Understanding Search Categories

Search Categories are essential for the Search Framework. Search categories:

• Organize search definitions into manageable, logical groups of data.

• Are required for searches. Search queries run only against search categories, not search definitions. A search definition must be a member of a search category before it can be searched.

• Enables users to focus searches to help refine results and restrict searches to a particular set of search indexes. For example, users can run searches against categories like Customers, Purchase Orders, or Products, rather than running a search against all indexes in the search engine.

• Allow users to search across several different groups of data simultaneously. For example if you were looking for a particular Item ID, with a Search category containing multiple Search Definitions, you can search across purchase order, sales orders and inventory at one time.

• Provide improved search performance and results by limiting the number of indexes searched.