By default, the help link available in the product opens the welcome page of the help
system, allowing you to enter search criteria for the information you want to find. With
context-sensitive help, you can set a base URL for an external help system. The
context-sensitive system properties define the base URLs for the default and custom help
systems.
The ServiceNow system provides several
preconfigured help contexts connected to this link that display the exact information you need
for the current list, form, or record. You can define your own help topics and configure them
to appear when you click the help icon in a ServiceNow record.
Users click the help icon to open the default help pages provided in the base system. For any
page that does not have context-sensitive help defined, the instance displays the help system
welcome page. Users can use the search feature or the index to find the correct help topic.
The location of the help icon depends on the user interface version you are using.
UI15
Click the gear icon in the banner frame to open the menu containing the help icon. The
appearance of the menu and icons might be different, depending on the UI scheme you have
configured for your instance.
Figure 1. Context help access in UI15
UI16
Click the help icon in the right corner of the header bar and select Search
Product Documentation from the menu.
Figure 2. Context help access in UI 6
Alternatively, administrators can create custom context-sensitive help to suit the needs of
their organizations. Create a help context that links the help icon to a topic describing a
list, form, or specific record. You may initially want to set a base URL to direct to a help
system other than the default ServiceNow help system.
Set base URLs
To create numerous help contexts that direct to a single server other than the
ServiceNow help system, enter the base
URL in the
help.base.default property.
Figure 3. Base URL for custom help contexts
On the Help Context form, when the
ServiceNow Product Documentation
check box is cleared and you enter a value in the
URL or page name
field that does not contain the string
://, that value is appended to the
base URL defined by
help.base.default property.
Note: When
the ServiceNow Product Documentation check box is cleared and the
URL or page name field contains an absolute URL (distinguished by
the string :// in the value), the value in the
help.base.default property is ignored. This allows you to create
help contexts that link to several different servers.
Context-sensitive help properties
To access the context-sensitive help properties, navigate to
sys_properties.list and filter by Name. You
can edit a property value from the list or by opening the property record.
| Property Name |
Description |
Default Value |
| glide.help.default.page |
The default URL the help icon directs to when no help context is specified.
This is the base URL of the ServiceNow help system and
opens to the welcome page. Do not change this value. |
http://docs.servicenow.com/ |
| help.base.default |
The base URL for custom help contexts in which the ServiceNow
Product Documentation check box is cleared, and an absolute URL is
not specified. When the base URL is set, the system creates the address of a
help conext record by appending the target page or file name to the base URL.
Custom help contexts using this base URL overwrite the help provided by default
in your instance for the same table. For details, see set base
URLs. |
http://docs.servicenow.com/?context= |
| help.base.servicenow |
The base URL for help contexts in which the ServiceNow
Wiki check box is selected. This is the base URL for the help
provided in your instance by default. Do not change this value. For details, see
Create a new help context.
|
http://docs.servicenow.com/?context= |
