Combined Next Experience release notes for upgrades from Vancouver to Xanadu

How to use this page

To help you prepare for your upgrade, we have combined the cross-family Next Experience release notes onto one page. Read this summary of the new features, changes, and updated information for your product from Vancouver to Xanadu.

Tip:

If there were no updates for a release notes section in a certain family release, we included a short note for your reference. For example, if a product did not have any updates in Tokyo, the row says "No updates for this release."

Important information for upgrading Next Experience to Xanadu

Before you upgrade to Xanadu, review these pre- and post-upgrade tasks and complete the tasks as needed.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

New features

Between your current release family and Xanadu, new features were introduced for Next Experience.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	Feedback mechanism added to Help menu Use the Provide Feedback button on the Help menu to provide feedback and comments about the functionality of the associated page to ServiceNow®. A dialog box opens with options that you can select to rate the effectiveness of the product. New user preferences enhance debugging capabilities Use the Debugging user preferences to help detect and remove existing and potential errors in your Next Experience components and scripts. Resize a logo for your login screen Configure the size of logos on your login pages. This feature requires you to create a system property.
Washington DC	Keyboard shortcuts Use new keyboard shortcuts to reduce the time required to complete various tasks. For more information, see the Accessibility information section that follows. "No records to display" graphic can be suppressed A new system property called glide.ui.polaris.style.hide_empty_list_image enables the administrator to suppress the graphic that is displayed when no records are found. This feature applies to the Core UI only. What's New content added to Help Center The Help Center now includes two tabs: Get help and What's new. The What's new tab displays features that have been added or updated since the last release. The Help Center icon displays a blue dot when What's new content is available.
Xanadu	Next Experience keyboard shortcuts Use a new keyboard shortcut to reduce the time required to open the OpenFrame window. User experience user preference group added A new "User experience" user preference group has been added for the Turn off Next Experience, Enable analytics, and Current start page preferences. Pin your notifications menu Pin your notifications menu for quick access to important updates. View Next Experience performance metrics View performance metrics for any Next Experience page. Preserve your custom Next Experience theme during a clone Cloning is optimized to preserve your Next Experience and Theme Builder themes. This helps ensure that the themes are not overwritten during the cloning process.

Changes

Between your current release family and Xanadu, some changes were made to existing Next Experience features.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	Configure banner announcements to be made non-dismissible Several new configuration options have been added to the banner announcement area. Banners can now be configured so that they are not dismissible by users and don't stack if more than one banner is displayed at the same time. Also, the alignment of banner contents can be adjusted to start, end, or center justification. Increase efficiency by creating a new update set directly from the Update Set picker The Update Set picker now includes a button for creating a new update set. Replace the utility menu via a toggle bar that persistently displays the application scope and update set content information Using a system property, the traditional utility picker menu icon can be switched to an icon that toggles viewing the application scope and the currently selected update set in a new horizontal bar that enables the user to view this information at a glance. View recently used items in the application scope and update set menus The application scope and update set menus now display a list of the most recently used items in a section at the top of the list with the item currently in use highlighted. VTB now adopts the user's Theme preference settings The Visual Task Board dashboard now reflects the user's Theme preference settings by default.
Washington DC	Impersonate user feature improved The Impersonate user option on the User menu now expands as you impersonate the user multiple times. Up to six impersonations are shown before a scroll bar appears.
Xanadu	Select a theme in Next Experience If multiple core themes have been created using Theme Builder, then those themes and their alternate color palettes are displayed in the Theme user preference group.

Removed

Between your current release family and Xanadu, some Next Experience features or functionality were removed.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Deprecations

Between your current release family and Xanadu, some Next Experience features or functionality were deprecated.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Activation information

Review information on how to activate Next Experience.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	Next Experience is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default when the user loads or upgrades to the Vancouver release. An opt-out system property can be created prior to upgrade if there are known problems with turning on Next Experience on an instance. Note: If you are using Next Experience in the Vancouver release, Internet Explorer 11 is not supported. Internet Explorer 11 is supported in the Core UI; however, the Vancouver release is the last version to support Internet Explorer 11. Consider moving to a supported browser.
Washington DC	Next Experience is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default when the user loads or upgrades to the Washington DC release. An opt-out system property can be created prior to upgrade if there are known problems with turning on Next Experience on an instance.
Xanadu	Next Experience is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default when the user loads or upgrades to the Xanadu release. An opt-out system property can be created prior to upgrade if there are known problems with turning on Next Experience on an instance. Install Theme Builder by requesting it from the ServiceNow Store.

Additional requirements

If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for Next Experience we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Browser requirements

If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for Next Experience we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	The Washington DC release no longer supports Internet Explorer 11. You can’t log in through that browser. The iOS version of Firefox is also not supported.
Xanadu	Xanadu no longer supports Internet Explorer 11. You can't log in through that browser. The iOS version of Firefox is also not supported.

Accessibility information

Review details on accessibility information for Next Experience, such as specific requirements or compliance levels.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	User preferences have been added to enhance accessibility New accessibility user preferences have been added to control the visibility of invisible controls and handle truncated text with your keyboard: Show all buttons without the need to hover: This user preference displays all invisible fields, eliminating the user's need to hover over them. Enable keyboard focus on truncated text: This user preference allows users to show the truncated text for non-interactive elements. This enhancement supports sighted users who rely solely on a keyboard to use the ServiceNow AI Platform.
Washington DC	The following features have been added to improve overall accessibility in the Next Experience. Next Experience keyboard shortcuts Forty keyboard shortcuts are now available to help you navigate across configurable workspace pages faster and more effectively without a mouse. Shortcuts are contextual to the page that you're on and to the operating system that you're using. View the keyboard shortcuts that are available to you on a particular page through the keyboard shortcut modal. You can open the modal by selecting Keyboard shortcuts from the Next Experience User Preferences menu, or by using a keyboard shortcut (Control + / for Windows or Command + / for macOS). This enhancement helps non-mouse and keyboard-only users or users with mobility issues and cognitive impairments to reduce the time required to complete various tasks. Previously, a limited number of keyboard shortcuts were available when the Enable special keyboard shortcuts Next Experience user preference was turned on. Those shortcuts are included in the new keyboard shortcut framework and are accessible via the new modal. See Configure Next Experience accessibility preferences for additional information. Reflow The Next Experience supports reflow, which enables pages and content to be zoomed up to 400% through your browser settings without loss of content or functionality. Additionally, content can be enlarged without scrolling in two dimensions at a width equivalent to 320 CSS pixels or a height equivalent to 256 CSS pixels. Page layouts are transformed into a vertical, stacked view automatically when users increase browser zoom to 400%. This enhancement helps users with low vision or who have trouble seeing web content in a browser due to monitor size, device type, poor lighting, or other situations. Reflow can be turned off with a system property for instances, experiences, and pages. See Reflow for Configurable Workspace for details.
Xanadu	Next Experience keyboard shortcuts In addition to the 40 keyboard shortcuts available, there is a new keyboard shortcut to reduce the time required opening the OpenFrame window. This shortcut allows agents to dial and answer the phone from the platform.

Localization information

If there are specific localization considerations for Next Experience we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	No updates for this release.
Washington DC	No updates for this release.
Xanadu	No updates for this release.

Highlight information

If there are specific highlight considerations for Next Experience we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Vancouver	Obtain user support and critical information at the expected time of need with ServiceNow® Adoption Services. Build a mobile-friendly self-service experience for your users with the updated ServiceNow® Service Portal application. Tailor the visual experience for your users by branding your site using the updated ServiceNow® Theme Builder. Use tools to answer customer questions and resolve their problems using the updated ServiceNow® Workspace application. Manage the visibility of invisible controls and handle truncated text with your keyboard with new accessibility user preferences. See Next Experience UI for more information.
Washington DC	A new "Language & Region" user preference group has been added for Language, Date and time format, and Timezone preferences. Accessibility improvements for the unified navigation area. New keyboard shortcuts to perform common actions in the user interface. Enhancements to the Impersonate user UI. See Next Experience UI for more information.
Xanadu	Choose from multiple themes created with Theme Builder and apply them to your instance. A new keyboard shortcut enables you to access the OpenFrame UI. A new "User experience" user preference group has been added for the Turn off Next Experience, Enable analytics, and Current start page preferences. A new client interaction table displays UI load times for identifying and investigating performance anomalies. See Next Experience UI for more information.