Attachment API

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 15 minutes to read

    • The Attachment API provides endpoints that allow you to upload and query file attachments.

    You can upload or retrieve a single file with each request.

    The Attachment API respects any system limitations on uploaded files, such as maximum file size and allowed attachment types. You can control these settings using the properties com.glide.attachment.max_size, 1024MB by default, and glide.attachment.extensions.

    Note:
    The Attachment API accepts all Content-Type values (*/*). Specify the file content type when uploading an attachment. The content type is stored with file metadata allowing other tools to correctly identify and parse the file.

    The following video provides more information on the Attachment API:

    Attachment API role requirements

    To create attachments, the user record used to authenticate the HTTP request with ServiceNow must have any roles required to create Attachment [sys_attachment] records. It must also have any roles required to read and write records on the target table, such as the itil role to add attachments to incident records.

    By default there is no single role allowing a user to add attachments. You can create a role to explicitly allow adding attachments, then assign this role to the user account being used to make the request.

    Attachment - DELETE /now/attachment/{sys_id}

    This method deletes the attachment with a specific sys_id value.

    URL format

    Versioned URL: /api/now/v1/attachment/{sys_id}

    Default URL: /api/now/attachment/{sys_id}

    Note:
    Available versions are specified in the REST API Explorer. For scripted REST APIs there is additional version information on the Scripted REST Service form.

    Supported request parameters

    Table 1. Path parameters
    Name Description
    sys_id Sys_id value of the attachment to delete.

    Data type: String
    Table 2. Query parameters
    Name Description
    None
    Table 3. Request body parameters (XML or JSON)
    Name Description
    None

    Headers

    The following request and response headers apply to this HTTP action only, or apply to this action in a distinct way. For a list of general headers used in the REST API, see Supported REST API headers.

    Table 4. Request headers
    Header Description
    None
    Table 5. Response headers
    Header Description
    None

    Status codes

    The following status codes apply to this HTTP action. For a list of possible status codes used in the REST API, see REST API HTTP response codes.

    Table 6. Status codes
    Status code Description
    204 Indicates the request ran successfully.
    401 Unauthorized. The user credentials are incorrect or have not been passed.
    404 Not found. The requested item wasn't found.
    500 Internal server error. An unexpected error occurred while processing the request. The response contains additional information about the error.

    Response body parameters (JSON or XML)

    Name Description
    None

    cURL request

    curl "https://instance.servicenow.com/api/now/attachment/615ea769c0a80166001cf5f2367302f5" \
--request DELETE \
--user 'username':'password'

    ""

    Attachment - GET /now/attachment

    Returns the metadata for multiple attachments.

    URL format

    Versioned URL: api/now/v1/attachment

    Default URL: api/now/attachment

    Note:
    Available versions are specified in the REST API Explorer. For scripted REST APIs there is additional version information on the Scripted REST Service form.

    Supported request parameters

    Table 7. Path parameters
    Name Description
    None
    Table 8. Query parameters
    Name Description
    sysparm_limit Limit to be applied on pagination.
    Note:
    Unusually large sysparm_limit values can impact system performance.

    Data type: String

    Default: 1000
    sysparm_offset Number of records to exclude from the query. Use this parameter to get more records than specified in sysparm_limit parameter. For example, if sysparm_limit is set to 500, but there are additional records you want to query, you can specify a sysparm_offset parameter value of 500 to get the second set of records.

    Data type: String

    Default: 0
    sysparm_query Encoded query. Queries for the Attachment API are relative to the Attachments [sys_attachment] table.

    For example: (sysparm_query=file_name=attachment.doc)

    The encoded query provides support for order by. To sort responses based on certain fields, use the ORDERBY and ORDERBYDESC clauses in sysparm_query. For example, sysparm_query=ORDERBYfile_name^ORDERBYDESCtable_Name orders the results in ascending order by name first, then in descending order by table name.

    Data type: String
    Table 9. Request body parameters (XML or JSON)
    Name Description
    None

    Headers

    The following request and response headers apply to this HTTP action only, or apply to this action in a distinct way. For a list of general headers used in the REST API, see Supported REST API headers.

    Table 10. Request headers
    Header Description
    Accept Data format of the response body. Supported types: application/json or application/xml.

    Default: application/json
    Table 11. Response headers
    Header Description
    Content-Type Content type of the response. For metadata requests, this is the content type of the metadata, not the content type of the attachment files.
    Link Links to download the attachments.

    Status codes

    The following status codes apply to this HTTP action. For a list of possible status codes used in the REST API, see REST API HTTP response codes.

    Table 12. Status codes
    Status code Description
    200 Successful. The request was successfully processed.
    401 Unauthorized. The user credentials are incorrect or have not been passed.
    500 Internal server error. An unexpected error occurred while processing the request. The response contains additional information about the error.

    Response body parameters (JSON or XML)

    Name Description
    Returned information depends on the selected attachments.

    cURL request

    curl "https://instance.servicenow.com/api/now/attachment?sysparm_limit=1" \
--request GET \
--header "Accept:application/json" \
--user "username":"password"

    {
  "result": [
    {
      "table_sys_id": "5054b6f8c0a800060056addcf551ecf8",
      "size_bytes": "462",
      "download_link": "https://instance.service-now.com/api/now/attachment/615ea769c0a80166001cf5f2367302f5/file",
      "sys_updated_on": "2009-05-21 04:12:21",
      "sys_id": "615ea769c0a80166001cf5f2367302f5",
      "image_height": "",
      "sys_created_on": "2009-05-21 04:12:21",
      "file_name": "blocks.swf",
      "sys_created_by": "glide.maint",
      "compressed": "true",
      "average_image_color": "",
      "sys_updated_by": "glide.maint",
      "sys_tags": "",
      "table_name": "content_block_programmatic",
      "image_width": "",
      "sys_mod_count": "0",
      "content_type": "application/x-shockwave-flash",
      "size_compressed": "485"
    }
  ]
}

    Attachment - GET /now/attachment/{sys_id}/file

    Returns the binary file attachment with a specific sys_id value.

    URL format

    Versioned URL: /api/now/v1/attachment/{sys_id}/file

    Default URL: /api/now/attachment/{sys_id}/file

    Note:
    Available versions are specified in the REST API Explorer. For scripted REST APIs there is additional version information on the Scripted REST Service form.

    Supported request parameters

    Table 13. Path parameters
    Name Description
    sys_id Sys_id of the attachment record from which to return binary data.
    Table 14. Query parameters
    Name Description
    None
    Table 15. Request body parameters (XML or JSON)
    Name Description
    None

    Headers

    The following request and response headers apply to this HTTP action only, or apply to this action in a distinct way. For a list of general headers used in the REST API, see Supported REST API headers.

    Table 16. Request headers
    Header Description
    Accept Data format of the response body. For example, use image/jpeg or image/png to accept JPEG or PNG image files exclusively. To allow all image types, specify image/*; to allow any file type, specify */*.

    Default: */*
    Table 17. Response headers
    Header Description
    X-Attachment-Metadata Metadata about the returned file, such as size, name, and file type.

    Status codes

    The following status codes apply to this HTTP action. For a list of possible status codes used in the REST API, see REST API HTTP response codes.

    Table 18. Status codes
    Status code Description
    200 Successful. The request was successfully processed.
    400 Bad Request. A bad request type or malformed request was detected.
    401 Unauthorized. The user credentials are incorrect or have not been passed.
    500 Internal server error. An unexpected error occurred while processing the request. The response contains additional information about the error.

    Response body parameters (JSON or XML)

    Name Description
    Binary file attachment

    cURL request

    curl "https://instance.servicenow.com/api/now/attachment/615ea769c0a80166001cf5f2367302f5/file" \
--request GET \
--header "Accept:*/*" \
--user "username":"password"
    Binary response not shown.

    Attachment - GET /now/attachment/{sys_id}

    Returns the metadata for the attachment file with a specific sys_id value.

    URL format

    Versioned URL: /api/now/v1/attachment/{sys_id}

    Default URL: /api/now/attachment/{sys_id}

    Note:
    Available versions are specified in the REST API Explorer. For scripted REST APIs there is additional version information on the Scripted REST Service form.

    Supported request parameters

    Table 19. Path parameters
    Name Description
    sys_id Sys_id of the attachment record for which to retrieve the metadata.
    Table 20. Query parameters
    Name Description
    None
    Table 21. Request body parameters (XML or JSON)
    Name Description
    None

    Headers

    The following request and response headers apply to this HTTP action only, or apply to this action in a distinct way. For a list of general headers used in the REST API, see Supported REST API headers.

    Table 22. Request headers
    Header Description
    Accept Data format of the response body. Supported types: application/json or application/xml.

    Default: application/json
    Table 23. Response headers
    Header Description
    Content-Type The content type of the response. For metadata requests, this is the content type of the metadata, not the content type of the attachment files.

    Status codes

    The following status codes apply to this HTTP action. For a list of possible status codes used in the REST API, see REST API HTTP response codes.

    Table 24. Status codes
    Status code Description
    200 Successful. The request was successfully processed.
    401 Unauthorized. The user credentials are incorrect or have not been passed.
    404 Indicates the specified attachment does not exist, or the current user cannot access it.
    500 Internal server error. An unexpected error occurred while processing the request. The response contains additional information about the error.

    Response body parameters (JSON or XML)

    Name Description
    Metadata specific to the specified attachment.

    cURL request

    curl "https://instance.servicenow.com/api/now/attachment/615ea769c0a80166001cf5f2367302f5" \
--request GET \
--header "Accept:application/json" \
--user "username":"password"
    {
  "result": {
    "table_sys_id": "5054b6f8c0a800060056addcf551ecf8",
    "size_bytes": "462",
    "download_link": "https://instance.service-now.com/api/now/attachment/615ea769c0a80166001cf5f2367302f5/file",
    "sys_updated_on": "2009-05-21 04:12:21",
    "sys_id": "615ea769c0a80166001cf5f2367302f5",
    "image_height": "",
    "sys_created_on": "2009-05-21 04:12:21",
    "file_name": "blocks.swf",
    "sys_created_by": "glide.maint",
    "compressed": "true",
    "average_image_color": "",
    "sys_updated_by": "glide.maint",
    "sys_tags": "",
    "table_name": "content_block_programmatic",
    "image_width": "",
    "sys_mod_count": "0",
    "content_type": "application/x-shockwave-flash",
    "size_compressed": "485"
  }
}

    Attachment - POST /now/attachment/file

    Uploads a specified binary file as an attachment to a specified record.

    Note:
    The file to attach must be specified after the last parameter in the passed-in request parameter list.

    URL format

    Versioned URL: /api/now/v1/attachment/file

    Default URL: /api/now/attachment/file

    Note:
    Available versions are specified in the REST API Explorer. For scripted REST APIs there is additional version information on the Scripted REST Service form.

    Supported request parameters

    Table 25. Path parameters
    Name Description
    None
    Table 26. Query parameters
    Name Description
    creation_time Creation date and time of the attachment.

    Use this parameter to capture attachment creation times when the Now Mobile app is offline and the attachment is uploaded to a record at a later time.

    Data type: String

    Default: The current date and time.
    encryption_context Sys_id of an encryption context record. Specify this parameter to allow only users with the specified encryption context to access the attachment. For additional information on encryption context records, see Field Encryption.

    Data type: String

    Default: File is encrypted using encryption context accessible to the user, otherwise the attached file is not encrypted with any encryption context.
    file_name Required. Name to give the attachment.

    Data type: String
    table_name Required. Name of the table to attach the file to.

    Data type: String
    table_sys_id Required. Sys_id of the record in the table specified in table_name that you want to attach the file to.

    Data type: String
    Table 27. Request body parameters (XML or JSON)
    Name Description
    <String> Path to the binary file to attach to the specified record.

    Headers

    The following request and response headers apply to this HTTP action only, or apply to this action in a distinct way. For a list of general headers used in the REST API, see Supported REST API headers.

    Table 28. Request headers
    Header Description
    Accept Data format of the response body. Supported types: application/json or application/xml.

    Default: application/json
    Content-Type Content type of the file to attach, such as image/jpeg or */*. This header is mandatory to post file attachments.
    Table 29. Response headers
    Header Description
    Location URL of the new attachment.

    Status codes

    The following status codes apply to this HTTP action. For a list of possible status codes used in the REST API, see REST API HTTP response codes.

    Table 30. Status codes
    Status code Description
    201 Indicates the query ran successfully.
    400 Indicates that one or more mandatory parameters were missing from the request.
    404 Indicates the record specified by the table_name and table_sys_id parameters does not exist or is not accessible to the current user.
    500 Internal server error. An unexpected error occurred while processing the request. The response contains additional information about the error.

    Response body parameters (JSON or XML)

    Element Description
    result Metadata of the requested attachment.

    Data type: Object

    "result": {
  "average_image_color": "String",
  "compressed": "String", 
  "content_type": "String",
  "created_by_name": "String",
  "download_link": "String",
  "file_name": "String",
  "image_height": "String",
  "image_width": "String",
  "size_bytes": "String",
  "size_compressed": "String",
  "sys_created_by": "String",
  "sys_created_on": "String",
  "sys_id": "String",
  "sys_mod_count": "String",
  "sys_tags": "String",
  "sys_updated_by": "String",
  "sys_updated_on": "String",
  "table_name": "String",
  "table_sys_id": "String",
  "updated_by_name": "String"
}
    result.average_image_color If the attachment is an image, the sum of all colors.

    Data type: String

    Unit: RGB or number of pixels.
    result.compressed Flag that indicates whether the attachment file has been compressed.
    Possible values:
    • true: File has been compressed.
    • false: File has not been compressed.

    Data type: String
    result.content_type Content-type of the associated attachment file, such as image or jpeg or application/x-shockwave-flash.

    Data type: String
    result.created_by_name Full name of entity that originally created the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.download_link Download URL of the attachment on the ServiceNow instance.

    Data type: String
    result.file_name File name of the attachment.

    Data type: String
    result.image_height If an image file, the height of the image.

    Data type: String

    Unit: Pixels
    result.image_width If an image file, the width of the image.

    Data type: String

    Unit: Pixels
    result.size_bytes Size of the attachment.

    Data type: String

    Unit: Bytes
    result.size_compressed Size of the compressed attachment file. If the file is not compressed, empty.

    Data type: String

    Unit: Bytes
    result.sys_created_by Entity that originally created the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_created_on Date and time that the attachment file was initially saved to the instance.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_id Sys_id of the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_mod_count Number of times the attachment file has been modified (uploaded to the instance).

    Data type: String
    result.sys_tags Any system tags associated with the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_updated_by Entity that last updated the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_updated_on Date and time that the attachment file was last updated.

    Data type: String
    result.table_name Name of the table to which the attachment is associated.

    Data type: String
    result.table_sys_id Sys_id of the table associated with the attachment.

    Data type: String
    result.updated_by_name Full name of entity that last updated the attachment file.

    Data type: String

    cURL request

    curl "https://instance.servicenow.com/api/now/attachment/file?table_name=incident&table_sys_id=d71f7935c0a8016700802b64c67c11c6&file_name=Issue_screenshot" \
--request POST \
--header "Accept:application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: image/jpeg" \
--user "username":"password" \
--data-binary "@ location of the file on file system"
    {
  "result": {
    "table_sys_id": "d71f7935c0a8016700802b64c67c11c6",
    "size_bytes": "36597",
    "download_link": "https://instance.servicenow.com/api/now/attachment/6ea10fe64f411200adf9f8e18110c739/file",
    "sys_updated_on": "2016-01-22 15:14:07",
    "sys_id": "6ea10fe64f411200adf9f8e18110c739",
    "image_height": "",
    "sys_created_on": "2016-01-22 15:14:07",
    "file_name": "Issue_screenshot",
    "sys_created_by": "admin",
    "compressed": "true",
    "average_image_color": "",
    "sys_updated_by": "admin",
    "sys_tags": "",
    "table_name": "incident",
    "image_width": "",
    "sys_mod_count": "0",
    "content_type": "image/jpeg",
    "size_compressed": "25130"
  }
}

    Attachment - POST /now/attachment/upload

    Uploads a multipart file attachment.

    The multipart POST method does not accept any parameters. You must specify the table name and record sys_id values within the form body. See the cURL example for a sample of a multipart/form-data request.

    Important:
    When using multipart POST, ensure that the file content is contained in the final part of the message only. Earlier parts should contain only metadata such as table name and record sys_id.

    URL format

    Versioned URL: /api/now/v1/attachment/upload

    Default URL: /api/now/attachment/upload

    Note:
    Available versions are specified in the REST API Explorer. For scripted REST APIs there is additional version information on the Scripted REST Service form.

    Supported request parameters

    Table 31. Path parameters
    Name Description
    None
    Table 32. Query parameters
    Name Description
    None
    Table 33. Request body parameters (XML or JSON)
    Name Description
    None

    Headers

    The following request and response headers apply to this HTTP action only, or apply to this action in a distinct way. For a list of general headers used in the REST API, see Supported REST API headers.

    Table 34. Request headers
    Header Description
    Accept Data format of the response body. Supported types: application/json or application/xml.

    Default: application/json
    Content-Type Content type of the request. Set this value to multipart/form-data when using the multipart POST method.
    Table 35. Response headers
    Header Description
    Location URL of the new attachment.

    Status codes

    The following status codes apply to this HTTP action. For a list of possible status codes used in the REST API, see REST API HTTP response codes.

    Table 36. Status codes
    Status code Description
    201 Indicates the query ran successfully.
    400 Bad Request. A bad request type or malformed request was detected.
    401 Unauthorized. The user credentials are incorrect or have not been passed.
    404 Not found. The requested item wasn't found.
    500 Internal server error. An unexpected error occurred while processing the request. The response contains additional information about the error.

    Response body parameters (JSON or XML)

    Element Description
    result Metadata of the requested attachment.

    Data type: Object

    "result": {
  "average_image_color": "String",
  "compressed": "String", 
  "content_type": "String",
  "created_by_name": "String",
  "download_link": "String",
  "file_name": "String",
  "image_height": "String",
  "image_width": "String",
  "size_bytes": "String",
  "size_compressed": "String",
  "sys_created_by": "String",
  "sys_created_on": "String",
  "sys_id": "String",
  "sys_mod_count": "String",
  "sys_tags": "String",
  "sys_updated_by": "String",
  "sys_updated_on": "String",
  "table_name": "String",
  "table_sys_id": "String",
  "updated_by_name": "String"
}
    result.average_image_color If the attachment is an image, the sum of all colors.

    Data type: String

    Unit: RGB or number of pixels.
    result.compressed Flag that indicates whether the attachment file has been compressed.
    Possible values:
    • true: File has been compressed.
    • false: File has not been compressed.

    Data type: String
    result.content_type Content-type of the associated attachment file, such as image or jpeg or application/x-shockwave-flash.

    Data type: String
    result.created_by_name Full name of entity that originally created the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.download_link Download URL of the attachment on the ServiceNow instance.

    Data type: String
    result.file_name File name of the attachment.

    Data type: String
    result.image_height If an image file, the height of the image.

    Data type: String

    Unit: Pixels
    result.image_width If an image file, the width of the image.

    Data type: String

    Unit: Pixels
    result.size_bytes Size of the attachment.

    Data type: String

    Unit: Bytes
    result.size_compressed Size of the compressed attachment file. If the file is not compressed, empty.

    Data type: String

    Unit: Bytes
    result.sys_created_by Entity that originally created the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_created_on Date and time that the attachment file was initially saved to the instance.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_id Sys_id of the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_mod_count Number of times the attachment file has been modified (uploaded to the instance).

    Data type: String
    result.sys_tags Any system tags associated with the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_updated_by Entity that last updated the attachment file.

    Data type: String
    result.sys_updated_on Date and time that the attachment file was last updated.

    Data type: String
    result.table_name Name of the table to which the attachment is associated.

    Data type: String
    result.table_sys_id Sys_id of the table associated with the attachment.

    Data type: String
    result.updated_by_name Full name of entity that last updated the attachment file.

    Data type: String

    POST multipart mandatory values

    When sending a multipart POST request to upload a file attachment, include attachment data in the message body, not in the URL parameters. You must specify these values in the message body:
    Table 37. Mandatory values
    Value Description
    Content-Type Content-Type of the file, included in the message body for multipart uploads.
    Note:
    The Content-Type must be defined within the file portion of the POST message, not within the form data. See the sample POST multipart message for an example of a multipart message.

    Data type: String
    table_name Name of the table to which you want to attach the file.

    Data type: String
    table_sys_id Sys_id of the record on the specified table to which you want to attach the file.

    Data type: String

    cURL request

    curl "https://instance.servicenow.com/api/now/attachment/upload" \
--request POST \
--header "Accept:application/json"\
--user "username":"password"\
--header "Content-Type:multipart/form-data"\
 -F 'table_name=incident' \
 -F 'table_sys_id=d71f7935c0a8016700802b64c67c11c6'\
 -F 'uploadFile=@ location of the file on file system'
\
    {
  "result": {
    "table_sys_id": "d71f7935c0a8016700802b64c67c11c6",
    "size_bytes": "36597",
    "download_link": "https://instance.service-now.com/api/now/attachment/994adbc64f511200adf9f8e18110c796/file",
    "sys_updated_on": "2016-02-02 14:00:21",
    "sys_id": "994adbc64f511200adf9f8e18110c796",
    "image_height": "",
    "sys_created_on": "2016-02-02 14:00:21",
    "file_name": "banner-CS0001345_v1_1.jpeg",
    "sys_created_by": "admin",
    "compressed": "true",
    "average_image_color": "",
    "sys_updated_by": "admin",
    "sys_tags": "",
    "table_name": "incident",
    "image_width": "",
    "sys_mod_count": "0",
    "content_type": "image/jpeg",
    "size_compressed": "25130"
  }
}