Search Index Overview

The Search Index powers item search by making searches faster and more targeted. For the items set up to be included in the Search Index, the Search Index retrieves the item attribute values of the defined search fields, sort fields, and facet fields and uses them to order the results. The search index gets built the first time you click Save on the Web Site Setup page after selecting the item search settings. Whenever you change your item record or search settings, the search index updates or rebuilds to include your changes.

Note:

If you delete your Commerce website, its index gets deleted too.

To learn more about the Search Index, refer to the following sections:

• Events that Trigger Search Index Rebuild

• Events that Trigger Search Index Update

• Check the Search Index Job Status

• Rebuild the Search Index Manually

Events that Trigger Search Index Rebuild

Any of the following changes in your NetSuite account trigger a search index rebuild:

• Changing facets, search, and sort options (on the Search Index subtab of the Web Site Setup page).

  Note:

  When you remove a search field and save, the search index only rebuilds if you’ve removed all match types for that field.

• Adding or removing languages.

• Adding or removing Subsidiary accounts.

• Changing site currencies when you have currency-based fields set as facets or sort options, like price or cost.

• Changing the preference, Include Out Of Stock Items in Web Store on the Web Site Setup Page.

• Reactivating a website that was inactive. See Making a Website Inactive for more information.

Note:

Saving an item record triggers an index update, not a rebuild. For information about what triggers an update, see Events that Trigger Search Index Update.

Events that Trigger Search Index Update

Any of the following changes in your NetSuite account trigger a search index update:

• Any change to an Item record

  Note:

  This includes changes to item records from a CSV import.

• Item Availability

• Item Pricing

• URL Components for Facets

• Web Site Tabs

• Site Builder Categories

• Commerce Categories

• Customer Segment Manager

• Personalization Rules tab on Customer Group record

• Customer Segments tab on Item Collections record

For information about events that trigger the search index to rebuild, see Events that Trigger Search Index Rebuild.

Check the Search Index Job Status

You can check the status of the search index process on the Job Status page. Go to Setup > SuiteCommerce Advanced > Set Up Web Site, and click View in the Search Index Status column.

The Job Status page shows how much time has passed while the search index is processing. Click Refresh to update the page.

Note:

Changes to an item record trigger an index update. The Records Finished column on the Job Status page always shows the total number of records being processed.

The job names on the Job Status page tell you if the search index is being built, rebuilt, or updated, and why. Every item update gets an entry on the page, unless you’re updating a lot of items at one time—then updates are batched, so you’ll see fewer entries than the number of items updated.

The following table lists all possible job names; which ones you see depends on your NetSuite configuration.

Job Name	Description
Create	The full search index is being built for a brand new site.
Reindex for site config change	The full search index is being rebuilt because you changed the site configuration.
Index regeneration	The full search index is being rebuilt because you triggered a rebuild or turned a feature on or off that needs a new index.
Index is live	The new search index is now available for search queries.
Feature Change	The search index is being updated because you toggled a feature, like Commerce Categories.
Item Type Feature Change	The search index is being updated because you toggled an item type feature, like Download Items or Gift Certificates.
Item Update	The search index is being updated because you added or updated one or more items.
Item Removal	The search index is being updated because you removed one or more items from the web store.
Commerce Category Update	The search index is being updated because you added, updated, or deleted a Commerce Category.
Site Builder Category Update	The search index is being updated because you added, updated, or deleted a Site Builder Category.
Synonyms Updated	The full search index is being rebuilt because you added, changed, or removed Synonyms.

Rebuild the Search Index Manually

Even though some changes in your NetSuite account automatically trigger a search index rebuild, you can also rebuild the search index for your site manually. For information about events that trigger the search index to rebuild, see Events that Trigger Search Index Rebuild.

You’ll usually do a manual rebuild if you want to force a rebuild right away instead of waiting for NetSuite to do it automatically.

After you initiate the rebuild process, it can take up to 10 minutes to start rebuilding the search index. How long it takes to finish depends on how many items you’re indexing.

Note:

You can only request a search index rebuild twice in a 24-hour period.

To manually rebuild the search index for your site:

1. Go to Commerce > Websites > Website List.

2. Click Edit next to your website.

3. On the Web Site Setup page, choose Actions > Rebuild Search Index.

   A popup message will let you know there’s a limit to how many times you can request a rebuild.

   Note:

   The Rebuild Search Index option is still there if your site is marked as Inactive, but clicking it won’t start a rebuild.

4. In the popup message, click OK to rebuild the search index for this website.

5. (Optional) Open the Job Status page to check the status of the rebuild process. For more information, see Check the Search Index Job Status.

Related Topics

• Search Settings Overview
• Item Search API

General Notices