Searching Magento docs just got better!
We recently expanded our search index for Magento DevDocs and wanted to describe the changes. These tips tell you how best to search and find content.
About our search
We use Algolia to provide the search capabilities for Magento's documentation. We use this service to index all data on our site. Until recently, our index contained approximately 80,000 records, which led to some limitations.
Due to a limited number of records, you could not search some parts of the docs, such as cells and <code> blocks. This meant that we were not indexing code samples or specific terms marked as code. For instance, searching for “successRegex” returned no results despite being mentioned on two pages. Since “successRegex” on the page is actually <code>successRegex</code> in the source code, it was not indexed into a record and therefore invisible to search. Obviously, this limited the value of the search functionality.
We recently increased the number of records from ~80,000 to ~365,000. This means we now index:
- Code samples and terms
- All content within HTML tables
This is fantastic!
Tips for finding what you need
There are some idiosyncrasies in the system and knowing these will help you maximize the value of search.
Search in guides: Due to a variety of technical reasons, best results come when you search in both the guide and version you are seeking info. Using the above example, if you search for “successRegex” while in the MFTF guide, it returns results. If you do the same search within the Migration Guide, it returned no results.
Check the guide version: Not all features and content match across all versions. When on a search results page, change the version selector to see the same search results in another version. For example, Inventory Management is searchable in 2.3.x. Searching “Inventory” in different versions provides different results.
Filter results: Enter a search and refine the results using filter categories.
Seeking search feedback
We plan to continue improvements for DevDocs search. These include updates to search filters and search results spanning multiple documentation guides (PWA, OMS, etc.)
Let us know if there are improvements you would like to see, like more filter categories for search results. If you find search issues, like terms that are failing to provide results,let us know.
Contact the DevDocs team on Twitter at @magentodevdocs, in #devdocs on the Community Engineering Slack (self signup), and via email at magento-docs@adobe.com.
