Look Up Records activity

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Look Up Records activity

    The Look Up Records activity in ServiceNow Zurich release enables you to find system records that match specified conditions within a playbook. This activity is accessible to users with theadmin,playbook.admin, orpdauthorroles and can be added as a common activity in your playbook workflows.

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    Inputs

    When configuring this activity, you provide several inputs through the properties panel:

    • Label: A string to title the activity and playbook card.
    • Description: Information explaining the activity’s usage or outcome.
    • Run condition: Conditions that must be met to execute the activity or stage, supporting data from previous activities.
    • Start Rule: Defines when the stage or activity begins running—either at process start, after specific stages, or after specific activities.
    • Start with delay: Optionally delay the start of the activity or stage by a set duration.
    • Table: The name of the table from which records are to be looked up.
    • Conditions: Criteria that records must meet to be included in the results.

    Advanced inputs allow further customization:

    • Order by: Field used to sort the returned records.
    • Sort Type: Choose alphabetical or reverse alphabetical sorting.
    • Max Results: Limit the maximum number of records returned.

    Outputs

    The activity provides outputs that can be used by other playbook activities:

    • Records: References to records matching the specified conditions.
    • Count: The integer number of records found.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    This activity lets you efficiently query and retrieve system records based on dynamic or static criteria within your playbooks, enabling automated decision-making and workflows. By setting conditions and sorting options, you can tailor record lookup results to fit specific business processes. The outputs provide seamless integration with subsequent activities, facilitating complex, condition-driven automation.

    Find system records that match a set of conditions.

    Roles and availability

    • This activity is available as a common activity. Users with the admin, playbook.admin, or pd_author can add this activity to a playbook.

    Inputs

    Open the activity properties panel and configure your activity to add values for the following inputs. If the input value varies, use the pill-picker to show where to get the value. To learn more about the pill-picker, see .
    Input Type Description
    Label String Title to display as activity and playbook card.
    Description String Information to display about activity usage or outcome.
    Run condition Condition Builder Conditions that must be met to run an activity or stage. You can use data from prior activities to build conditions.
    Note:
    Select Show additional options to see this field.
    Start Rule Choice Under Schedule > Start Rule, select a start rule for when your stage should start running:
    • When process starts: Your stage starts running as soon as the playbook starts.
    • After specific stages: Your stage starts running after specified stage(s) have finished running.
    Under Schedule > Start Rule, select a start rule for when your activity should start running:
    • When stage starts: Your activity starts running as soon as its stage starts running. Your stage starts running when your playbook is triggered.
    • After specific activities: Your activity starts running after specified activities have finished running.
    Start with delay True/False Option to wait for a duration of time before running an activity or stage. When enabled, this input displays the Start with delay input properties.
    Note:
    Select Show additional options to see this field.
    Table Table Name Table whose records you want to look up.
    Conditions Condition Builder Criteria that you want your list of records to meet.

    Advanced inputs

    After configuring the required inputs for your activity, you can also choose to configure additional inputs. In the side panel, select Show additional options to display these advanced inputs. For more information, see Activity experience.
    Input Type Description
    Order by String Field you want to use to sort a list of records.
    Sort Type Choice Option to sort records alphabetically or reverse alphabetically.
    Max Results Integer Maximum number of results to display to end users.

    Outputs

    These outputs can provide data to other activities in your playbook. You can access this data as activity inputs when you configure your activity:
    Output Type Description
    Records Records References to the records that meet your specified conditions
    Count Integer Number of records found