Configure crawl settings for a Docusign external content connector

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated May 15, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
  • Define inclusion or exclusion filters to control which agreements you want your Docusign external content connector to make searchable.

    Before you begin

    A connector administrator must have already created the Docusign external content connector that you want to configure crawl settings for. To learn about this procedure, see Create a Docusign external content connector.

    Role required: sn_ext_conn.xcc_admin

    About this task

    This task is optional. By default, the Docusign external content connector retrieves agreements from all envelopes in its specified source system and sends them to AI Search for indexing. Only perform this task if you want to apply any of the following filters to limit which envelopes the connector retrieves agreements from when running content crawls:
    • Inclusion or exclusion filter based on the sent date of the envelope
    • Inclusion or exclusion filter based on the name of the envelope
    • Inclusion or exclusion filter based on the status of the envelope

    Content is only retrieved from the source system if it passes all of your configured crawl setting filters. If any crawl setting filter excludes a content item, the external content connector doesn't retrieve it.

    Important:

    By default, each external content connector can index up to one million (1,000,000) content items from its source system. When a connector exceeds this limit, it continues to crawl the source system, but only sends content item deletions and updates to AI Search for indexing, ignoring new content items. The connector logs an error message for every 10,000 content items it crawls beyond the indexing limit.

    When a connector's indexed content item count exceeds 800,000, a warning message appears in the connector's UI to indicate that it's approaching the indexing limit. If the connector reaches the indexing limit, an error message appears in its UI.

    External content connectors that support user permissions crawls can handle permissions for up to five hundred thousand (500,000) users and their groups. If a connector retrieves users in excess of this limit, user and group permissions may not be correctly applied to the connector's retrieved content. As a result, the content may not be searchable.

    If one of your connectors reaches the content indexing limit, you can update its crawl settings and file inclusion/exclusion filters to reduce the number of content items it retrieves. Alternatively, if you need a connector to index more than 1,000,000 content items, you can create a Customer Service and Support case at https://support.servicenow.com/now to request a limit increase for the connector.

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to All > External Content Connectors > External Content Admin Home.
    2. In the Connectors list, select the record for the Docusign external content connector whose settings you want to modify.
    3. In the connector editor's Settings tab, select Crawl settings.
    4. Select one of the following Date options:
      • To only retrieve content from agreements in envelopes that were sent in the last year, select Sent last year.
      • To only retrieve content from agreements in envelopes that were sent in the last quarter, select Sent last quarter.
      • To only retrieve content from agreements in envelopes that were sent in the last month, select Sent last month.
      • To only retrieve content from agreements in envelopes that were sent in the last week, select Sent last week.
    5. Select one of the following Envelopes options:
      • To crawl all envelopes from the source system, select Crawl all envelopes.
      • To crawl only a specified set of envelopes from the source system, select Include only these envelopes, then use the Add ID to include field and Add button to enter IDs for envelopes you want the connector to include when crawling.

        As an example, you might enter CS313157, CS214083, and CS990276 to only retrieve searchable content from the three specified envelopes.

      • To crawl all but a specified set of envelopes from the source system, select Exclude only these envelopes, then use the Add ID to exclude field and Add button to enter IDs for envelopes you want the connector to exclude when crawling.

        As an example, you might enter CS398287 to exclude searchable content from the specified envelope.

    6. Select one of the following Status options:
      • To crawl envelopes with any status from the source system, select Crawl all statuses.
      • To crawl only envelopes with a specified set of statuses from the source system, select Include only these statuses, then use the Status to include field and Add button to enter statuses you want the connector to include when crawling.

        As an example, you might enter published to only retrieve searchable content from envelopes with the specified status.

      • To crawl envelopes with all but a specified set of statuses from the source system, select Exclude only these statuses, then use the Status to exclude field and Add button to enter statuses you want the connector to exclude when crawling.

        As an example, you might enter draft to exclude searchable content from envelopes with the specified status.

    7. Optional: If you want AI Search to automatically generate captions for content in attachments and files retrieved by the connector, select the Multimodal captions option.
      When you select this option, the Platform Multimodal Service automatically generates descriptive captions for images, tables, charts, and other visual elements found in retrieved attachments and files. You can discover these retrieved attachments and files by searching for terms from their generated captions.
      This option is only available when the Platform Multimodal Service plugin is activated on your instance.
    8. Select Save and validate.

    Result

    The Docusign external content connector is updated with your modified crawl settings.

    What to do next

    To retrieve content from your Docusign source system using your modified crawl settings, create and run a one-time content crawl for your Docusign external content connector. To learn about creating and running one-time content crawls, see Create a content crawl for an external content connector.