Applying and creating form templates

This video shows how to create and apply form templates to simplify form
completion.

About form templates

Form templates simplify the process of submitting new records by populating
some form fields automatically.
We access form templates through the More Options icon on the form header.
When we toggle the template bar on, it appears at the bottom of the form and
stays there—even if we open other forms—until toggled off. It provides shortcuts
to apply, edit, and create templates.

No special role is required to access the template bar or create templates, but
the ability to configure or apply templates created by others depends on user
access controls within the template. So, all users may not have the same access
to form templates.

Applying form templates

Here, logged in as system administrator, we can apply either of these templates
to the current record.

For example, when we apply this one…

…it sets the Contact type to Self-service.

And the Major Incident template…

…sets values for several fields. All other fields on the record remain unchanged.

Fields modified by the template are identified with this icon.

Form templates only set values for specific fields on the record. They don’t
change the configuration of form fields defined on the table or displayed
through form personalization.

© 2020 ServiceNow, Inc. All rights reserved. ServiceNow, the ServiceNow logo, Now, Now Platform, and other ServiceNow marks are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective
companies with which they are associated.
Also, when applied to a record, a template sets the values of fields on the
underlying table, even if those fields aren’t displayed on the form.

Here, on the template bar, is where we access all templates—that we have

permission to see—for this form. We can apply one to the current record, view
them, or edit them.
For example, here’s the Major Incident template that we just applied.

Notice that field values can include variables, for example to put the logged-in
user’s name in the Caller field.

Creating form templates

There are several ways to create form templates.
One way is by using the Template form. This requires the admin role. We won’t
demonstrate it here, but it’s explained in the product docs.

Another way—which is available to anyone who has permission to view the

form—is to create a new template from the form.

We’ll demonstrate with the incident form.

Here, we fill in the form as it should appear when a user applies the template.
This is for software incidents. They’ll be assigned to the Software group through
assignment rules, so we don’t need to specify that here….

…But we always want Beth Anglin on the watch list.

Now, we click the plus icon to create a new template from this record….

And give it an appropriate name.

You can make a template that automatically applies to new, user-created

records on a specific table by setting the template name to match the name of
the table the template applies to.

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© 2020 ServiceNow, Inc. All rights reserved. ServiceNow, the ServiceNow logo, Now, Now Platform, and other ServiceNow marks are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective
companies with which they are associated.
This article in the product docs explains how to do that.

These three fields determine who can configure and apply the template.
If we define a user or group here, no other users or groups—respectively—can
see the template unless we select the Global option.
If Global is selected, any user who can access the templates can view and
apply this template.

These settings allow the system administrator and Software group to configure
the template, and any user who can access templates to view and apply it.

It’s always a good idea to provide a short description.

Here’s where we specify the fields and values to be set when the template is
applied to a record.
Fields that have default values…
…and fields we filled in on the form, appear here.
We can change any of these values here, if we want to, but they all look fine.

If necessary, you can eliminate fields from the template by clicking the
corresponding delete icons…

…And add fields here, by selecting the field and providing a value.

When we submit it, it appears at the left of the template bar, along with the
other available templates for this form.

When we’re done, we can toggle the template bar off from the form header…

…or by clicking here.

For more information, please see our product documentation, knowledge base,
or ask a question in the ServiceNow Community.

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© 2020 ServiceNow, Inc. All rights reserved. ServiceNow, the ServiceNow logo, Now, Now Platform, and other ServiceNow marks are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective
companies with which they are associated.