Now Assist context menu

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Now Assist context menu

    The Now Assist context menu leverages generative AI within ServiceNow to help agents efficiently summarize, create, and edit written content such as emails, chat replies, Knowledge Base articles, and change request risk explanations. It is available in the Next Experience interface for key ServiceNow products including Customer Service Management, Human Resources, IT Service Management, Strategic Portfolio Management, and IT Operations Management. Note that the context menu is not supported in Core UI.

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    Key Features

    • Generative AI Assistance: Enables summarizing, creating, modifying, and refining text content directly within any enabled field in a workspace via a floating Now Assist button.
    • Content Editing in Knowledge Base: Offers AI-driven options to elaborate or shorten selected text, with easy insertion into articles for faster Knowledge Base authoring and updates.
    • Change Tone Capability: Allows users to adjust the tone of content to casual, formal, or sympathetic styles, enhancing communication impact.
    • Email Recommendations: Supports composing and responding to emails with AI-generated template suggestions for new, forward, and reply scenarios.
    • Record Summarization: Generates summaries for records in workspaces and UI16, including options to expand, collapse, share, regenerate, or copy summaries.
    • Change Request Risk Explanation: Provides AI-generated risk explanations after risk assessment and calculation in both workspace and UI16 interfaces.
    • Custom Skill Deployment: Facilitates deployment of custom AI skills created with the Now Assist skill kit via the context menu.
    • Usage Monitoring: Includes a dashboard to track Now Assist context menu utilization across applications.

    Configuration and Controls

    • Availability Control: The menu appears on fields displaying the floating Now Assist button and can be shown or hidden using the wwnaquickactions table.
    • Content Refinement Limits: Administrators can limit the number of AI content refinements per user session by configuring the refineCount property. This can restrict refinements to unlimited, zero (disabled), or a specified number.
    • Minimum Word Count: The minimum selected word count required to display the Now Assist icon can be set using the minSelectedWordCount property, helping control when AI assistance triggers.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Enhanced Agent Productivity: Automates and accelerates writing tasks, enabling agents to produce clearer, more consistent communication with less effort.
    • Improved Content Quality: AI-powered elaboration, summarization, and tone adjustment ensure communications and Knowledge Base articles are polished and appropriate.
    • Streamlined Knowledge Management: Simplifies Knowledge Base article creation and editing, reducing manual workload and improving content accuracy.
    • Better Risk Communication: Provides clear AI-generated explanations of change request risks, aiding decision-making and compliance.
    • Flexible Customization: Customers can tailor AI interaction limits and availability to fit organizational policies and use cases.

    The Now Assist context menu uses generative AI to help agents summarize, create, and edit written content, thus streamlining their writing tasks.

    Agents produce various types of content, including emails and chat replies. The Now Assist context menu uses generative AI to assist agents in summarizing, creating, and editing emails and chat replies. Agents can preview AI generated content, scroll through previously created content, and refine the text using the AI. The Now Assist context menu can be triggered from any application or field in a ServiceNow workspace where the Now Assist context menu is enabled.

    The Now Assist context menu unlocks the power of generative AI and is available in Next Experience for:
    • Customer Service Management (CSM)
    • Human Resources (HR)
    • IT Service Management (ITSM)
    • Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM)
    • IT Operations Management (ITOM)
    The Now Assist context menu isn’t available with Core UI.

    Using the Now Assist context menu

    The Now Assist context menu is available on any field where the floating Now Assist button (Now Assist context menu icon) appears. If you start typing in the field, a menu appears with the available Now Assist context menu actions. The Now Assist context menu helps you summarize, create or modify existing documentation.

    You can configure the Advanced filter to hide or show the Now Assist Context Menu quick actions option using the wwna_quick_actions table. To view more variable set configuration options, see nacm-variable-set-description.html.

    Chat window using the Now Assist context menu

    You can use the Now Assist context menu when communicating with users in Agent Chat:

    If it takes too long to generate text or the Now LLM Service isn't available, an error message appears.

    Agent Chat window with the Now Assist context menu icon

    Change request risk explanation using the Now Assist context menu

    The Now Assist context menu makes the change request risk explanation available on the workspace and on UI16 after assessment and calculation.

    When the risk is assessed and calculated, you’ll see the Explain risk button with the Now Assist The Now Assist icon. icon on the workspace showing the risk explanation in a dialogue box in the Record information section.

    The change request risk explanation powered by Now Assist.

    When the risk is assessed and calculated, you’ll see the Now Assist The Now Assist icon. icon against the Risk field on UI16, showing the risk explanation in a dialogue box.

    Now Assist showing the change risk explanation.

    Note:
    The risk explanation that is presented in the dialogue box is assessed and calculated on the change request form.

    For more information about risk assessment and calculation, see Risk assessment.

    Content editing in Knowledge Base articles using the Now Assist content menu
    The Now Assist context menu enables generative AI assisted content editing capabilities for Knowledge Base authoring and to provide resolution notes in workspaces and UI16.

    When you open a knowledge article and select the content in it, you’ll see the Now Assist The Now Assist icon. icon pop-up and float along with your mouse device.

    When you hover over the Now Assist icon, you’ll see the following menu options to help you edit the content:
    • Elaborate: Generative AI details the selected text.
    • Shorten: Generative AI shortens the selected text.

    Now Assist context menu options for the selected text.

    You can insert the generative AI elaborated or shortened content into the Knowledge Base articles, using the Insert button and update or publish them.

    Insert the AI generated text into the Knowledge Base article.

    For more information about generating Knowledge Base articles using the Now Assist context menu, see Edit an article using the Now Assist context menu.

    Change Tone using Now Assist context menu
    The Now Assist context menu enables users to change the tone of their content. Users can choose between casual, formal, and sympathetic tone to enhance their content further, using the generative AI capabilities.
    When you hover over the Now Assist icon or select Refine menu, you see Change Tone menu option.
    You can further choose a preferred tone and select Formal, Casual, and Sympathetic. Review the changes and select Insert to finalize the new text.

    Now Assist change tone selections.

    Note:
    If you do not see the change tone option for your application or product, reach out to ServiceNow.
    Limit the number of content refinement calls using the Now Assist context menu
    Configure and limit the number of content refinements to the skill per session using the Now Assist context menu. By default, the maximum number of refinements isn’t set and you can configure to limit it.
    You can configure the refinement calls limitation at the Recommendations Dialog Props field in the Limit refinements record using the refineCount property.
    Note:
    The Limit refinements record is available in the Now Assist config var set record in the Now Assist Skill context menu application.

    Configure the content refine limits to using the refineCount property.

    You can set the refineCount as follows:
    • The default value of the property is -1. If the value is less than 0, then the number of refinements to the skill are unlimited.
    • If you provide 0 as the value, then the refine button will be disabled and the You reached the limit for refining content. message is displayed.

      The content refinement limited to zero or the refinements reached the maximum count.

    • If you configure it with a value greater than 0, you’ll be able to refine the content according to the set value. For example, if you set the refineCount to 2, then you will be able to refine the content only twice.

      The content refinement limit value set to two.

    Create knowledge article with open prompt
    Use NAcm to create inline knowledge article using open prompts. See Generate KB article with Now Assist context menu.
    Set the minimum word count for the Now Assist icon
    You can set a minimum word count required for the Now Assist icon to appear, to control when the icon is displayed based on content length. To set the minimum word count, update the value for the minSelectedWordCount property.