How to use Field Watcher - Support and Troubleshooting

Issue

The Field Watcher is a useful tool to have when troubleshooting field behavior. It can show what changes have been applied to a field as well as what caused the change.

To use the Field Watcher, right-click on the filed label and select 'Watch - [field_name]':

Field Watcher debugger screen

When using UI 16, you may notice that the Field Watcher is not available for the out of box Journal fields 'comments' and 'work_notes'.

Right-click on the field label and you will not see the Context Menu provided by ServiceNow. You will see the regular right-click menu for your OS.

Work notes right click options

This is due to the Activity Formatter used in UI 16. The formatter will 'bundle' together Comment and Work notes with the Activity Stream in order to render the newer interface which introduces features such as real-time updates, activity filtering, and user presence.

If you are running into issues with behavior changes for the journal fields, Field Watcher can show what scripts are making changes. You just have to remove the Activity Stream from the form (or move it to a different section) in order to stop the Activity Formatter from overriding the journal fields.

Facts

Note: Field watcher is not supported with Next Experience since Utah. For more information about supported features in Next Experience, see Considerations for activating Next Experience.

See Related Links below for how to Turn On/Off Next Experience UI Toggle button using the glide.ui.polaris.on_off_user_pref_enabled property.

Turn off Next Experience

Release

All

Resolution

Right-click on the form header and select Configure > Form Layout:

Form layout configuration menu

Find the section where the 'Activities (filtered)' field is on and move it to the 'Available list':

Adding new field to the Form - Activities (filtered)

Save your changes and you should be redirected back to the form. Right-click on the Journal field you're working with and the ServiceNow Context Menu should now appear, along with the option to 'Watch - [field_name]':

Now watch is available for work notes activities