What makes catalog items non-conversational in premium chat

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated April 30, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of What makes catalog items non-conversational in premium chat

    In ServiceNow's Premium Chat interface powered by Now Assist, catalog items can be requested through a conversational experience instead of traditional forms. However, certain conditions prevent catalog items from delivering a fully conversational interaction. Understanding these conditions helps customers optimize catalog items for conversational requests.

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    Key Conditions That Make Catalog Items Non-Conversational

    • Conversation Disabled: If the turnoffnowassistconversation property is enabled, the catalog item will not appear in Premium Chat.
    • Explicit Form Preference: The makeitemnonconversational property flags items to open as traditional forms, which is preferred for complex requests.
    • Excessive Questions: Items with more than the configured question threshold (default is 4) are considered too complex for conversational handling.
    • Client-Side Scripts: Dynamic form changes triggered by client scripts (e.g., hiding fields or calculations) only work in browser forms and are incompatible with chat.
    • UI Policies: Rules that dynamically show or hide fields based on user input rely on browser rendering and do not function in chat interaction.
    • All Fields Non-Interactive: If all fields are hidden, pre-filled, or read-only, there are no user inputs left to drive a conversation.
    • Unsupported Question Types: Certain question types like checkbox, custom UI pages, list collectors, attachments, and table questions are not supported conversationally.
    • Advanced Filtering: Fields requiring users to pick from filtered lists fallback to traditional form mode.
    • Pricing Impact: If any question affects cost or pricing, the item cannot be handled in the chat interface, as pricing support is not available.
    • Repeating/Tabular Inputs: Sections allowing multiple rows of input (e.g., ordering accessories for multiple employees) are not supported in Premium Chat.
    • Complex Item Types: Order guides, wizards, content items, or standard change templates are structurally too complex and open as forms.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    Catalog items that do not meet these conversational criteria will open as traditional forms within the Premium Chat experience. However, many catalog items can be adjusted with minor changes—such as reducing visible questions, removing unnecessary client scripts, or changing field types—to enable a fully conversational experience.

    Note that conversational catalog items without agentic AI support are discoverable but do not appear directly within the chat conversation and open as forms instead.

    By reviewing and optimizing catalog items based on these guidelines, customers can enhance requester experience by leveraging conversational ordering where feasible.

    Let's understand what determines whether a catalog item can deliver a fully conversational experience in the Premium Chat interface.

    Premium chat is a conversational interface powered by Now Assist. Instead of filling out a traditional form, requesters can request catalog items through conversations. For a catalog item to work in this mode, it needs to meet certain conditions.
    • Conversation turned off using the turn_off_nowassist_conversation property, preventing the item from appearing in Premium chat mode, regardless of how the item is designed.
    • The catalog item has been flagged to open as a form and not a chat using the make_item_non_conversational property. This is used for complex items where a structured form is preferred over a guided conversation.
    • When a catalog item has more than the configured maximum number of questions (Using the sn_now_assist_cr.og.question_threshold property, which has a default value as 4), it can be complex to handle as a natural back-and-forth conversation.
    • Catalog items use client-side scripts that change the form dynamically as the user fills it in. For example, hiding certain fields based on earlier answers, or running a calculation. These scripts only work in a traditional browser form and can't be replicated inside a chat window, so the item can't be made conversational while these scripts are active.
    • Similar to scripts, UI policies are rules that change what requesters see on the form based on their inputs. Because these rules depend on the form rendering in a browser, they aren't compatible with the step-by-step chat approach.
    • Every field on the catalog item is either hidden from the user, pre-filled with a default value, or set to read-only. Since there are no questions left, there is nothing for a conversational experience to do.
    • Some questions types, such as check box, Custom, Render UI Page, Custom with Label, Lookup Select Box, List Collector, Lookup Multiple Choice, Masked, Table Question, Requested For, Attachment Question, Table Name aren't supported.
    • Some fields let users pick a value from a list (for example, choosing a specific laptop model from a catalog). Items with this kind of advanced filtering fall back to the traditional form.
    • If any question on the catalog item influences the cost or pricing of what is being requested, the item can't be handled conversationally. Pricing implications aren't yet supported in the chat interface.
    • Some catalog items include a section where the user can add multiple rows of information. For example, ordering accessories for several employees at once. This kind of repeating, table-style input is not yet supported in a Premium chat interface.
    • Certain catalog item types, such as order guides, wizard, content items, or standard change templates, have a structure that is more complex than a simple request. These types are not eligible for the conversational experience and open as a traditional form.
    Note:
    • Conversational catalog items that don't support agentic AI may be discoverable, but they don't appear within conversation in the Premium chat experience. These catalog items open as forms that requesters can fill out and submit.
    • Meeting these requirements doesn't require rebuilding a catalog item from scratch. Often, small adjustments, such as reducing the number of visible questions, removing an unused client script, or switching a field type, are enough to make an item eligible for the full agentic AI experience.