Utility Commands

Beyond navigation and search, slash commands provide utility functions for common administrative tasks.

Switch Application (/sa)

Switch application scope quickly:

• Without argument: Shows last 10 scopes you've used
• With argument: Searches scope name and ID

Navigate by typing the number (press SHIFT first if numbers are inactive).

Related Switch Commands

Impersonate (/imp, /unimp)

Impersonate a user:

• Without argument: Shows recent impersonations
• With argument: Searches by username

While impersonating, use /imp again or /unimp to stop impersonation.

Elevate Role (/elev)

Toggle elevated roles:

• /elev - Toggle security_admin role
• /elev <role> - Toggle a specific elevated role

The page reloads after execution.

Switch Language (/lang)

Switch session language with a 2-letter code:

/lang nl - Switch to Dutch

If the language isn't installed on the instance, nothing changes.

New Tabs (/tab, /env)

Open new tabs:

You can pass either a full hostname (/env myinstance.servicenowservices.com) or just the instance name (/env myinstance). A short name is first matched against your known instances, then against the domain of the instance you are on, so it also works for instances on a custom domain such as .servicenowservices.com. If nothing matches, .service-now.com is assumed. The same resolution applies to /diffenv.

Instance picker

When you run /env without an argument, SN Utils shows a numbered list of all your known instances sorted by most recently visited. Each entry shows the instance tag name and hostname. Click an instance or press its number to open the current page there.

The list is built from every instance you have visited. If you have configured an instance tag, its label and color are shown for easy identification.

Match columns across instances (Pro)

Run /env -col <instance> to open the current list on another instance with the exact set of columns (and view) you have on screen. Use /env -col on its own to pick the target from the instance picker instead. On arrival, SN Utils asks to apply the columns, then persists them as your personalized list layout on that instance — the same mechanism as Copy Personalize List URL. The switch has no effect on pages that aren't lists.

Pop In or Out (/pop)

Toggle a page between framed (inside ServiceNow navigation) and frameless (standalone, no navigation chrome) mode.

How it works

ServiceNow wraps pages inside a navigation frame using URLs like nav_to.do?uri=… (Classic UI) or now/nav/ui/classic/params/target/… (Next Experience / Polaris). The /pop command toggles between these two states:

• Pop out — If the current page is inside the navigation frame, /pop extracts the inner URL and navigates directly to it, removing the top navigation bar, application navigator, and sidebar. This gives you a clean, full-width view of the page.
• Pop in — If the current page is already frameless (loaded directly without nav_to.do), /pop wraps the URL back inside the navigation frame so the standard ServiceNow navigation reappears.

Keyboard shortcut

/pop is also available as a keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+2 (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+2 (Mac). You can customize this in your browser's extension shortcut settings.

When to use it

• Quickly get a distraction-free view of a form or list without the sidebar navigation
• Toggle the navigation back when you need to switch modules
• Share a clean direct URL to a record without the navigation wrapper
• Works in both Classic UI and Next Experience / Polaris

Time-Based Filter Switches

When searching tables, you can use time-based switches to filter records by when they were created or updated. These work with any table command.

Syntax

-<type><number><unit>

Examples

These switches generate encoded query filters automatically and can be combined with other switches and search terms:

/br myBusinessRule -u2d -s — Business Rules matching "myBusinessRule", updated in the last 2 days, in the current scope.

Random Values (/rnd)

Fill random values in fields for testing. Reference fields stay inside their reference qualifier, including qualifiers that depend on the values already on the form, which are resolved through the field's own reference lookup. See Other UIs for details on portal usage.

Expand Messages & Filter Areas (/expand)

Enlarge the form message output area, the list filter condition builder, and multi-select filter boxes so everything is visible without scrolling in a 260px strip. Run it manually on any form or list — or let the Expanded messages & filters Command Automation run it for you automatically.

Clear Local Storage (/cls)

Clear the browser's local storage for the current instance. Useful when:

• Menu isn't updating
• New tables missing from table lists

Run /cls and reload the page.

CSDM Overview & Lens (/csdm) Pro

Run /csdm on a CSDM or CMDB form to open the record Lens: identify its entity and domain, inspect important field and life-cycle evidence, and review relevant relationships. Run the same command from a page without a current record to open CSDM Overview with domain explanations, indicative instance signals, and deep links to key tables.

Learn more about CSDM Lens →

Back to Previous Tab (/back) Pro

Jump straight back to the ServiceNow browser tab you were on before this one — the tab marked 1️⃣ by Tab Markers. The trail is per browser window and only includes ServiceNow tabs.

Diff Editor (/diff1, /diff2, /diffenv)

Compare two records:

1. Open first record, run /diff1 (opens diff tab)
2. Open second record, run /diff2

Cross-instance comparison: Use /diffenv <instancename> to compare the same record across instances (must be logged into both). Running /diffenv without an argument shows the same instance picker as /env, letting you pick the target instance from a list.