When you install an application from the application repository or ServiceNow® store, you can set a series of properties to define the behavior of delete and choice processing. These kinds of choices are called an "author-elective" feature.

Important: You've landed at the legacy version of Studio, which will be supported until the Australia release in Q1 2026. Try building and editing apps in the new version of ServiceNow Studio instead. For more information, see Building applications with ServiceNow Studio.

Overview of author elective

You can find details on these properties in the Skipped records that occur during application installation topic. With these properties, you can opt in and out of deletes and choice updates depending on whether you are using your own or a third-party application.

When you install from source control, however, these records do not skip, except when a global application file is claimed by a different global application. Other than com.glide.apps.include_my_deletes and com.glide.apps.include_global_deletes that disable the processing of the author_elective_update folder altogether, those properties are not effective for source installed apps.
Note: An “absent” file detected in Delta loading for source control is vastly different than a Delete payload housed inside the author_elective_update folder. Author_elective_update properties do not prevent Delta loading in source control from deleting the file.

Similarly, update sets protect customizations that you make in an instance against incoming changes that force a preview decision. Before you commit an update set, a preview must be run to attempt to detect collisions. You must address all preview problems before committing the changes. Source control may ask you to stash a local change, but the outcome of the installation is to load what is present in the source even if a change had been made locally.

Loading what is present in the source is challenging when properties must have different versions based on the target of the installation. For example, it’s difficult to resolve when a property containing an integration URL differs based on instance production role. The is_private flag is effective with a source control installation and does not overwrite the property if set, mitigating this concern.