Update a record in an instance by using ServiceNow AI Lens

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated March 17, 2025
  • 10 minutes to read

    • Update a record in the ServiceNow instance by auto-filling the form fields with data that ServiceNow AI Lens extracts from captured screens, documents, and files.

    Before you begin

    Perform the following tasks on the ServiceNow instance:
    Note:
    • To use ServiceNow AI Lens from your browser, turn on the ServiceNow AI Lens skill.
    • For the full range of ServiceNow AI Lens capabilities, turn on the ServiceNow AI Lens skill, and download and install the desktop application.

    Verify that ServiceNow AI Lens has access to record the screen on your system. For more information, see Providing permission to ServiceNow AI Lens.

    Don't scan any personally identifiable information, such as medical reports, financial reports, or other sensitive data, when using ServiceNow AI Lens as you don't want to expose the large language model (LLM) to any sensitive information.

    Role required: lens_user

    About this task

    You can update a record in the ServiceNow instance in two ways:

    Procedure

    1. Update a record in the ServiceNow instance by performing any of the following methods.
      Method Steps
      From your browser
      1. In your instance, navigate to the list view of any table, for example, Incidents.
      2. Open the record that you want to update.
      3. Select Update with Lens.
        Update with Lens button.
        Note:
        • If pop-up is blocked, ServiceNow AI Lens screen may not open. Confirm that you've already allowed pop-ups from your browser settings.
        • On non-production instances, you can control on which tables the Update with Lens button appears using the following system properties:
          • sn_app_lens_core.show_lens_action_on_all_tables: Set to true to show the Update with Lens button on all tables. Set to false to show it only on specific tables. Default is true.
          • sn_app_lens_core.lens_inclusion_table_list: Enter the names of the tables as comma-separated values where you want the Update with Lens button to appear. Use this property only when the sn_app_lens_core.show_lens_action_on_all_tables property is set to false.
          • sn_app_lens_core.lens_exclusion_table_list: Enter the names of the tables as comma-separated values where you want to hide the Create with Lens button, regardless of how the sn_app_lens_core.lens_inclusion_table_list property is set.
        • On non-production instances, the Create with Lens button may appear even if the ServiceNow AI Lens skill is not activated. If you select the button, an error occurs. You can activate the skill or hide the button by entering the name of the table in the sn_app_lens_core.lens_inclusion_table_list property:
      4. Select Capture screen.

        Capture screen button for the browser-based experience.

      5. Select the screen that you want to capture, and then select Share.
        Note:
        • The screen capture options depend on your browser.
        • For illustration purpose, the following steps show the capturing of an Outlook email screen from Chrome tab.

        Browser dialog to select a screen to capture.

        ServiceNow AI Lens shows the captured Outlook email screen that it will analyze.

        Figure 1. Screen captured for analysis
        Image captured
      6. (Optional step). To specify the area of the captured screen that you want ServiceNow AI Lens to analyze, select Crop, and then use the crop handles.
      7. Select Confirm.
      8. (Optional steps). Perform the following steps:
        • In the Additional instructions field, enter specific instructions to guide ServiceNow AI Lens in extracting the information you need from the captured screen.
        • Select Re-capture to discard the current capture and capture a new screen.
        • Select Revert to original to undo the crop and restore the full captured image.
        • Select Crop to further refine your selection by cropping the already cropped screen.
      9. To let ServiceNow AI Lens analyze the captured screen, select Analyze.

        The form is auto-filled.

        Form is auto-filled.

      10. Go to the form to review the updated fields.

        View auto-filled form fields
      From the desktop app
      1. In your instance, navigate to the list view of any table, for example, Incidents.
      2. Open the record that you want to update.
      3. Select Update with Lens.

        Update with Lens button.

      4. Note:
        On non-production instances, you can control which tables display the Create with Lens button using the following system properties:
        • sn_app_lens_core.show_lens_action_on_all_tables: Set to true (default) to show Lens actions on all tables, or false to restrict them to a defined list of tables.
        • sn_app_lens_core.lens_inclusion_table_list: Comma-separated list of tables on which Lens actions should appear. Active only when the primary toggle is set to false.
        • sn_app_lens_core.lens_exclusion_table_list: Comma-separated list of tables on which Lens actions should be hidden, even if the primary toggle is set to true.
      5. Select Open AI Lens desktop.
        Figure 2. Open AI Lens desktop button
        Open AI Lens desktop button.
      6. In the ServiceNow AI Lens.app dialog box, select Open ServiceNow AI Lens.app.
        Note:
        Note:
        • This confirmation dialog appears when you select Create with Lens for the first time. You can make this a one-time step by selecting Always open <instance-name.service-now.com> links of this type in the associated app before selecting Open ServiceNow AI Lens.app.
        • On macOS, when you launch ServiceNow AI Lens desktop app for the first time, your Mac asks whether ServiceNow AI Lens can store your login credentials. Select Always Allow to avoid entering your credentials every time you open the application.
      7. On the onboarding journey widget, complete the onboarding and select Got it.

        Onboarding journey widget with three pages to show you the highlights of the application.

      8. On your system, open a document that you want to scan.
        Note:
        A document can be an image, a scanned handwritten note, web page, Excel sheet, or a Microsoft Word document.
      9. Place the ServiceNow AI Lens scanner window on top of the document.
      10. You can resize the ServiceNow AI Lens scanner window by dragging its borders.
      11. Auto-fill the form on the instance with data extracted from a single screenshot or file.
        1. To provide additional instructions to extract, analyze, and organize data, select the Edit icon (Edit icon.) and then enter the instructions.

          The default character limit is 500. Users with the admin role can increase this limit to up to 5000 characters by navigating to the sn_lens_user_prompt_max_length system property.

          Figure 3. Extract data from a single screenshot or uploaded files
          Extract data from a single screenshot or uploaded files
          Note:
          Use the Upload file icon to upload one or more files from which data is extracted and auto-filled in the form. For more information, see Upload one or more files.
        2. Select Analyze.

          The form is auto-filled with the extracted data.

          Form is filled with extracted data.

        3. Verify that the form fields are correctly filled.
        4. Auto-fill the form on the instance with data extracted from multiple screenshots or uploaded files.
          1. To provide additional instructions to extract, analyze, and organize data, select the Edit icon (Edit icon.) and then enter the instructions.
            Note:
            The default character limit is 500. Users with the admin role can increase this limit to up to 5000 characters by navigating to the sn_lens_user_prompt_max_length system property.
          2. Select the Multi-capture button Multi-capture icon..
            Note:
            Use the Upload file icon (File Upload icon.) to upload one or more files from which data is extracted and auto-filled in the form. For more information, see sn-lens-standalone-app.html#sn-lens-standalone-app__upload-files-steps.
          3. Select the Capture icon (Capture icon.).

            The first screenshot is captured.

          4. Place the ServiceNow AI Lens scanner window over another document or page and then select the Capture icon (Capture icon.).

            Repeat the step to capture more screenshots, if required.

            Note:
            • You can capture a total of 10 screenshots with the combined size of all captured screenshots not exceeding 10 MB.
            • To enable the desktop app to send large screenshot data to the server, verify that the following system properties are set exactly as shown:
              Table 1. System property
              Property name Type Recommended value
              glide.rest.max_content_length Integer 15
              glide.rest.scripted.max_inbound_content_length_mb Integer 15
              For more information, see Configure system property.
              Note:
              You must have the admin role to set the system properties.
          5. To complete the capture, select the Done icon (Capture complete icon.).
          6. Select Analyze.

            The form is auto-filled.

            Form is filled with extracted data.

          7. Verify that the form fields are correctly filled.
    2. On your ServiceNow instance, navigate to the list view of a table.
      Example of a table: Incidents
    3. Select the record that you want to update.
    4. Select Update with Lens.
      Update with Lens button on the ServiceNow instance.
      Note:
      On sub-production instances, you can control which tables display the Update with Lens button using the following system properties:
      • sn_app_lens_core.show_lens_action_on_all_tables: Primary toggle. Set to true (default) to show Lens actions on all tables, or false to restrict them to a defined list of tables.
      • sn_app_lens_core.lens_inclusion_table_list: Comma-separated list of tables on which Lens actions should appear. Active only when the primary toggle is set to false.
      • sn_app_lens_core.lens_exclusion_table_list: Comma-separated list of tables on which Lens actions should be hidden, even if the primary toggle is set to true.
    5. In the ServiceNow AI Lens.app dialog box, select Open ServiceNow AI Lens.app.
      Tip:
      This confirmation dialog appears when you select Create with Lens for the first time. You can make this a one-time step by selecting Always allow <instance-name.service-now.com> to open links of this type in the associated app before selecting Open ServiceNow AI Lens.app.
    6. Optional: On the onboarding journey widget, complete the onboarding and select Got it.
      Onboarding journey widget with three pages to show you the highlights of the application.

      If you launch the ServiceNow AI Lens for the first time, the onboarding journey widget appears. You can select Don't show me again to hide the widget the next time you launch ServiceNow AI Lens.

    7. On your system, open a document that you want to scan.
      A document can be an image, a scanned handwritten note, web page, Excel Sheet or a Microsoft Word document.
    8. Place the ServiceNow AI Lens scanner window on the top of the document.
      You can resize the ServiceNow AI Lens scanner window by dragging its borders.
    9. Optional: Update the form on the instance with data extracted from a single screenshot or file.
      1. To provide additional instructions to extract, analyze, and organize data, select the Edit icon (Edit icon.) and then enter the instructions.
        The default character limit is 500. Users with the admin role can increase this limit to up to 5000 characters by navigating to the sn_lens_user_prompt_max_length system property.
        Note:
        This is an optional step.
        Figure 4. Extract data from a single screenshot or uploaded files
        Extract data from a single screenshot or uploaded files
        Tip:
        Use the Upload file icon to upload one or more files from which data is extracted and auto-filled in the form. For more information, see sn-lens-standalone-app.html#sn-lens-standalone-app__upload-files-steps
      2. Select Analyze.
        The form is updated with the extracted data.

        Form is filled with extracted data.

      3. Verify that the form fields are correctly updated.
    10. Optional: Auto-fill the form on the instance with data extracted from multiple screenshots or uploaded files.
      1. To provide additional instructions to extract, analyze, and organize data, select the Edit icon (Edit icon.) and then enter the instructions.
        The default character limit is 500. Users with the admin role can increase this limit to up to 5000 characters by navigating to the sn_lens_user_prompt_max_length system property.
        Note:
        This is an optional step.
      2. Select the Multi-capture button Multi-capture icon..
        Tip:
        Use the Upload file icon (File Upload icon.) to upload one or more files from which data is extracted and auto-filled in the form. For more information, see sn-lens-standalone-app.html#sn-lens-standalone-app__upload-files-steps
      3. Select the Capture icon (Capture icon.)
        The first screenshot is captured.
      4. Place the ServiceNow AI Lens scanner window over another document or page and then select the Capture icon Capture icon.).
        The second screenshot is captured.

        Repeat the step to capture more screenshots, if required.

        Note:
        • You can capture a total of 10 screenshots with the combined size of all captured screenshots not exceeding 10 MB.
        • To enable the desktop app to send large screenshot data to the server, confirm that the following system properties are set exactly as shown below:
          Table 2. System property
          Property name Type Recommended value
          glide.rest.max_content_length Integer 15
          glide.rest.scripted.max_inbound_content_length_mb Integer 15
          For more information, see Configure system property
          Note:
          You must have the admin role to set the system properties.
      5. To complete the capture, select the Done icon (Capture complete icon.).
      6. Select Analyze.
        The form is auto-filled.

        Form is filled with extracted data.

      7. Verify that the form fields are correctly filled.
    11. In the ServiceNow instance, review the text that is auto-filled by Now Assist into your record.
      The fields that are auto-filled by Now Assist are highlighted with the Sparkle icon .

      Only the field types that are supported by ServiceNow AI Lens get auto-populated with the extracted data. If the form doesn't have field types that are supported, then ServiceNow AI Lens won’t update the record. For more information about the supported fields, see Field types supported.

      OptionAction
      If the auto-filled text looks good Save the record by right-clicking on the form header and then selecting Save.
      If the auto-filled text requires changes Do one of the following actions:
      • Manually adjust the information in the fields and save the record.
      • In the ServiceNow AI Lens window, provide different instructions or take more screenshots and select Analyze so that ServiceNow AI Lens can extract, comprehend the data again, and auto-fill the data into the record. Save the record by selecting Save.

        You can analyze the artifacts as many times as needed without reloading the form.