How to Export Data from ServiceNow (3 Methods)

Organizations that can easily export data from ServiceNow have more options as to how that data can be leveraged. 

This post will show users of ServiceNow how to quickly export all data in a table, and explores the ways in which organizations benefit from doing so.

Why Export Data from ServiceNow?

Although ServiceNow is a powerful platform, it can’t do everything, and not everybody is able to (or wants to) use the platform. It is also somewhat of a data silo which neglects features geared towards making extracting data from the platform easier. 

As such, there are a number of reasons why organizations may wish to export data from ServiceNow. 

An organization could have a team dedicated to working with data from multiple platforms/sources, and obtaining licenses for each platform, for each user simply would not be cost efficient. 

Many organizations have also invested considerable time, money and resources into purpose-built analytics, business intelligence and reporting solutions, or populating and maintaining data lakes and/or warehouses. 

With ServiceNow data siloed, and unavailable for use in such solutions, organizations are not extracting maximum value from ServiceNow, or their purpose-built solutions for working with data. 

With ServiceNow data free from its silo on the platform, organizations have a much broader range of options for visualizing, analyzing and using ServiceNow data in ways that are not available on the ServiceNow platform itself.

How to Export Data From ServiceNow: Basic Methods

Method #1: Export Data from ServiceNow Using the Platform’s Built-in Reporting Features

The platform’s built-in capabilities let users of ServiceNow export reports to excel, PDF or CSV.

To export data from ServiceNow using the built-in reporting features, users should:

1. Navigate to View/Run under Reports.

2. Select a report containing data you want to export.

3. Click the Sharing icon (it looks like a square with an arrow coming out of its right side) and then Schedule.

4. Configure the export and decide who it should be shared with by entering their email address and other message details.
   
5. Select export Type using the drop-down menu. Users can select from PDF, Excel or CSV.

Method #2: Export Data from a ServiceNow Platform List

Organizations can also export ServiceNow data to excel, CSV, XML, JSON and PDF from a ServiceNow platform list.

Users can avoid exporting a whole report by exporting from a list instead.

In this case, users can:

1. Navigate to the required list (i.e. Incident > All)
2. Right click any one of the column headers (Number, Opened, Short description, etc)
3. Click Export, then select an export type from Excel, CSV, XML, JSON, PDF and Export Set.

Why Methods #1 and #2 Have Limitations

Exporting using the platform’s built-in reporting features or from a platform list are popular, but flawed approaches to exporting ServiceNow data.

In both cases, the popularity of the method is down to their availability to all users and the ease of configuration, not the extent of the capabilities on offer. 

Particularly for large and/or scaling organizations, some limitations make the methods unsuitable. Limitations including:

Format/targets
The formatting options and the targets that support those formats are limited. This means many solutions will require an additional step to transform data into a format they can work with, if this is even an option at all.

Scale
With the above methods, you’re either exporting data in all lists of a specific type (i.e. incidents), a specific list (i.e. open incidents) or a specific report. 

This makes scaling up difficult as you’re unable to do things such as export all data that meets X conditions, regardless of the list or report they are contained in. 

Performance
Arguably an extension of the scale issue, exporting large volumes of data using ServiceNow’s operational resources could have an impact on the platform’s performance, causing disruption for platform users. 

Bulk only (no dynamic sharing or automation)
While the above methods let users schedule, or manually initiate bulk exports, automated/dynamic exports are not an option. This means users are unable to instantly and automatically export data that meets particular conditions.

For example, business leaders (or anyone without direct ServiceNow access) won’t be able to see the status of opened/closed cases in real-time as the export of data that such insight relies on only happens periodically, or when manually performed.

Method #3: Export Data from ServiceNow via Data Replication and Integration

Users of ServiceNow can quickly export all data in a table by introducing a data replication and integration solution.

While the out of the box capabilities for exporting ServiceNow data will suffice for one-off or occasional use, any repeat/consistent requirement for data is better supported via data replication and integration. 

Data replication and integration is essentially a smart approach to exporting data that provides more scope to configure the types of data exported, the target of exports and the timing and/or conditions that trigger exports.

Data replication and integration solutions can also export data with its original context intact by maintaining referential integrity and including related data in the export event.

I.e. when exporting a ServiceNow record, users could also choose to export any related attachments, comments and other data. 

Since different vendors and platforms will have different configuration options, you’ll have to contact your chosen data replication/integration vendor for a specific, step-by-step process. So instead of a step-by-step process, we’ve listed the features enabled by Method #3 below.

• For help choosing the right data replication and integration vendor, check out this whitepaper. 

Export Data from ServiceNow: Traditional API Methods vs Modern Pub/Sub Solutions

In methods #1 and #2, ServiceNow offers native capabilities to export data that can suffice for simple, manual exports or basic reporting needs. However, when organizations require automated, large-scale, or real-time data movement, they often turn to dedicated integration solutions.

Traditionally, these solutions rely on API-based architectures to extract and move data. While widely adopted, API-driven methods can place a load on the ServiceNow platform and become difficult to scale efficiently.

To address these limitations, modern integration tools have begun adopting publish/subscribe (Pub/Sub) architectures. These enable real-time, event-driven data replication with minimal impact on ServiceNow’s performance—offering a more scalable and responsive approach for data-intensive environments.

Traditional API-Based Integration Methods

While ServiceNow’s native export options are useful for ad hoc and smaller-scale needs, organizations that require ongoing, automated exports often turn to API-based data replication solutions. These traditional methods are widely supported and offer key features that improve flexibility and reach—but they come with limitations.

Condition-Based Filtering for Scalable Exports

Most API-driven solutions allow organizations to define detailed criteria for what data should be exported. This enhances scalability by preventing the need to extract large, unnecessary datasets.

For example, instead of exporting all incident records and filtering them manually in Excel, users can configure an export to include only P1 incidents opened on a specific date—reducing data volume and processing effort.

Integration with a Wide Range of Targets

Unlike ServiceNow’s default export options, integration and replication solutions often support a broader ecosystem of destinations. These include data lakes, databases (like AWS, MySQL, Snowflake, SAP HANA, SQL Server), and BI tools (like Tableau or Power BI), enabling smoother downstream analysis and reporting.

Performance Impact

The major drawback of this traditional approach is platform impact. API calls used to extract data consume the same operational resources that support ServiceNow’s core functions. As data exports become more frequent or complex, the load on the platform increases, potentially slowing down performance for end users.

Resource-Intensive to Maintain

API integrations are often custom-built and maintained in-house, requiring ongoing developer attention. When issues arise—such as broken data flows or unexpected system behavior—troubleshooting falls to internal teams, potentially becoming a major resource drain.

Additionally, ServiceNow releases updates each year, which can impact API behavior and integrations. Many organizations find themselves needing to rework or revalidate their integrations to ensure continuity after each new release.

Scaling challenges with multiple targets

Most API-based solutions require separate API calls for each target system (e.g., data warehouse, BI tool, cloud storage), which increases API traffic and competition for platform resources—making it harder to scale without degrading ServiceNow performance.

Modern Pub/Sub Solutions for Data Replication (The Perspectium Approach)

To address the scalability, performance, and resource challenges of API-based approaches, Perspectium a modern solution, purpose-built for ServiceNow uses a publish/subscribe (Pub/Sub) architecture to optimize data exports from the platform.

Perspectium not only supports the core filtering and targeting features of traditional tools—it also introduces a range of enhancements designed to maximize performance, automation, and maintainability.

Real-Time Data Delivery

Perspectium is built to move data with high throughput and low latency, enabling real-time data replication. This is particularly valuable for organizations that maintain live dashboards or centralized analytics platforms, where up-to-date information is critical for decision-making.

Dynamic Sharing and Automation

With features like Dynamic Share, Perspectium allows exports to be automatically triggered when specific conditions are met—such as when a record is created, updated, or matches a defined field value. This automation improves both speed and data availability.

Minimized Impact on ServiceNow Performance

Unlike API-based tools, Perspectium does not rely on external API calls to initiate data transfers. Instead, it uses native push technology to send data to a message broker system (MBS).

This design:

• Operates within the ServiceNow platform, minimizing resource consumption.
• Allows data transfers to run more efficiently than externally orchestrated API pulls.
• Helps maintain high platform performance, even during large or frequent exports.

One-to-Many Distribution via Pub/Sub

With Perspectium’s Pub/Sub architecture, ServiceNow exports data once to the MBS, and multiple systems can subscribe to receive it—eliminating the need for redundant exports to each target.

This results in:

• Lower operational overhead on the ServiceNow instance,
• Greater scalability for multi-system environments, and
• Smoother distribution of data across analytics and storage tools.

Managed as a Service

One of Perspectium’s biggest advantages is that it’s delivered as a managed service. Unlike custom API integrations that demand constant attention from in-house teams, Perspectium handles:

• Initial implementation,
• Ongoing monitoring and optimization,
• Troubleshooting and support,
• Updates to remain compatible with new ServiceNow releases.

This approach significantly reduces the internal resource burden, freeing up teams to focus on high-value work rather than maintaining fragile integrations. Plus, Perspectium’s design is aligned with ServiceNow’s roadmap, so customers benefit from fewer integration disruptions after platform upgrades.

If your organization stands to benefit from Perspectium’s advanced data replication and integration features for ServiceNow, today, or as it scales, then contact us to learn more.

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