Inbound email

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated December 5, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Inbound email

    Inbound email functionality in ServiceNow enables customers to receive and process emails from external systems or users, allowing seamless integration and automated handling of incoming email communications.

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    Accounts

    The Accounts feature is used to configure and manage email accounts that ServiceNow uses to receive inbound emails. Customers can create accounts for ServiceNow or Gmail and specify detailed connection settings.

    • Account Types: POP3 or IMAP.
    • Authentication: Mandatory field specifying the method used.
    • Server: Must provide the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) especially for on-premises installations.
    • Username and Password: Credentials required to access the email account.
    • Connection Security: Options include None, STARTTLS, or SSL/TLS. SSL/TLS is recommended for secure email encryption between ServiceNow and the mail server.
    • Port: TCP port used for the connection.
    • Active Checkbox: Enables or disables the account.
    • Enable Debug Logging: Allows capturing detailed node logs of email data exchanges for troubleshooting.

    Accounts can be exported in multiple formats (Excel, CSV, JSON, PDF) and delivered via download or email.

    Properties

    Properties control how inbound emails are recognized and processed, including:

    • Enabling email receiving and auto-creating users from trusted domains.
    • Configuring detection rules for email replies and forwarded messages.
    • Defining trusted domains to enhance security and email handling accuracy.

    Changes to properties must be saved explicitly, with an option to undo recent unsaved modifications.

    Actions

    Email actions define system responses to incoming emails and can be customized by the customer:

    • Name: Identifier for the action.
    • Target Table: Specifies where records are created or updated in ServiceNow.
    • Active Checkbox: Activates or deactivates the action.
    • Action Type: Defines whether the action modifies a record (Record Action) or sends a reply email (Reply Email).
    • Stop Processing: Option to prevent subsequent inbound email actions from executing after this action runs.

    These configurations allow ServiceNow customers to automate email-driven processes efficiently while maintaining secure and controlled handling of inbound emails.

    Use the inbound email to receive and process incoming emails from external systems or users.

    Accounts

    Image showing inbound accounts

    Use Accounts to process inbound emails from external sources and users.
    1. Navigate to Inbound email > Accounts. A list of existing accounts shows up.
    2. To create an account, select Add an account.
    3. Select ServiceNow account or Gmail and select Next.
    4. For Gmail, fill the Application registry form and select Next. For information about configuring an OAuth OIDC provider, see Configure an OAuth OIDC provider for accepting third-party token.
    5. Fill the form with email account information.
      Field Description
      Name Name of the account
      Type States the type of account. It can either be POP3 or IMAP.
      Authentication States the authentication method of the account
      Note:
      Authentication is a mandatory field
      Server Remote server to which this account connects. To activate a server for an on-premises installation, enter the full address (FQDN) of the node (for example, node.customerdomain).
      Note:
      Server is a mandatory field
      Username Username used to create the account
      Note:
      Username is a mandatory field
      Password Password used to set up the account
      Note:
      Password is a mandatory field
      Connection Security Type of secure connection. Choose a setting:
      • None: No secure protocol is used.
      • STARTTLS: Upgrades an insecure connection to a secure connection using the SSL/TLS encryption protocol, if your email server supports TLS.
      • SSL/TLS: Connect to an SSL/TLS encrypted port to secure the connection. Email is encrypted between the ServiceNow instance and your mail server.
        Warning:
        Selecting a less secure protocol like STARTTLS or None may expose your data. To better ensure the security of data in your email server, select SSL/TLS.
      Port Connection TCP port.
      Active Optional checkbox to create an active account
      Enable Debug Logging Option to create node logs for the raw data that is exchanged with the email server. You can review the node logs by navigating to System Logs > Utilities > Node Log File Browser.
    6. Select Export to export the accounts on to an Excel, CSV, JSON or PDF. You can then select the delivery type either through download or email.

    Properties

    Manage the behavior of incoming emails with Properties.

    Image showing inbound properties

    • Inbound sending and delivery options: You can enable receiving emails and can also enable auto-create users from trusted domains
    • Inbound recognition and trusted domains: You can setup conditions for the following:
      • How to detect an email reply
      • How to identify a forwarded email
      • Which domains should be trusted
    Note:
    Select Save to save the recent property settings. You can also undo the most recent change by selecting Undo. By selecting Undo, the values are reverted back to the most recent saved values.

    Actions

    Email actions determine how and when the system responds to service requests. On selecting Actions under Inbound email, a list of existing actions shows up. Select Add an action to create a new action.

    Image showing actions

    Field Description
    Name Name of the action
    Target table Select the table where the action adds or updates records.
    Active Optional checkbox to create an active action
    Action type Type of the action. Select the type of action the instance takes. Select Record Action to modify a record in the instance, or select Reply Email to have the instance send an email back to the source of the inbound email.
    Stop processing Optional checkbox to help prevent the system from running additional inbound email actions after this action runs.

    See Inbound email configuration for more information.