On forms, the reference icon (Core UI reference icon) appears by populated reference fields. Clicking the icon opens a read-only preview of the referenced record.

Figure 1. Referenced record preview on a form
Pointing to the reference icon, which looks like the letter I in a circle, opens a preview of the record over the form

The preview remains open until you click somewhere else on the form.

Click Open Record to navigate to the referenced record.

Note: When using a reference icon in Service Portal, a form opens using the default view of the form rather than a popup view. Write permissions to this form are the same as opening the form in the default view in the standard UI.

Configure the reference icon view of fields

Use a table's sys_popup form view to configure the fields in the pop-up form that appear when pointing to a reference icon. If the table has no sys_popup view, the pop-up uses the default view.

Before you begin

Role required: personalize_form

About this task

The pop-up form displays in the top form section only.

Procedure

  1. To configure a reference field popup form for a table using the default sys_popup view, navigate to the following URL format, substituting the instance name and table name: 
    <your instance name>.service-now.com/<table name>.do?sysparm_view=sys_popup
    Note: This URL format only shows a table and default sys_popup view. It does not work for records that use a different view.
    An example of an instance for Acme, the sys_user table, and the sys_popup default view:
    acme.service-now.com/sys_user.do?sysparm_view=sys_popup
  2. (Optional) To configure a reference field popup form for a table using a non-default sys_popup view, navigate to the following URL format, substituting the instance name, table name, and name of view: 
    <your instance name>.service-now.com/<table name>.do?sysparm_view=sys_popup,<name_of_view>
    An example of an instance for Acme, the sys_user table, and the sys_popup ESS view:
    acme.service-now.com/sys_user.do?sysparm_view=sys_popup,ess
  3. Configure the form to add or remove fields as appropriate.

Configure pop-ups on read-only fields

Reference pop-ups and click-throughs are hidden by default when a client script, UI policy, variable, or ACL makes the field read-only. The ability to see or click through to the target record does not depend on whether the reference field is writable. You can change the read-only setting.

Before you begin

Role required: admin

Procedure

  1. Navigate to All > System Properties > UI Properties.
  2. Change the value of the Enable click-through of a reference field when the reference field is read-only. (glide.ui.reference.readonly.clickthrough) property.
    If set to true, the pop-up appears for read-only fields and for variables.

What to do next

If this system value is set to false, you can override the setting for a specific read-only reference field. Configure the dictionary entry and add the readonly_clickthrough=true attribute.
Figure 2. Dictionary entry showing the clickthrough attribute
Read-only clickthrough attribute in dictionary entry