--- sourceDocument: Brazil Build workflows sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/build-workflows Release : - brazil ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Brazil Build workflows ft:clusterId : - crworkflow bundleId : - crworkflow workflow : - Creator --- # Customize Playbook Experience # Customizing the Playbook Experience {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Brazil Updated September 10, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 3 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Customizing the Playbook Experience The Playbook Experience in ServiceNow allows you to customize the layout and interaction of playbooks using modular components and templates through the integrated UI Builder functionality. This enables you to create tailored experiences for your agents and fulfillers, enhancing workflow visibility and management. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Modular Components:** Utilize pre-built components such as the Playbook Stage Picker, Activity Picker, Activity Viewer, and Playbook Modals to control how playbooks and their stages and activities are displayed and managed. * **Playbook Stage Picker:** Choose between vertical and horizontal orientations. The vertical view shows all playbooks for a parent record with stage details, including remaining and in-progress activities. The horizontal view focuses on stages of the selected playbook only, supporting pagination for playbooks with more than five stages. * **Activity Picker:** Enables navigation between activities within stages. When combined with the vertical stage picker, it expands stages to show activities; with the horizontal stage picker, it toggles the visibility of activities within the current stage. * **Activity Viewer:** Offers different display styles such as Stacked view (all activities stacked) or Focused view (single selected activity), as well as Guided and Wizard layouts for activity progression. * **Playbook Modals:** Add functionality to cancel playbooks or add optional activities through modal dialogs. These are included by default in templates. * **Custom Layout UI Controller:** Use this to auto-populate inputs for provided components, accelerating development. Note that presets do not auto-populate custom components you create yourself. * **UI Builder Bundles:** To simplify setup, you can add entire layout bundles (such as Focused Vertical, Focused Horizontal, Stacked Vertical, Guided, and Decision Wizard) that include all essential components and client scripts to new or existing UI Builder pages or standard record pages. ## Practical Benefits * Streamlines the customization of playbook displays, improving agent and fulfiller productivity by tailoring views to specific workflow needs. * Facilitates clear navigation and management of playbook stages and activities, including progress tracking and activity status visibility. * Speeds up UI development by leveraging presets and bundled templates, reducing configuration effort and ensuring consistency. * Supports both out-of-the-box and custom component configurations, enabling flexible adaptation to unique business processes. Customize the layout of your Playbook Experience with base system modular components, templates, and more via integrated UI Builder functionality. Build custom experiences for your agents and fulfillers with the modular components in the Playbook Experience apps. To speed up the development process, add the Custom Layout UI Controller to pages where you want presets to auto-populate inputs for the provided components. Note: You can also create your own custom components with UI Builder, but presets cannot auto-populate custom components with data. ## Components {#playbook-customize-playbook__section_jph_4dh_l1c} Determine how to display these modular components in your Playbook Experience: Playbook stage picker : The stages of a playbook can be displayed horizontally or vertically: * The vertical orientation shows: * All playbooks for a parent record, * The stages of each playbook, * How many activities remain to be completed in each stage, and * How many activities are in progress for each stage. {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_ets_pr5_gwb} In this example, a playbook named Playbook Experience Demo with stages named Assign, Create, Review and Update is shown. The Assign stage has 2 activities left to complete, with 1 in progress. The Create and Review and Update stages don't have blue numbers next to them, so they don't have any activities that are in progress.Figure 1. Vertical stage picker * The horizontal orientation only shows the stages of a selected playbook. To see the activities of a stage, select the stage.Figure 2. Horizontal stage picker Playbooks with more than 5 stages paginate. Note: The horizontal stage picker only shows you the playbook you are in and its stages, so you can't navigate between playbooks unless you: * Use a playbook template, or * Create your own drop-down component with UI Builder. {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_l2q_4w5_gwb} All playbook templates include a drop-down component to navigate between playbooks, and is auto-populated when you select the Playbook Picker preset. {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_ekv_rkt_gwb} Playbook activity picker : The activity picker is where you navigate between activities. If you're using the vertical stage picker, turning on the activity picker means each stage can be expanded to shows its activities.Figure 3. Activity picker when viewing stages vertically If you're using the horizontal stage picker, turning on the activity picker allows you to expand or collapse the entire list of activities for the stage you're in.Figure 4. Activity picker when viewing stages horizontally To toggle the Show Stages flag flag on or off, . Playbook activity viewer : The activity viewer is where you manage a stage's activities. You can change the way activities are displayed in this space: * The Stacked view displays all activities in a stage stacked on top of each other.Figure 5. Playbook stacked view * The Focused view displays a single selected activity.Figure 6. Playbook focused view * The Guided layout * The Wizard layout {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_rg1_dcw_gwb} Playbook modals : If you want the ability to cancel playbooks and add optional activities, you must add the Playbook Modals component to your pages. If you use a template, this is already included.Figure 7. Cancel playbook modal Figure 8. Add optional activity modal To start setting up components for your customized Playbook Experience, see [Customize a playbook in UI Builder](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/KS7jKYA~Pp3GaquaGG5cZw "Use UI Builder pages and modular components for custom playbook layouts to customize the end user's Playbook Experience in a configurable workspace, Service Portal page, or mobile web page."). ## Provided UI Builder Bundles {#playbook-customize-playbook__section_ls4_bfh_l1c} If adding each component individually isn't ideal, you can also add an entire layout to a new or existing UI Builder template. * Focused Vertical * Focused Horizontal * Stacked Vertical * Stacked Vertical * Guided Decision * Wizard {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_t5w_f2h_l1c} Each layout contains the following components: * UI controller * Presets * Activity viewer * Activity picker * Modals * Playbook picker * Stage picker * Client scripts {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_dqt_m2h_l1c} To add a bundle to an existing or new UI Builder page, see [Add a custom layout bundle to a UI Builder page](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/VaaBlRgPrKHnJEZ29b6dcg "Add playbook custom layout bundles to a new or existing UI Builder page that you've created from scratch."). If you're creating a new experience and want to add a bundle to a standard record page, see [Add a custom layout bundle to a UI Builder standard record page](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/lZZQuWkDKq9n23dZorfpoQ "Add playbook custom layout bundles to a new or an existing UI Builder standard record page.").