Indexed sources in AI Search

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated July 28, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Indexed Sources

    Indexed sources in the ServiceNow AI Platform allow you to designate tables and external document sets as searchable within AI Search. By creating indexed sources, you ensure that records and documents are ingested and stored in the AI Search index, enhancing search capabilities across your organization.

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    Key Features

    • Internal Indexed Sources: These retrieve content and metadata from ServiceNow tables, allowing indexing of records and their child tables, except for certain excluded tables.
    • External Indexed Sources: Designed for content from external repositories or remote tables, these sources are configured with a reference to an external content schema.
    • Retention Policies and Filters: You can set retention policies and filter conditions to manage the volume of indexed records, especially for high-volume tables like the Task table.
    • Attributes and Field Settings: Control indexing behavior at both the record and field levels through configurable attributes and field settings.
    • Indexing Behavior: AI Search automatically indexes records from defined sources, reflecting changes in real-time, with options for full table indexing.
    • Knowledge Articles: Starting in Washington DC Patch 9, you can configure indexing behavior to include or exclude knowledge block content.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing indexed sources, ServiceNow customers can:

    • Enhance searchability of their data across internal and external content.
    • Efficiently manage the indexing process and control the volume of indexed records.
    • Customize search results based on specific attributes and fields to improve user experience.
    • Ensure content is up-to-date in the search index, facilitating quick and accurate information retrieval.

    Indexed sources designate ServiceNow AI Platform® tables and external document sets with content that you want to make searchable. AI Search ingests records or documents from these sources and stores their searchable content in its search index.

    For instructions on creating an indexed source, see Create an indexed source.

    Indexed source types

    AI Search supports the following indexed source types.
    Internal indexed source
    An internal indexed source retrieves content and metadata from ServiceNow AI Platform records. It includes a unique name and a reference to a ServiceNow AI Platform table with records that you want to make searchable. AI Search extracts and indexes searchable content and metadata from records in this table and in any of its child tables that you configure for indexing.
    AI Search excludes some ServiceNow AI Platform tables from indexing. You can't define indexed sources for these excluded tables or their derived tables. For a list of excluded tables, see ServiceNow AI Platform tables excluded from AI Search indexing.
    You can't index remote tables with internal indexed sources. To index content from a remote table, create an external indexed source.
    External indexed source
    An external indexed source retrieves document content and metadata from an external repository or a remote table. It includes a unique name and a reference to an external content schema table instead of a ServiceNow AI Platform table. For more details on configuring indexed sources for external content, see Indexing and searching external content in AI Search.

    Indexed source retention policies and filter conditions

    Indexing large source tables, such as the Task [task] table and tables that extend it, can add large numbers of records to the AI Search index. To limit the set of records indexed from a source table, you can configure retention policies and filter conditions for your indexed sources. AI Search also uses these settings to automatically purge stale records from the index. For more information on retention policies and filter conditions, see Indexed source retention policies and filter conditions.
    Note:
    Retention policies are required for indexed sources that index records from the Task [task] table or tables that extend it. They are optional for other indexed sources.

    Indexed source attributes and field settings

    You can configure attributes and field settings for an indexed source to control indexing behavior for source records. Attributes control the indexed source's behavior at the record level, while field settings define its behavior for individual fields on indexed records. For more information, including lists of available attributes and field settings, see Indexed source attributes for AI Search and Field settings for AI Search.

    Indexing content from an indexed source

    Once you define an indexed source, AI Search begins automatically indexing to reflect changes to records in the selected source table and its specified child tables. The results of all record create, update, and delete operations in these tables are reflected in the search index. AI Search doesn't index content from unmodified records in these tables until you perform a full table index. For more information on indexing behavior, including steps for full table indexing, see Indexing content from AI Search indexed sources.
    Note:
    The pre-configured indexed sources included with AI Search only index content from string fields on source records. When searching records from these indexed sources, you can use numeric fields to facet or filter your search results, but you can't find records using their numeric field values. To search on a record's numeric field values, copy them into a string field so they can be indexed.

    Indexing content from knowledge articles

    Starting in Washington DC Patch 9, when indexing content from records in the Knowledge [kb_knowledge] table, AI Search defaults to including content defined in knowledge blocks. Administrators can override this default behavior and configure AI Search to exclude content from knowledge blocks when indexing knowledge articles. For details on making this change, see Exclude knowledge block content from the AI Search index.

    Multiple indexed sources for the same ServiceNow AI Platform table

    You can't create more than one indexed source for a single ServiceNow AI Platform table. However, plugins and applications may define duplicate indexed sources for a ServiceNow AI Platform table. For example, the base system includes an indexed source defined for the User [sys_user] table, but a plugin or application might define a second indexed source for this table under a different name.
    Note:
    Only one indexed source can be active at a time for a given ServiceNow AI Platform table. The system makes duplicate indexed sources for a table inactive by default. Before you can make one of these duplicate sources active, you must edit the currently active source and make it inactive. AI Search only indexes content and metadata from active indexed sources.