Query Regarding Email Outbox Functionality in ServiceNow PDI

[saitejach17]

Hello ServiceNow Community,

I have a query regarding email functionality in a ServiceNow Personal Developer Instance (PDI).

I would like to know whether it is possible to send emails from a PDI and view them in the Outbox/Email Queue. In my instance, I am unable to see emails being sent, so I am not sure if outbound email functionality is enabled by default in PDIs.

Could anyone please help me understand:

• Is outbound email enabled in ServiceNow PDI?
• If not, is there a way to enable or test email notifications in a PDI?
• How can I verify whether emails are being generated and queued?
• Which modules or tables should I check to troubleshoot email sending issues?

I would appreciate it if someone could explain the process or share any relevant documentation.

Thank you for your help.

Best Regards,
Sai Teja
ServiceNow Developer

[RaghavendraGund]

Hello @saitejach17 

This is an interesting question. The answer is no, you can't see an actual delivery to your email box from ServiceNow.

Here's the answer.

For an email to go out from a ServiceNow instance, two things need to be configured. The first one is Email sending enabled = true in Email Properties (refer screenshot 1), and the other is an active SMTP account on the sys_email_account table (refer screenshot 2).

We can check the Email sending enabled = true, but the real challenge is the SMTP account. For you to configure an SMTP email account, you need a server with username + password to authenticate.

So, basically the flow is: based on the trigger conditions the notification is triggered, ServiceNow hands off the email notification to the server configured on the SMTP email account. There the ServiceNow's job is done and a row is created in the sys_email table with type as sent. If still the user didn't receive an email, it's the server's fault, not ServiceNow.

That's why in our PDI, if you navigate to the sys_email.LIST table you will find that every notification is of send-ready type (refer screenshot 3). Because our PDIs are not configured with those SMTP servers, whereas in a real organization network those are configured.

And here is the proof — filter the same sys_email table on Type = sent and you get zero records (refer screenshot 4). Not a single email has ever been sent from this instance. The notifications are all being generated and queued correctly, they are just sitting there permanently because there is no SMTP server to hand them off to.

Please Mark "Solution Accepted" and Helpful, if my reply added any value to the Question.

Regards
Raghavendra G