Understanding ServiceNow's Email-to-Text and the Urgent Need to Evolve

In today's fast-paced digital world, instant communication is key. ServiceNow has long offered a convenient "Email-to-Text" functionality to ensure critical alerts reach users promptly, even when they're not checking email. However, significant changes are on the horizon that demand our immediate attention and action.

What is "Email-to-Text" in ServiceNow?

Email-to-Text is a service that allows you to send a regular email that, instead of landing in an email inbox, appears as a text message (SMS) on a recipient's mobile phone. This is incredibly useful when you need to quickly notify a colleague or customer who isn’t actively checking email, and you don’t have time to text them directly from your phone. It bridges the gap between email and mobile communication, ensuring timely delivery of important information.

How Does ServiceNow's Email-to-Text Functionality Work?

The process for sending an email as a text message through ServiceNow involves a specific setup and delivery mechanism:

1. Sending the Email: You send an email as normal, but instead of a standard email address, you use a special format like 1234567890@txt.att.net. The phone number (1234567890) identifies who to send the message to, while the ending (@txt.att.net) is specific to the mobile carrier. The message is then delivered as a regular SMS on the recipient's phone.

2. Creating an Email Notification: Within ServiceNow, it's necessary to create a standard email notification on your instance. It's crucial to remember that SMS messages are typically limited to 140 characters, so your message length in the email notification should be under this limit to avoid truncation. ServiceNow also offers an "SMS alternate" field on the "What it will contain" tab in the advanced view of any email notification, allowing users to create a brief, dedicated message for SMS when an email notification serves multiple purposes (email and SMS).

3. Creating an SMS Service Provider: You need to create an SMS service provider record. These records are stored in the cmn_notif_service_provider.list table. It's essential to ensure the "Active" box is checked for the service provider used for SMS notifications. When troubleshooting SMS notification issues, checking this service provider configuration is a key step.

4. Creating and Selecting an SMS Device for a User: For any specific user chosen to receive SMS notifications, an SMS device must be created for them if one doesn't already exist. When creating this device, ensure the Type is SMS, the User is the recipient's sys_user record, the Phone number is the number to receive the SMS, and the Service provider is the one created in the previous step. The Primary email field should be set to false as it's for SMS only, and Active should be true. All notification-related devices (email, SMS, Push) are stored in the cmn_notif_device.list table.

5. Enabling the SMS Device and Notification: Finally, the SMS device must be enabled in the recipient user's Notification Preference. Additionally, the specific SMS email notification must be enabled for this SMS device in the user's Notification Preference. These steps typically need to be performed by each user or by impersonating the user.

Urgent Call to Action: Service Providers Are Deprecating Email-to-Text!

This tried-and-true method is facing a significant challenge. Some service providers are beginning to deprecate the "email-to-text" functionality, which will directly impact the delivery of SMS via Email Notification in ServiceNow.

For example, AT&T will discontinue support for its email-to-text interface (e.g., 8175551212@txt.att.net) on June 17th, 2025. Verizon may also take similar action soon. This means that if your ServiceNow instance relies on this method for critical SMS alerts, those alerts may cease to be delivered after these dates.

The Solution: Transition to ServiceNow's Notify Product

Given these developments, it is highly recommended to transition to ServiceNow's Notify product for more reliable and future-proof SMS delivery.

• Notify is a separate and more robust solution designed specifically for comprehensive SMS notifications.

• It requires integration with third-party software, such as Twilio, to send out SMS notifications effectively.

What You Can Do Now:

• For Users & Organizations: Begin planning your migration from the legacy email-to-text method to ServiceNow's Notify product integrated with solutions like Twilio. This is crucial to ensure uninterrupted critical communications.

• For Administrators: To prevent users from inadvertently trying to use deprecated email-to-text service providers, you can go to the cmn_notif_service_provider table. Locate the provider record you wish to disable and set its active status from true to false. This will prevent users from selecting it in their notification preferences.

Reference -

https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0712569

https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB2088811