Symptoms
Users are not able to add the sys_id field to a list or a form, using Configure Form Layout or Configure List Layout or Personalize List. The Sys ID field does not appear in the Available slushbucket.
Release
All
Cause
By design, we do not make the sys_id field easily available for users to display on forms and lists. This is because the sys_id field contains the unique numerical identifier for each record. If the sys_id is modified or deleted, this would lead to bad data and/or data loss.
Resolution
List - If your business requirement is to make the sys_id field visible on the list, follow these steps:
- Go to System UI > Lists
- Select the record for the Table and View you want to modify
- In the List Elements related list, click the New button. Populate Element = sys_id and Position with a number for the place in the list. (In our example, the position on the Incident table OOB would be a value of 11.)
- Execute a cache flush by appending your URL with /cache.do
- Once you navigate back to your list, the Sys ID field is now visible.
Form - If your business requirement is to make the sys_id field visible on the form, follow these steps:
- Go to System UI > Views
- Select the record for the View you would like to modify.
- In the Form Sections tab, filter by your table name and then open the record for the form section you would like the sys_id field to be visible in. The top form section for every table will not have a Caption and will appear blank. This is expected behavior.
- In the Form Section record, click the New button on the Section Elements list. Populate Element = sys_id, Type = element, and Position with a number for the location on the list.
- Execute a cache flush by appending your URL with /cache.do
- Once you navigate back to your form, the Sys ID field is now visible.
Reporting - If your business requirement is to see the sys_id field on a report, here are some notes about version limitations and visibility restrictions:
- In Istanbul, even if you add the sys_id column to a list, the column remains hidden when running a report. Development has confirmed this is expected behavior for the Istanbul release.
- In Jakarta and Kingston, the sys_id is not visible on out of box reports from both the classic and new reporting UIs. However, sys_id column can be added to a report layout, if the sys_id field is manually added to the Default View of the table. For example:
a. Follow the instructions in the 'Resolution' section of this article that shows how to add the sys_id field to a List View. Make sure to add the sys_id to the Default view of the table.
b. Create a report on the same table used in step 'a'.
c. Note that the report will contain the Sys id column (because initially, the report layout inherits the Default View layout of the table where the report is getting built on).
NOTE: Do not change the report list layout, otherwise the sys_id filed will be removed. The sys_id column can be added using the instructions above (steps from 'a' to 'c'), but it will never show in the slush bucket as an option when configuring or personalizing the report list layout.
IMPORTANT note: This field should ALWAYS be read only. We have an OOB ACL (*.sys_id/write) which prevents write access for all users, even admins. Please DO NOT make this field editable for any user, as this could lead to considerable data loss issues.
Additional note: Even after adding the sys_id field manually, it will not appear in your slushbuckets when using the normal methods to modify List and Form configuration. Admins will need to manually delete/modify the element from the System UI List/View pages.
Additional Information
ServiceNow provides alternative ways to access the sys_id information:
- From the URL
- From the header bar on a form
- From a script
Detailed information on these options can be found at this URL-