add Two New Fields on the Task Table

1. New Email (Boolean / True-False)

   • This will act like an “unread” indicator.
   • When a new email comes in for a task, set it to true.
   • When the agent opens or updates the task, set it back to false.

2. Last Email Received (Date/Time)

   • This will record the date and time of the most recent inbound email.
   • Useful for sorting tasks so the newest inbound messages appear first.

You can create these fields on the base task table or on each extended table (Incident, Request, etc.), but typically putting them on task is more scalable.

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2. Configure an Inbound Email Rule or Flow

Set up a before rule (or a Flow Designer flow) that triggers whenever ServiceNow receives an inbound email related to a task. Here’s the general process:

1. Identify the Task
   • From the inbound email, look up the associated record (e.g., via ref:INC0012345 in the subject or using the system’s default email parsing).
2. Set Fields
   • New Email = true
   • Last Email Received = current date/time (e.g., now())
3. Proceed with Other Rules
   • Let your standard inbound email actions handle classification, logging, or state changes as needed.

This ensures that whenever someone (e.g., a customer or end user) replies via email, the corresponding task immediately gets flagged as having “new” information.

Tip: If you have multiple inbound email rules, make sure the one setting New Email runs early enough (or has a high priority) so other rules don’t overwrite your changes.

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3. Send an Immediate Notification

Create a notification on the task table that sends an email (or pushes a notification in the Agent Workspace) to the task’s Assigned to user whenever New Email = true.

1. Event or Condition
   • Trigger when the field New Email changes from false to true.
2. Recipients
   • Typically, the Assigned to user, or you can route it to a group if that’s your workflow.
3. Email Template
   • Include a link to open the task directly from the notification.

This step is crucial: it replicates that “You have a new message” feeling from a standard email inbox.

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4. Sort and Highlight in Lists or Agent Workspace

To make tasks with New Email = true stand out:

1. List Sorting
   • In your “My Work” or custom list module, add a sorting order:
     1. New Email in descending order (so true is on top)
     2. Then Last Email Received in descending order (so the most recent inbound email is at the very top among those flagged).
2. Highlighting
   • In Agent Workspace, you can color-code or boldface any tasks where New Email = true.
   • For example, use UI Policies or Workspace list rules to display a colored highlight.
3. Filtering
   • Create a separate view or tab called “Inbound Email” or “New Email,” filtered to only show tasks with New Email = true.

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5. Marking an Email as “Handled”

Finally, we want the New Email indicator to reset when the agent responds or updates the task:

1. UI Action or Business Rule
   • Whenever the user performs a relevant action (e.g., adds a comment, updates the work notes, changes a state, or hits a custom “Handled” button), set New Email = false.
2. Optional: Automatic Timer
   • If you’d rather it automatically reset on any agent update, you can add a small before update business rule:
     • If current.assigned_to is the logged-in user and the record is being updated, then New Email = false.

With this approach, once the agent has seen or dealt with the new email, the task no longer appears in the “new inbound” queue.

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Why This Works

• Mimics an Email Inbox
  New Email is essentially the “unread” flag, ensuring new replies are easy to spot.
• Enables Sorting by Most Recent
  Last Email Received ensures that tasks with the newest replies are at the top.
• Immediate Notification
  Agents get alerted right away when an inbound email arrives—no more hunting through tasks.
• Simple Configuration
  This requires only a couple of fields, one inbound email rule/flow, a notification, and some list configuration. Minimal overhead, maximum impact.

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Wrapping Up

By leveraging two new fields and a few simple configurations, you can transform the ServiceNow experience to feel more like an email inbox. Your agents won’t have to guess which tasks have new information—they’ll see it immediately, get a notification, and can sort by the latest activity.

Give it a try and see how much easier it becomes for your team to stay on top of new responses. If you have any questions or want to share how you’ve customized your ServiceNow instance, leave a comment below!