Search Problem

[peter_rollinson]

Hi,

I am having a strange problem with product search.

Some Item will be found properly by entering SKU, any part of the name etc into the search box.

Others cannot be found no matter what is entered into the search box, the only way to find these items is to go all the way through the structure, Brand, type, whatever and eventually the display.

I did a test on a product that was searchable, first I exported the product, one line CSV.

I then added an attribute, (Country of Manufacture) saved the product,  I could no longer find it with search. I exported the item again and compared it to the original.

The only difference was ‘updated_at’ and of course ‘country_of_manufacture’

I edited the product again and removed the Country of Manufacture, saved the product and still it was not searchable.

The same happens if I add ‘Colour’.

Any ideas about this strange behavior as this is driving me mad?

[Manish Mittal]

Hello @peter_rollinson 

Please run reindex after editing product information and clear cache also. thanks 

[Robert Rand]

Hi Peter,

In your Magento 2 admin, proceed to Stores --> Attributes --> Product

You'll notice a column called "Searchable". If any of these are attributes that you want to be used by the site search, you'll want to edit these accordingly to read Yes by editing the attributes in question. 

It sounds like you're already making sure that these products have their "Visibility" set so that "Search" is enabled.

Checking indexing and caching as Manish recommended is just as important though. It's more likely the issue is some products can be found by an attribute like SKU, and others can't. 

Best of luck!

[peter_rollinson]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the Speedy reply.

That is one thing that I had thought of and I tried marking them all as yes even the ones that did not mention sort, this had no effect.

I do like the way you point to the place I should be, so many don't and when you are as green as I am it can cause a problem.

Regarding re-indexing please see reply to Manish.

Thanks again

[peter_rollinson]

Hi Manish,

I found the Index Management and tried re-indexing.

Everything except 'Catalog Search' worked fine.

That gave me 'We couldn't reindex indexer(s)' because of an error.'

Now that gives me a problem, I cannot see the LOG files.

I cannot run any code either.

Our Host who is also our Web designers insist on blocking us as they charge over £600 per day for work and anything I do myself is obviously less work for them.

So any idea what the error could be, I know needle in a haystack

[peter_rollinson]

Actually it is every edit I make, change anything and it is no longer searchable.

So Indexing must be the problem.

[Robert Rand · Accepted solution]

Hi Peter,

I'm glad that you found what's causing the symptom. It sounds like you know where the problem is occurring. Without the logs, it would be difficult to ascertain the true root cause. After all, Magento doesn't normally have a problem running this indexing process.

Sending you your log files should take minutes - and if your host isn't providing you with access to your hosting environment, I'd be very surprised if they charge you to send you copies of these files.

From what you've shared, you may want to think about an independent web host. There are a handful of very good Magento hosts around the world, and most of them include support (so that you're not paying extra money every time you open a ticket or give them a call). That wouldn't replace having web developers, but it would be helpful in a case like this where you want to get to your log files.

Even if they consider this a development request and not a hosting request (which I wouldn't be pleased with, but I'm not sure what the terms of your relationship are), hopefully, they're prorating time for small tasks like this. I wouldn't expect to pay £600 for a day's work for a task that takes minutes. I'm yet to find a Magento development team that operates that way... and I've partnered with dozens of them.

However, with all of that stated... Chances are that whatever is in the logs will require a development or hosting fix. At the risk of redundancy - Off the shelf, Magento should not have a problem running this index. Even if you get the error logs and subsequently receive more specific feedback here on the forums, based on what you've reported so far, you probably won't be able to address the issue directly in your Magento admin. It will most likely require the help of your host/agency.

In the long run, you may want to think about web development team that you're more comfortable with going to for support. These forums are a great resource, but if you don't have healthy vendor relationships, I can foresee a lot of tough days ahead. I know that it's not the specific advice you wrote looking for, but it's worth sharing.

[peter_rollinson]

Thanks for that Robert, I think I was venting my frustration, I know what I need to do and I am looking for an alternative to host the site.