---
sourceDocument: Australia Build workflows
sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/build-workflows

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia Build workflows

ft:clusterId :

    - crworkflow

bundleId :

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workflow :

    - Creator


---

# Customize Playbook Experience

# Customizing the Playbook Experience {#ariaid-title1}

* Release version: Australia
* 
* Updated March 12, 2026
* 
* ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 3 minutes to read

Summarize  
![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI  
This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.  

## Summary of Customizing the Playbook Experience

ServiceNow's Playbook Experience offers customizable layouts using modular components, templates, and integrated UI Builder functionality.
This enables customers to tailor the agent and fulfiller interfaces to better fit their workflows and improve efficiency in managing playbook stages and activities.
Show full answer Show less  
Customization is accelerated by the Custom Layout UI Controller, which auto-populates inputs for base system components. While you can create custom components with UI Builder, note that presets only auto-populate data for built-in components, not custom ones.

## Key Features

* **Playbook Stage Picker:** Choose between vertical and horizontal layouts to display playbook stages. The vertical layout shows all playbooks for a parent record with stage-level activity counts, while the horizontal layout displays stages for a selected playbook with pagination for playbooks exceeding five stages.
* **Playbook Activity Picker:** Allows navigation between activities within stages. When used with the vertical stage picker, it expands stages to show activities; with the horizontal stage picker, it toggles expansion for activities in the current stage.
* **Playbook Activity Viewer:** Manage activities within stages using display options such as Stacked view (all activities shown stacked) and Focused view (single selected activity). Additional layouts include Guided and Wizard layouts for tailored activity management.
* **Playbook Modals:** Enable functionality to cancel playbooks or add optional activities via modals. These are included by default in templates.
* **UI Builder Bundles:** Pre-configured layout bundles (e.g., Focused Vertical, Stacked Horizontal, Guided Layout) simplify setup by grouping essential components like UI controller, presets, activity viewer, pickers, modals, stage picker, and client scripts. Bundles can be added to new or existing UI Builder pages or standard record pages.

## Practical Benefits for Customers

* Customize agent and fulfiller playbook experiences without extensive development effort.
* Improve navigation and visibility of playbook stages and activities with flexible layout options.
* Streamline configuration with bundled layouts that include all necessary components and scripts.
* Enhance playbook management by enabling modals for canceling playbooks or adding optional activities.
* Leverage UI Builder presets and controllers to speed up design and data integration for standard components.

## Next Steps

To implement a customized Playbook Experience, start by adding and configuring components or bundles within UI Builder. Use the provided layouts or create your own to best fit your organizational processes. For detailed setup, refer to the specific instructions on customizing playbooks and adding custom layout bundles to UI Builder pages or standard record pages.  
Customize the layout of your Playbook Experience with base system modular
components, templates, and more via integrated UI Builder
functionality.
Build custom experiences for your agents and fulfillers with the modular components in the Playbook Experience apps. To speed up the development process, add the Custom Layout UI Controller to pages where you want presets to auto-populate inputs for the provided components.  
Note:  
You can also create your own custom components with UI Builder, but presets cannot auto-populate custom components with data.

## Components {#playbook-customize-playbook__section_jph_4dh_l1c}

Determine how to display these modular components in your Playbook Experience:

Playbook stage picker
:   The stages of a playbook can be displayed horizontally or vertically:

    * The vertical orientation shows:
      * All playbooks for a parent record,
      * The stages of each playbook,
      * How many activities remain to be completed in each stage, and
      * How many activities are in progress for each stage.
      {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_ets_pr5_gwb}  
      In this example, a playbook named Playbook Experience Demo with stages named Assign, Create, Review and Update is shown. The Assign stage has 2 activities left to complete, with 1 in progress. The Create and Review and Update stages don't have blue numbers next to them, so they don't have any activities that are in progress.Figure 1. Vertical stage picker   

    * The horizontal orientation only shows the stages of a selected playbook. To see the activities of a stage, select the stage.Figure 2. Horizontal stage picker   

      Playbooks with more than 5 stages paginate.  
      Note:  
      The horizontal stage picker only shows you the playbook you are in and its stages, so you can't navigate between playbooks unless you:
      * Use a playbook template, or
      * Create your own drop-down component with UI Builder.

      {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_l2q_4w5_gwb}

      All playbook templates include a drop-down component to navigate between playbooks, and is auto-populated when you select the Playbook Picker
      preset.
    {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_ekv_rkt_gwb}

Playbook activity picker

:   The activity picker is where you navigate between activities.

    If you're using the vertical stage picker, turning on the activity picker means each stage can be expanded to shows its activities.Figure 3. Activity picker when viewing stages vertically   

    If you're using the horizontal stage picker, turning on the activity picker allows you to expand or collapse the entire list of activities for the stage you're in.Figure 4. Activity picker when viewing stages horizontally   

    You can toggle the Show Stages flag on or off.

Playbook activity viewer
:   The activity viewer is where you manage a stage's activities. You can change the way activities are displayed in this space:

    * The Stacked view displays all activities in a stage stacked on top of each other.Figure 5. Playbook stacked view   

    * The Focused view displays a single selected activity.Figure 6. Playbook focused view   

    * The Guided layout
    * The Wizard layout
    {#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_rg1_dcw_gwb}

Playbook modals
:   If you want the ability to cancel playbooks and add optional activities, you must add the Playbook Modals component to your pages. If you use a template, this is already included.Figure 7. Cancel playbook modal   


    Figure 8. Add optional activity modal   

To start setting up components for your customized Playbook Experience, see [Customize a playbook in UI Builder](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/2Zq0a2MKqo~Jm12y2V8oTA "Use UI Builder pages and modular components for custom playbook layouts to customize the end user's Playbook Experience in a configurable workspace, Service Portal page, or mobile web page.").

## Provided UI Builder Bundles {#playbook-customize-playbook__section_ls4_bfh_l1c}

If adding each component individually isn't ideal, you can also add an entire layout to a new or existing UI Builder template.

* Focused Vertical
* Stacked Vertical
* Stacked Horizontal
* Guided Layout
* Horizontal Wizard
* Focused Horizontal
{#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_t5w_f2h_l1c}  
Each layout contains the following components:

* UI controller
* Presets
* Activity viewer
* Activity picker
* Modals
* Playbook picker
* Stage picker
* Client scripts
{#playbook-customize-playbook__ul_dqt_m2h_l1c}

To add a bundle to an existing or new UI Builder page, see [Add a custom layout bundle to a UI Builder page](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/vqdle8pcoiIGVBU~y3xiKA "Add playbook custom layout bundles to a new or existing UI Builder page that you've created from scratch."). If you're creating a new experience and want to add a bundle to a standard record page, see [Add a custom layout bundle to a UI Builder standard record page](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/sg6LIK5jGdSIM_M~1pPoLw "Add playbook custom layout bundles to a new or an existing UI Builder standard record page.").