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Impersonating Users

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • What impersonation is and why admins use it
  • How to start and end impersonating a user
  • The safety rules for impersonation

1 Seeing through someone else’s eyes

A user calls you: “I can’t see the Change menu!” You’re an admin, so you can see it. How do you know what they see?

You impersonate them. 🎭 For a short time, ServiceNow shows you the instance exactly as that user sees it, with their roles and their access.

Key term: Impersonate

Use ServiceNow as another user, without knowing their password, to see and test what they can do.

2 Why admins impersonate

  • 🔍 Troubleshoot“Why can’t I see this?”
  • 🧪 Testcheck a new change works for users
  • 🔐 Check accessmake sure people can’t see too much

3 How to impersonate

Three steps to impersonate. Step 1: open the user menu and choose Impersonate user. Step 2: search for a user, such as Riya Sharma, and click Impersonate. Step 3: the screen reloads as Riya, with only her menus, and a note shows you are impersonating. To stop, open the user menu and choose End impersonation.
Figure 1. Start from the user menu. End from the user menu too.
  1. Click your picture (top right) and choose Impersonate user.
  2. Type the person’s name, like Riya Sharma, and pick them from the list.
  3. Click Impersonate user. The page reloads.
  4. Now you see ServiceNow as Riya: her menus, her lists, her access.
  5. When you’re done, open the user menu again and choose End impersonation. You’re back to yourself. ✅

💡 Good to know: The Impersonate window remembers the users you impersonated recently, so you can switch back to them quickly.

4 Safety rules

⚠️ Everything you do counts as them. If you create or change a record while impersonating, ServiceNow records it as if that user did it. Look, test, and then end impersonation. Don’t do real work as someone else.

  • Only people with the admin or impersonator role can impersonate.
  • ServiceNow keeps a log of who impersonated whom, and when.
  • Always end impersonation when you finish, so you don’t forget whose account you’re using.
  • Only impersonate for a real work reason, like fixing an access problem.

⭐ Remember: Impersonation is for looking and testing, not for doing someone else’s work.

5 Let’s try it: be Riya for a minute

  1. Impersonate Riya Sharma (from Lesson 6.1). She has the itil role from her group.
  2. Open the All menu. Can she see Incident? Can she see User Administration?
  3. End impersonation.
  4. Now impersonate a demo user with no roles, like Abel Tuter. What does the All menu look like now?
  5. End impersonation again. Check that your name is back in the user menu.

📝 Note: Did Riya see Incident but not User Administration? That’s roles at work! She has itil, but not admin.

6 Quick recap

  • Impersonation lets you see ServiceNow as another user
  • Start: user menu → Impersonate user
  • Stop: user menu → End impersonation
  • Anything you do while impersonating is recorded as that user
  • Only admin or impersonator can do it, and it’s logged

7 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 A user says a button is missing. What’s the fastest way to see what they see? Show answer

Impersonate them.

2 You update an incident while impersonating Riya. Who does the record say made the change? Show answer

Riya. That’s why you should only look and test while impersonating.

3 Which roles can impersonate users? Show answer

admin and impersonator.

Nice work! You finished this lesson. 🎉

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