Extracting a Multi‐Line Description from an Email Body - ben-vargas/servicenow-wiki GitHub Wiki

When processing incoming emails in ServiceNow, you may need to parse the email body to extract specific information. For example, if the email includes a "description:" tag followed by multiple lines of text, you’ll want to capture all lines until the end of the email body and use that value in a record field, such as current.description.

This article demonstrates how to use a regular expression (regex) and string manipulation to achieve this. The provided code snippet is intended for use in an Inbound Email Action, allowing you to programmatically extract a multi-line description from the email’s content.

Use Case

Scenario:
A user sends an email to a ServiceNow instance, intending to create or update a record with a detailed description. The email’s body contains a "description:" label, followed by multiple lines of text. You need to capture all lines after "description:" until the end of the email and store them in the current.description field.

Goal:
Automatically parse and clean the multi-line description from the email body, ensuring that the resulting text is ready for insertion into a ServiceNow record.

Code Example

// Description: Extracts a multi-line description from the email body
// Maximum length limit or truncation can be handled separately if needed.

// Use a regex to find all text following "description:" until the end of the email body.
// The '[^]*' matches any character, including new lines, ensuring multiple lines are captured.
var re = /\ndescription:\s*([^]*)/;

var m;

// Attempt to match the regex against the email's body text.
// email.body_text is a standard variable available in Inbound Email Actions
if ((m = re.exec(email.body_text)) !== null) {
    var descriptionClean = m[1];

    // Replace encoded colons (%3A) with actual colons for cleaner output
    descriptionClean = descriptionClean.replace(/%3A/g, ":");

    // Assign the cleaned multi-line description to the current record's description field
    current.description = descriptionClean;
}

Explanation of the Code

  1. Regular Expression (Regex):
    The regex pattern \ndescription:\s*([^]*) looks for:

    • \n: A newline character before the word "description:".
    • description:: The literal string marking the start of the description section.
    • \s*: Any amount of whitespace after the colon.
    • ([^]*): A capturing group that matches any character (including newlines) until the end of the string.

    By using ([^]*), all lines following "description:" are captured until no more text remains in the email body.

  2. Regex Execution (re.exec):
    re.exec(email.body_text) runs the regex against the email’s body text, which is provided by the Inbound Email Action context. If a match is found, it’s stored in m.

  3. Cleaning the Result:
    The captured group m[1] contains the multi-line description. The code replaces %3A with : to ensure any encoded colons are properly displayed.

  4. Assigning to the Record:
    Finally, current.description is set to the cleaned multi-line description. In an Inbound Email Action, current refers to the record being created or updated based on the email.

How to Use

  1. Inbound Email Action:
    Go to System Policy > Email > Inbound Actions and create or edit an Inbound Email Action.

    • Condition: Adjust to trigger on specific subjects, senders, or email conditions.
    • Action: Add the provided code snippet to the script field.

  2. Testing:
    Send a test email that includes a line starting with "description:" and multiple lines of text afterward. Once the email is processed, verify that the target record’s description field contains the expected multi-line text.

  3. Adjustments and Enhancements:

    • Truncation or Length Limits:
      If the description must not exceed a certain length, add a substring operation to limit the size before assigning it to current.description.
    • Different Tags or Patterns:
      If you need to extract different tags (e.g., \ntitle: or \nnotes:), adjust the regex accordingly.
    • Error Handling:
      Add logs (gs.info, gs.error) or checks to handle cases where no match is found.

Best Practices

  • Regex Testing:
    Test your regex pattern using a regex tester before implementing to ensure it captures the intended text.
  • Email Variations:
    Consider variations in formatting (additional spaces, missing newline characters) and adjust the regex if necessary.
  • Documentation:
    Comment your code and explain the pattern and reason for replacements, making future maintenance easier.

Conclusion

By using this approach, you can effectively extract a multi-line description from email body text into a ServiceNow field. This solution simplifies how inbound emails are processed, ensuring that users’ detailed input is captured accurately and made available in the record’s description.