How to create a custom icon for use in representing a specific attachment file type - Support and Troubleshooting

How to create a custom icon for use in representing a specific attachment file type Issue  Description What many ServiceNow Administrators are unaware of, is that when necessary, the attachment icon as associated to a particular file attachment type can be changed. In most cases, the out-of-box default setting which is already configured on the instance is sufficient, however in a few cases it may be necessary to associated a custom icon for a new or existing attachment file type on that instance.

Procedure There are several steps that should be followed when an administrator intends to create a custom icon for an attachment file type.

Obtain the Image File

Before importing the icon image file into the instance as well as configuring the attachment type to use that file, the administrator will need to obtain the image file to be used. This icon can be created using any image editing software, downloaded from an image repository or obtained in another matter. Although the image which is to be used can be of almost any size or type, there are a few guidelines for image files that are to be used as image files to help ensure the image appears correctly on the form as well as does not cause any performance issues:

The image should be roughly square in shape such that it will appear with the correct dimensions in the space usually allocated for it and such that it will not consume more space than would generally be allocated for the image in the various forms it might be displayed. The image should be very small in memory size, under 4 KB for best results. Since the image is generally intended to be displayed in a small space, the resolution of the image need not be high. The file can be of any valid image format, but will generally load faster if in a generic and fast loading format (such as .svg or .png).

Import the Image file into the Instance

Once the image file has been obtained, the file will then need to be imported into the ServiceNow instance in order to allow it's usage in association with an attachment file type.

To begin, log into the instance with an account having admin rights to the instance.

Once logged onto the instance, browse to the following location using the Menu Navigator: System UI -> Images .

A list of Image records will appear. Click the New button to import a new image file into the instance.

In the new Image record, select a Category , if appropriate.

Provide a Name for the new icon file as it will recognizable in the system. Note that this name is how this Image file will be located by the system.

Click the Click to add link in the record to upload the actual image file into the instance.

On the Choose an image file screen, click the Choose File button.

Using the File Browser, browse to the location of the file obtained in the steps above and double click it to select it.

Note that only image files of type .jpg, .png, .bmp, .gif, .jpeg, .ico, and .svg file types can be uploaded into the instance as an image.

Click the OK button after selecting the necessary file.

The Image record will re-appear.

Click the Update button to save the record with the uploaded image.

Configure the Attachment Type to use the new Image

After importing the image into the ServiceNow instance, the last step is to associate the Attachment Type to use the new Image as a representation.

If this is a new file extension or file type that the image is to be associated to, this step will consist of creating a new Image icon to file type association record. To do this, perform these steps:

Log into the instance with an account having admin rights to the instance.

Using the Filter navigator, browse to the following location on the instance: System UI -> Attachment Icon Rules .

Click the New button to create a new Attachment Icon Rule record.

In the Select icon by field, select the option to either associate the Image icon to the attachment file by the file extension or by the internally represented MIME type of the attachment file as detected by the internal ServiceNow system. Note that if a particular file has both a file extension and MIME type associated with the same file, the MIME type file association icon will have precedence.

If selecting the File Extension option, type the exact file extension (including the period) that you want to associate with this icon (i.e,. ".trv") in the File extension field. However, if selecting the MIME Type option, type the code for the MIME type to associate to this file type (i.e. text/csv) in the Mime type field.

In the Icon field type the exact Name as used in the Image file created in the steps above.

Click the Submit button to save the record.

If a pre-existing Attachment File Icon is going to be reconfigured to use a different Icon, simply locate the Attachment Icon Rule corresponding to the file extension or mime type you intend to change and modify the Icon field to contain the exact value as specified for the Image name in the Image record created in prior steps and click the Submit button to save the record.

Once these steps have been completed, attachments of the indicated type or file extension should then show with the specified icon.

Note that if the System Security property is not configured to allow the file type or extension of the file type added to the Attachment Icon Rule, the attachment file will not be allowed to upload to the instance.

Additional Information For specifics instructions on the steps to modify an existing file type to use another, pre-existing icon already found on the instance, please see KB Article KB0723554 .

For more information and instructions on how to configure the allowable attachment types for records in a ServiceNow instance, please see KB Article KB0718011 .