--- sourceDocument: Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Administration sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/platform-administration Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia ServiceNow AI Platform Administration ft:clusterId : - platadm bundleId : - platadm workflow : - Platform --- # Configure crawl settings # Configure crawl settings for a ServiceNow instance external content connector {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated May 15, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 3 minutes to read Specify the content types that you want your ServiceNow instance external content connector to retrieve when running content crawls. ## Before you begin A connector administrator must have already created the ServiceNow® instance external content connector that you want to configure crawl settings for. To learn about this procedure, see [Create a ServiceNow instance external content connector](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/rLMWtq8_~WkXP94oUnCHOA "Create an external content connector to retrieve searchable content and security principals from a ServiceNow AI Platform instance."). Role required: sn_ext_conn.xcc_admin ## About this task This task is optional. By default, the ServiceNow instance external content connector retrieves all KB articles from your ServiceNow AI Platform instance. Only perform this task if you want the connector to use inclusion or exclusion filters for the KB articles to retrieve when running content crawls. Content is only retrieved from the source system if it passes all of your configured crawl setting filters. If any crawl setting filter excludes a content item, the external content connector doesn't retrieve it. Important: By default, each external content connector can index up to one million (1,000,000) content items from its source system. When a connector exceeds this limit, it continues to crawl the source system, but only sends content item deletions and updates to AI Search for indexing, ignoring new content items. The connector logs an error message for every 10,000 content items it crawls beyond the indexing limit.{#configure-crawl-settings-snow-instance-external-content-connector__store-app-external-content-connectors-indexing-limit-numeric-ph} When a connector's indexed content item count exceeds 800,000, a warning message appears in the connector's UI to indicate that it's approaching the indexing limit. If the connector reaches the indexing limit, an error message appears in its UI. External content connectors that support user permissions crawls can handle permissions for up to five hundred thousand (500,000) users and their groups. If a connector retrieves users in excess of this limit, user and group permissions may not be correctly applied to the connector's retrieved content. As a result, the content may not be searchable. If one of your connectors reaches the content indexing limit, you can update its crawl settings and file inclusion/exclusion filters to reduce the number of content items it retrieves. Alternatively, if you need a connector to index more than 1,000,000 content items, you can create a Customer Service and Support case at to request a limit increase for the connector. ## Procedure 1. Navigate to AllExternal Content ConnectorsExternal Content Admin Home. {#configure-crawl-settings-snow-instance-external-content-connector__navigate-ext-content-connectors-admin-home-step} {#configure-crawl-settings-snow-instance-external-content-connector__navigate-ext-content-connectors-admin-home-step} 2. In the Connectors list, select the record for the ServiceNow instance external content connector whose settings you want to modify. 3. In the connector editor's Settings tab, select Crawl settings. {#configure-crawl-settings-snow-instance-external-content-connector__select-crawl-settings-step} {#configure-crawl-settings-snow-instance-external-content-connector__select-crawl-settings-step} 4. Select one of the following Short description filtering options in the KB articles section. * To crawl all KB articles from the source instance, select Crawl all short descriptions. * To crawl only a specified set of KB articles from the source instance, select Include only these short descriptions, then use the Add short description patterns to include field and Add button to enter Java regular expression patterns that match the short descriptions for the KB articles that you want to include in the crawl. As an example, you might enter Beginner's [Gg]uide to include all KB articles with short descriptions that contain the terms Beginner's Guide or Beginner's guide. * To crawl all except a specified set of KB articles from the source instance, select Exclude only these short descriptions, then use the Add short description patterns to exclude field and Add button to enter Java regular expression patterns that match the short descriptions for the KB articles that you want to exclude from the crawl. As an example, you might enter (?i)\[Legacy\] to exclude all KB articles with short descriptions that contain the terms [Legacy] or [legacy]. {#configure-crawl-settings-snow-instance-external-content-connector__choices_cdr_s4x_sdc} Note: To learn about Java regular expression pattern syntax, see [the Javadoc for the java.regex.util.Pattern class](https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/21/docs/api/java.base/java/util/regex/Pattern.html). 5. **Optional:** If you want AI Search to automatically generate captions for content in attachments and files retrieved by the connector, select the Multimodal captions option. When you select this option, the Platform Multimodal Service automatically generates descriptive captions for images, tables, charts, and other visual elements found in retrieved attachments and files. You can discover these retrieved attachments and files by searching for terms from their generated captions. This option is only available when the Platform Multimodal Service plugin is activated on your instance. * For details on activating the plugin, see [Activate the Platform Multimodal Service plugin](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/Aps2A3ZsA_gtaZTILcqu2w "Enable automatic generation of searchable descriptive captions for images, tables, charts, and other visual elements found in indexed attachments."). * To learn how to select the VLM (visual learning model) provider and model used for the Platform Multimodal Service, see [Configure multimodal captioning for AI Search](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/nE2_exg8skwGj6J7f2cuwQ "Use the AI Search Admin console to select the visual language model (VLM) provider and model for multimodal captioning."). 6. Select Save and validate. {#configure-crawl-settings-snow-instance-external-content-connector__steps_yqk_jjw_22c} ## Result The ServiceNow instance external content connector is updated with your modified crawl settings. ## What to do next To retrieve content from your ServiceNow AI Platform instance using your modified crawl settings, create and run a one-time content crawl for your ServiceNow instance external content connector. To learn about creating and running one-time content crawls, see [Create a content crawl for an external content connector](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/fFJ92ZYif96fkc2JA4HtyQ "Retrieve searchable content and metadata from your source system with a content crawl. Run the crawl as a one-time task or schedule it to run on a recurring basis."). *[\>]: and then