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Global vs. Catalog Search

  • 7 December 2022
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As I search the knowledgebase, I am unable to locate an article that distinguishes catalog search from global search. After testing, it appears that global search performs differently (more powerful) than catalog search. For example, searching in global brings tags into the fold when returning relevant results, but catalog search seems to ignore tags and only prioritize title + description. Is this true?

We are moving toward the decision to suppress global search and rely solely upon a catalog search for our learnings, so it would be helpful to understand search functionality in catalogs to help inform our content strategy. 

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Best answer by johanna.weinzierl 30 November 2023, 16:32

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Hi @pat.ev – I’m aware this comes almost a year later, but I had the same question and would like to share the answer.

Unfortunately, there isn't a dedicated asset/document about the catalog search, as opposed to the global one.

The main difference is that the global search engine shows results from all courses, learning plans, and training materials/assets that relate to whatever term is being searched, while the catalog search engine only retrieves information visible to the user via the catalog and it only shows courses and learning plans and not any training material/asset.

While the global search allows searching for all the data fields described in the KB article (section "Which search criteria should I use?"), the catalog search allows to search by name, code, description, id and course additional fields.
So searching for a tag for example won’t work. 

HTH!
Johanna

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Hi @pat.ev – I’m aware this comes almost a year later, but I had the same question and would like to share the answer.

Unfortunately, there isn't a dedicated asset/document about the catalog search, as opposed to the global one.

The main difference is that the global search engine shows results from all courses, learning plans, and training materials/assets that relate to whatever term is being searched, while the catalog search engine only retrieves information visible to the user via the catalog and it only shows courses and learning plans and not any training material/asset.

While the global search allows searching for all the data fields described in the KB article (section "Which search criteria should I use?"), the catalog search allows to search by name, code, description, id and course additional fields.
So searching for a tag for example won’t work. 

HTH!
Johanna

Hi @johanna.weinzierl  your answer is helpful. Would also be nice to know if any title, code, description, id and course titles are weighted the same as global search, or if that is treated differently. 

Hi @pat.ev – what do you mean with ‘weighted’?

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@johanna.weinzierl I’m referring to weights like the knowledge article does ‘boosts’

Hi @pat.ev I’m not sure – I’ve put in a request to have the Catalog/Channel search specifications added to the Knowledge Base, let’s see if that will hold the information

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@johanna.weinzierl thank you! now that search can toggled, this sort of information would be even more helpful! especially since it’s in our sandbox currently

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