Configure crawl settings for a Smartsheet external content connector

Specify the items you want your Smartsheet external content connector to crawl. Define inclusion or exclusion filters to dictate the types of content the crawl retrieves and feeds to AI Search for indexing.

Before you begin

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

Role required: sn_ext_conn.xcc_admin

About this task

This task is optional. By default, the Smartsheet external content connector crawls all workspaces from its specified source system and sends all sheets and attachments with all supported file extensions to AI Search for indexing. Only perform this task if you want the connector to use any of the following non-default settings:

• Inclusion or exclusion filters for workspaces to crawl when running content crawls
• Inclusion or exclusion filters for sheets to retrieve when running content crawls
• Inclusion or exclusion filters for the attachment file extensions to retrieve when running content crawls
• Inclusion or exclusion filters for the content types to retrieve when running content crawls

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

When a connector's indexed document 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.

If one of your connectors reaches the indexing limit, you can update its crawl settings and file inclusion/exclusion filters to reduce the number of documents it retrieves. Alternately, if you need to index more than 1,000,000 documents, 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 Smartsheet external content connector whose settings you want to modify.
3. In the connector editor's Settings tab, select Crawl settings.
4. In the Workspaces, Sheets, Attachments, and Crawl content types sections, select the options for the items you want the connector to visit and retrieve when you run content crawls.
5. Select one of the following Workspaces options:
   • To crawl all workspaces found in the source system, select Crawl all workspaces.

   • To crawl only a specified set of workspaces found in the source system, select Include only these workspaces, then use the Add workspace name to include field and Add button to enter names for workspaces you want the connector to include when crawling.

     As an example, you might enter Project Horizon to only retrieve content from this workspace.

   • To crawl all but a specified set of workspaces found in the source system, select Exclude only these workspaces, then use the Add workspace name to exclude field and Add button to enter names for workspaces you want the connector to exclude when crawling.

     As an example, you might enter Catalyst Programs to exclude content from this workspace.

6. Select one of the following Sheets options:
   • To crawl all sheets found in the source system, select Crawl all sheets.

   • To crawl only a specified set of sheets found in the source system, select Include only these sheets, then use the Add sheet name to include field and Add button to enter names for sheets you want the connector to include when crawling.

     As an example, you might enter Efficiency Enhancements to only retrieve content from sheets with this name.

   • To crawl all but a specified set of sheets found in the source system, select Exclude only these sheets, then use the Add sheet name to exclude field and Add button to enter names for sheets you want the connector to exclude when crawling.

     As an example, you might enter Future Plans to exclude sheets with this name.

7. Select one of the following Attachments options:
   • To retrieve all attachments with supported file extensions from the source system, select Crawl all attachments.

   • To retrieve only attachments with specified file extensions from the source system, select Include only these file extensions, then use the File extensions to include field to enter attachment file extensions you want the connector to include when crawling.

     As an example, you might enter .docx to retrieve only attachments with the Microsoft Word file format.

   • To retrieve all attachments except those with specified file extensions from the source system, select Exclude only these file extensions, then use the File extensions to exclude field to enter attachment file extensions you want the connector to exclude when crawling.

     As an example, you might enter .csv to exclude attachments with the Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file format.

   For details on the supported attachment file extensions, see Binary file extensions supported in External Content Connectors.
8. Select Save and validate.

Result

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

What to do next

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