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Integration with external knowledge sources › Configuring Knowledge Management › Knowledge Management › Manage content capabilities › Extend ServiceNow AI Platform capabilities
Release: Australia · Updated: 2026-03-12 · Official documentation · View source

Sample configuration for integrating external knowledge content

You can integrate content from multiple external sources so your users can acquire and search knowledge from a single location. Use this sample configuration to create a connection to your external account, configure external knowledge sources, and import content to enable search results for unified content.

Requirements for integrating external content

Make sure the Knowledge Management -- External Content Integration plugin (com.snc.knowledge.external_integration) is enabled and your external source is WebDAV- compliant.

Parent Topic:Integration with external knowledge sources

Integrate external knowledge sources into the Knowledge Management application

Create authentication credentials and a connection alias to connect your external knowledge source to the ServiceNow Knowledge Management application. Define import parameters for your external source to import integrated content.

Before you begin

Role required: admin

Procedure

  1. Enable basic authentication on your external account.

    Note: Your external account password is not affected when you enable basic authentication.

  2. Create the connection to your external account using the basic authentication credentials.

    1. Navigate to Connections and Credentials > Credentials.

    2. Click New.

    3. Click Basic Auth Credentials.

      Fill in the following fields:

      FieldDescription
      NameName for the credential. For example, Demo_Auth.
      User nameThe external account user name created for basic authentication.
      PasswordThe external account password for the user name.

    4. Click Submit.

  3. Create an HTTP connection to your external account.

    1. Navigate to Connections & Credentials > Connection & Credential Aliases.

    2. Select New.

    3. In the Name field, enter the name of the connection alias.

      For example, Demo_Account.

    4. Right-click the form header and click Save.

    5. In the Connections related list, click New.

      Fill in the following fields:

FieldDescription
NameName for the HTTP connection. For example, `Demo_Connection`.
CredentialCredential created to connect to the external account. For example, `Demo_Auth`.
Connection URLWebDAV URL to your external account. This is the WebDAV end point of your external account.Note: You can also import contents from a specific folder by appending the folder path to the URL. For example, https://<web link to your extermal_account>/KnowledgeIT.
6.  Click **Submit**.

  1. Configure the external knowledge source for importing content.

    1. Navigate to Knowledge > Administration > External Knowledge Sources.

    2. Click New and fill in the following fields:

      FieldDescription
      NameUnique name for the external source. For example, Demo_knowledge.
      Target Knowledge BaseKnowledge base in which you want to create articles for the external content. For example, IT.
      Connection AliasConnection alias to connect to the external source. For example, Demo_Account.

    3. Right-click the form header and select Save.

    4. In the Parameter related list, click New.

    5. On the Parameter form, select the name of the import parameter that you want to configure for your external source and then set the value for the parameter.

      The table below lists the parameters and the corresponding values that can be set for the external source.

      Parameter nameValue
      Maximum size limit (in MB) for this sourceMaximum allowable content size to import from your external source. For example, 250 MB.
      Maximum size limit (in KB) per file/content in this sourceMaximum allowable size for each article, including attachments, that you can import from this external source. For example, 2000 KB.
      Open search results in the original source systemOpens search results in the external source system if this value is set to true.
      Include folders with names that match these regex patternsComma-separated list of regular expressions for folder names to include from this external source. For example, to include all folders names that start with the letters a and b, enter a.*,b.*.
      Exclude folders with names that match these regex patternsComma-separated list of regular expressions for folder names to exclude from this external source. For example, to exclude all folders names that start with the letters a and b, enter a.*,b.*.
      Create articles when file names match these regex patternsComma-separated list of regular expressions for file names that to include when creating articles. For example, to include all file names have .docx and .pdfextensions, enter .*\.docx,.*\.pdf.
      Do not create articles when file names match these regex patternsComma-separated list of regular expressions for file names to exclude when creating articles. For example, to exclude file names have .docx and .pdfextensions, enter .*\.docx,.*\.pdf.
      Maximum retry limitMaximum limit for the number of times a connection request can be sent to the external source. For example, 5.

What to do next

Import content from an external knowledge source.

Related topics

Open knowledge search results in source system

Knowledge Management Service portal search results page