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Activity Stream & Work Notes

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • What the activity stream shows
  • The difference between work notes and additional comments
  • How to use @mentions
  • How to filter the activity stream

1 The story of a task

Every task has a story: who opened it, who changed it, and what people said about it. ServiceNow shows this story in the activity stream, near the bottom of the form. 📜

Key term: Activity stream

A timeline on a form that shows comments, work notes, emails, and field changes, newest first.

2 Work notes vs additional comments

This is one of the most important things to get right! There are two kinds of notes:

Two kinds of notes on an incident. Work notes, shown with a yellow background, are internal: only the IT team sees them, for example Checked the charger, ordering a battery. Additional comments, shown with a grey background, are customer visible: the caller Riya sees them and may get an email, for example We are ordering a new battery for you. Below, the activity stream shows both, plus a field change: State changed from New to In Progress.
Figure 1. Work notes stay inside the team. Additional comments go to the customer.
Work notes Additional comments
Who sees it Only people working on the task The customer (caller) too
Use it for Technical details, team updates Messages to the customer
Example “Checked the charger. Ordering a battery.” “We’re ordering a new battery for you.”

⚠️ Think before you post! If you put internal notes in Additional comments by mistake, the customer can see them, and may even get an email. Double-check which box you’re typing in.

📝 Note: Both are journal fields (Lesson 13.2). Each entry is saved with the author and time, and entries can’t be edited later.

3 @mentions

Need a teammate’s help? Type @ and their name in a work note, like @Sam Lee. Sam gets a notification and a link to the task. 🔔

4 Filtering the stream

On busy tasks, the activity stream gets long. Use the filter icon above it to show only some things, like only work notes, or only field changes.

⭐ Remember: Work notes = inside the team. Additional comments = to the customer.

5 Let’s try it: write the right note

  1. Open any incident.
  2. In Work notes, type: “Checked the logs. Looks like a network issue.” Click Post.
  3. In Additional comments, type: “We’re looking into this for you.” Click Post.
  4. Look at the activity stream. How are the two entries shown differently?
  5. Impersonate the incident’s caller and open the incident in the portal. Which note can they see?

6 Quick recap

  • The activity stream shows a task’s history: notes, emails, and changes
  • Work notes are internal. Additional comments are customer visible
  • Both are journal fields and can’t be edited later
  • Use @mentions to bring in a teammate
  • Filter the stream to find what you need

7 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 You want to tell the caller their laptop is ready. Which field? Show answer

Additional comments.

2 You want to note a technical detail for your team only. Which field? Show answer

Work notes.

3 How do you get a teammate’s attention on a task? Show answer

@mention them in a work note.

Nice work! You finished this lesson. 🎉

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