How to allow forum users to send email with the "send email" button in the community

[ItayB]

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a ServiceNow Community implementation and I need some help regarding the “Email User” option that appears in the user popover (when you hover over a username in a community question/answer).

Currently, when I’m logged in as an admin, the popover correctly generates a mailto: link with the target user’s email address.
But when I log in as a regular community user, the mailto: does not contain the email (the email address is missing).

I assume this is happening because of ACL restrictions on the sys_user.email field. I tried creating ACLs that allow read access for users who exist in the sn_customer_communities_user table, but the issue persists.

It seems like the widget/page that builds the user popover is pulling the email directly from sys_user, and therefore regular community members can’t see it due to ACL restrictions.

👉 My questions are:

1. Is there a recommended way to configure this so that community members can email each other via the Email User button?

2. Should I update the ACL on sys_user.email, or is it better to customize the widget to pull the email from sn_customer_communities_user (where I already have community-specific ACLs)?

3. Has anyone implemented a secure pattern for this (so that only legitimate community members can see each other’s email, not everyone)?

Any best practices or examples would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Itay

[Shruti]

Hi,

As per the OOTB configuration, users with "

sn_communities.admin" and "

sn_communities.community_moderator" role can see email user option and mailto: will be populated if there is an entry in live_profile table

Check Community profile widget, Community profile script include and live_profile table

[ItayB]

I tried.. didnt work. 
maybe you have time for Teams?