User impersonation lets you test the platform exactly as another user sees it, with their roles, domain restrictions, and personalized settings. You'll switch your active session to theirs and back without needing their credentials.
Why impersonation beats credential sharing
Before impersonation, testing user experiences meant either sharing passwords (security nightmare) or trying to recreate their exact role combination in a test account (time-consuming and error-prone). End users report bugs like "I can't see the thing" or "this button doesn't work" — but their experience depends on roles, domain scope, language preferences, and personalized settings that admins rarely replicate perfectly. Platform administrators and developers need to see exactly what users see to debug access issues, validate new configurations, and test role-based functionality.
How impersonation changes your session
When you impersonate someone, ServiceNow completely replaces your active session with theirs. You get their exact role combination, their domain scope (if domain separation is enabled), their language and timezone preferences, and any personalized UI settings like homepage layouts or form configurations. The platform treats you as that user for all security checks, business rules, and UI rendering. Your admin privileges are temporarily suspended — you can't access admin modules or perform elevated actions while impersonated. This gives you an authentic view of their experience.
Using impersonation for systematic testing
Start with impersonating users who report specific issues — this is the fastest way to reproduce bugs. Once you confirm the problem, stay impersonated to test your fix before switching back. For broader testing, impersonate representative users from each major role group when rolling out new catalog items, knowledge bases, or UI changes. Advanced testing involves scripted impersonation through the REST API to automate user experience validation, but manual impersonation handles most debugging and validation scenarios effectively.
Before you start
- •user_admin role or admin role
- •Target user account must be active
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Step by step
Access the impersonation interface
Click your profile avatar in the top-right corner of the ServiceNow interface. Select 'Impersonate User' from the dropdown menu. This opens the user selection dialog where you'll choose who to impersonate.
The Impersonate User option only appears if you have the necessary admin roles — regular users won't see this menu item.
Search for the target user
In the 'Impersonate User' dialog, start typing the user's name, username, or email address in the search field. ServiceNow will display matching active users as you type. Click on the correct user from the search results to select them.
Search by email address if you're unsure of the exact spelling of someone's name — email matching is more precise.
Confirm the impersonation
Click 'Impersonate User' to switch your session to the selected user. ServiceNow will reload the interface and display a prominent red banner at the top stating 'Impersonating [Username]' to remind you that you're operating as someone else.
The interface will immediately reflect their personalized settings — don't be surprised if the homepage, navigation, or theme looks different than your usual setup.
Test the user experience
Navigate to the areas you need to test — forms, catalog items, knowledge articles, or specific applications. All access controls, business rules, and UI policies will execute based on the impersonated user's roles and permissions. Note any issues or unexpected behavior while their session is active.
Check the User Menu dropdown to confirm you see their role list — this verifies you're getting their exact security context.
End the impersonation session
Click the red 'Impersonating [Username]' banner at the top of the page, then select 'End Impersonation' from the dropdown. ServiceNow will restore your original session with your normal roles and preferences. The red banner will disappear, confirming you're back to your own account.
Best practices
Always end impersonation when you're done testing — leaving sessions impersonated can cause confusion and accidental changes under the wrong user context.
Document what you find while impersonated rather than trying to fix issues immediately — you often need admin privileges to make corrections, which aren't available during impersonation.
Test impersonation with a low-privilege user first when validating new functionality — if it works for them, it'll work for users with additional roles.
Never impersonate users to perform actions on their behalf — impersonation is for testing and debugging, not for circumventing approval workflows or audit trails.
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