Retrieve journal entries using direct web services
To get the contents of a journal field, make a second soap request against the sys_journal_field table to pull the appropriate journal records back for the record in question.
The URL for the WSDL would be in the following format.
https://instance-name.service-now.com/sys_journal_field.do?WSDLTo retrieve the journal entries, you will first need to query the incident for its sys_id value, and then supply it as the element_id value in a getRecords call. To specify records only for the comments field, specify the value comments for the element field. For example, a SOAP request would look like the following:
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv= "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:sys= "http://www.service-now.com/sys_journal_field" ><soapenv:Header /><soapenv:Body><sys:getRecords><element>comments</element><element_id>9d385017c611228701d22104cc95c371</element_id></sys:getRecords></soapenv:Body></soapenv:Envelope>Parent Topic:Direct web services
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--- title: Retrieve journal entries using direct web services description: To get the contents of a journal field, make a second soap request against the sys\_journal\_field table to pull the appropriate journal records back for the record in question. locale: en-US canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/api-reference/web-services/retrieving-journal-entries.html release: brazil product: Web Services classification: web-services topic_type: concept last_updated: "2026-09-10" reading_time_minutes: 1 breadcrumb: [Direct services, SOAP web service, Inbound, Web services, API implementation, API implementation and reference] --- # Retrieve journal entries using direct web services To get the contents of a journal field, make a second soap request against the sys\_journal\_field table to pull the appropriate journal records back for the record in question. The URL for the WSDL would be in the following format. ``` https://instance-name.service-now.com/sys_journal_field.do?WSDL ``` To retrieve the journal entries, you will first need to query the incident for its sys\_id value, and then supply it as the `element_id` value in a **getRecords** call. To specify records only for the **comments** field, specify the value `comments` for the **element** field. For example, a SOAP request would look like the following: ``` <soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv= "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:sys= "http://www.service-now.com/sys_journal_field" ><soapenv:Header /><soapenv:Body><sys:getRecords><element>comments</element><element_id>9d385017c611228701d22104cc95c371</element_id></sys:getRecords></soapenv:Body></soapenv:Envelope> ``` **Parent Topic:**[Direct web services](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/api-reference/web-services/c_DirectWebServices.md) **Related topics** [Use forms to limit or extend the query response]() [Return the display value for reference variables]() [Clear values from a target instance]() [Retrieve choice fields using direct web services]() [Persist an HTTP session across all SOAP calls]() [SOAP direct web service API functions]()
| title | Retrieve journal entries using direct web services |
| description | To get the contents of a journal field, make a second soap request against the sys\_journal\_field table to pull the appropriate journal records back for the record in question. |
| locale | en-US |
| canonical_url | https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/api-reference/web-services/retrieving-journal-entries.html |
| release | brazil |
| product | Web Services |
| classification | web-services |
| topic_type | concept |
| last_updated | 2026-09-10 |
| reading_time_minutes | 1 |
| breadcrumb | Direct servicesSOAP web serviceInboundWeb servicesAPI implementationAPI implementation and reference |