Scripting

Shreneek
Tera Contributor

What's the use case for disabling syntax highlighting in the Script Editor?

noticed there's a feature in the ServiceNow Script Editor that allows you to disable syntax highlighting and script formatting. I'm curious - what's the practical reason for this feature?Screenshot 2026-01-21 at 10.24.06.png

4 REPLIES 4

Ankur Bawiskar
Tera Patron

@Shreneek 

I don't think it has any use-case.

I have never seen any developer disabling that.

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Regards,
Ankur
Certified Technical Architect  ||  9x ServiceNow MVP  ||  ServiceNow Community Leader

Dr Atul G- LNG
Tera Patron

Hi @Shreneek 

It might simply be to give users a plain text option. Some users may want to use it as plain text rather than code. I know this isn’t a strong explanation, but it could be one possible reason.

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Dr. Atul G. - Learn N Grow Together
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GlideFather
Tera Patron

Hi @Shreneek,

 

it's just the code visualisation, if you disable it will look like a simple text, no colours.

 

Disabled on the left, enabled on the right:

GlideFather_0-1768991883413.png

 

This is for user preferences... I guess the left side was the original legacy option and with time the right side was introduced giving the chance to select. Nothing else really.

 

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No AI was used in the writing of this post. Pure #GlideFather only

adityahubli
Tera Guru

Hello @Shreneek ,

I don’t think there is any strong use case for disabling this option. When the enhanced Script Editor is enabled, it provides features similar to Visual Studio Code, such as auto-completion, syntax highlighting, and error indication for incorrect syntax. These features make development easier, faster, and more interactive.

 

When this option is disabled, the editor behaves like a normal notepad, where you write code without any assistance, highlighting, or validation support, which is generally not helpful for developers

 

 

If this helps you then mark it as helpful and accept as solution.

Regards,

Aditya,

technical Consultant