Send Email action
Summarize
Summary of Send Email action
The Send Email action in ServiceNow allows you to send emails to specified users or groups directly within a flow. It is available as a core action in Workflow Studio and can be configured by users with theflowdesigneroradminroles. This action is designed to associate emails with specific records, enabling replies to update those records automatically.
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Inputs
- Target Record: The record (Document ID) that the email is related to, enabling reply tracking.
- Table: The table name containing the target record.
- To: Primary recipients’ email addresses or data pills representing users or groups. Group emails require the group’s email address or the group must have the "Include members" option enabled to send to members.
- CC and BCC: Additional recipients copied or blind copied on the email, specified as email addresses or data pills.
- Subject and Body: Email subject and content can be static text or dynamically populated using data pills. The body supports inline HTML styling but requires manual handling for template variables.
Important Configuration Notes
- The maximum number of email recipients is limited by the
glide.email.smtp.maxrecipientssystem property. - Email templates cannot be used directly; variables must be replaced with data pill references.
Outputs
The action outputs the created email record, which can be accessed in the flow for further use.
Testing and Access Controls
- Verify email generation by reviewing the email record in the Email [sysemail] table; the Headers field indicates success.
- ACL restrictions apply; ensure the executing user has appropriate email access, especially when flows run with user context.
- Testing is recommended by impersonating typical users and triggering the flow manually.
Practical Example
One common use case is sending an email automatically when an incident is created with specific conditions (e.g., the “Assigned to” field is not empty and category is inquiry/help). The email is sent to the assigned user and can include dynamic details such as the incident number in the subject and body.
Send an email to specified users or groups as an action in a flow.
Roles and availability
Available as a Workflow Studio ServiceNow core action. Users with the flow_designer or admin role can add an action to a flow and define configuration details.
Inputs
Provide a value for each input that your flow needs. To add dynamic values, you can also drag and drop pills from the Data panel or select them from the pill picker.
- Target Record
- Data type: Document ID
Record that the email is associated to. When a user sends a reply to your email, the target record is updated with the reply email content.
- Table
- Data type: Table Name
Table containing the target record.
- To
- Data type: String
The main recipients of the email. Enter a list of user email addresses separated by commas or white spaces. You can also drag data pills that contain email addresses into the field, such as a User or Group record. For example, if you want to send an email to the group assigned to the incident, drag the [Assignment group] data pill from the data panel.
To send email to a group, you must provide a Group email address. To send email to group members, the group must have the Include members option enabled.
Note:The number of email recipients must be equal to or less than the maximum number set by the glide.email.smtp.max_recipients system property. See Minimize SMTP Recipient Quantity [Updated in Security Center 1.3] for information about setting this value. - CC
- Data type: String
Additional recipients copied on this email. Enter a list of user email addresses separated by commas or white spaces. You can also drag data pills that contain email addresses into the field.
- BCC
- Data type: String
Additional recipients of this email, who are visible only to the sender (blind copied). Enter a list of user email addresses separated by commas or white spaces. You can also drag data pills that contain email addresses into the field.
- Subject
- Data type: String
Subject of the email. You can enter text or drag data pills into the field.
- Body
-
The content of the message body. You can enter text or drag data pills into the field. The editor formatting options add inline styles. There is no style sheet associated with an email body. You can add your own inline style sheet to this HTML input.Note:You can partially reuse content from the Email Template [sysevent_email_template] table with some manual editing. The Send Email action can't process Email template variables, which are strings that start with the dollar sign character and include content in curly braces. You must replace email variables with references to data pills. For example, replace the string ${number} with a data pill reference to an incident record number.
Outputs
These outputs appear in the Data panel. You can use them as inputs elsewhere in your action or flow.
- Data type: Record
Email record created.
Configuring instance Email
For information about configuring your instance to send and receive email messages, see Configure email administration.
Testing the email action
To verify that the email was generated when testing the action, review the email record in the Email [sys_email] table. The Headers field indicates whether the email was successfully
generated. For example: ACL restrictions apply to the Send Email action. If you configured your flow to run as the user who initiates the session, ensure that the user can access email. To test access controls for a Send Email action,
impersonate a typical email sender and manually trigger the flow.