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Release: Australia · Updated: 2025-12-05 · Official documentation · View source

Inbound email

Use the inbound email to receive and process incoming emails from external systems or users.

Accounts

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Image showing inbound accounts

Use Accounts to process inbound emails from external sources and users.

  1. Navigate to Inbound email > Accounts. A list of existing accounts shows up.
  2. To create an account, select Add an account.
  3. Select ServiceNow account or Gmail and select Next.
  4. For Gmail, fill the Application registry form and select Next. For information about configuring an OAuth OIDC provider, see Configure an OAuth OIDC provider for accepting third-party token.
  5. Fill the form with email account information.
FieldDescription
NameName of the account
TypeStates the type of account. It can either be POP3 or IMAP.
AuthenticationStates the authentication method of the accountNote: Authentication is a mandatory field
ServerRemote server to which this account connects. To activate a server for an on-premises installation, enter the full address (FQDN) of the node (for example, node.customerdomain).Note: Server is a mandatory field
UsernameUsername used to create the accountNote: Username is a mandatory field
PasswordPassword used to set up the accountNote: Password is a mandatory field
Connection Security

Type of secure connection. Choose a setting:- None: No secure protocol is used. - STARTTLS: Upgrades an insecure connection to a secure connection using the SSL/TLS encryption protocol, if your email server supports TLS. - SSL/TLS: Connect to an SSL/TLS encrypted port to secure the connection. Email is encrypted between the ServiceNow instance and your mail server.

Warning:

Selecting a less secure protocol like STARTTLS or None may expose your data. To better ensure the security of data in your email server, select SSL/TLS.

PortConnection TCP port.
ActiveOptional checkbox to create an active account
Enable Debug LoggingOption to create node logs for the raw data that is exchanged with the email server. You can review the node logs by navigating to System Logs > Utilities > Node Log File Browser.
  1. Select Export to export the accounts on to an Excel, CSV, JSON or PDF. You can then select the delivery type either through download or email.

Properties

Manage the behavior of incoming emails with Properties.

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  • Inbound sending and delivery options: You can enable receiving emails and can also enable auto-create users from trusted domains
  • Inbound recognition and trusted domains: You can setup conditions for the following:
    • How to detect an email reply
    • How to identify a forwarded email
    • Which domains should be trusted

Note: Select Save to save the recent property settings. You can also undo the most recent change by selecting Undo. By selecting Undo, the values are reverted back to the most recent saved values.

Actions

Email actions determine how and when the system responds to service requests. On selecting Actions under Inbound email, a list of existing actions shows up. Select Add an action to create a new action.

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FieldDescription
NameName of the action
Target tableSelect the table where the action adds or updates records.
ActiveOptional checkbox to create an active action
Action typeType of the action. Select the type of action the instance takes. Select Record Action to modify a record in the instance, or select Reply Email to have the instance send an email back to the source of the inbound email.
Stop processingOptional checkbox to help prevent the system from running additional inbound email actions after this action runs.

See Inbound email configuration for more information.

Parent Topic:Platform module configuration in Setup Hub