Global search is not returning results and only works with exact match

[Christoffer M]

Hello Community,  

Before submitting a ticket to ServiceNow via HI, I wanted to ask here. One of our clients is experiencing a problem in their production instance. The global search field doesn't produce any results unless there's an exact task number match.

So I've noticed a few things.

- In the production instance, the "Recently searched" section doesn't appear when clicking the global search field, whereas it's visible in the test instance.

- The production instance displays the message, "Search is now even smarter. Find knowledge, records, people and more. Try it now!" This isn't shown in the test instance.

- Searching for a non-existent item in the test instance provides feedback: "0 results for 'searched text'" and "No results for 'searched text'. Try searching for something less specific or search within your lists."

- However, in production, the only feedback is: "No results found. Try updating your search." Plus, there's an "All" tab.

I've compared everywhere I can think of and read the documentation up and down, but I'm at a loss. I'm not sure where to look anymore. AI Search has been requested and enabled in some places, but the test should be a mirror of the production instance. 

Has anyone encountered this or resolved a similar issue?

[Karthiga S]

Hi @Christoffer M 

This issue could be due to several reasons. Here are some possible solutions:

1. Check the Search Sources:
- Navigate to "System Definition > Search Sources" in ServiceNow.

- Ensure that the tables you want to search are included in the search sources.

2. Check the Search Groups:
- Navigate to "System Definition > Search Groups" in ServiceNow.
- Ensure that the search sources are included in the appropriate search groups.

3. Check the User Roles:
- The user must have the necessary roles to view the records in the search results.
- If the user does not have the necessary roles, they will not see any results.

4. Check the Dictionary Entries:
- Navigate to "System Definition > Dictionary" in ServiceNow.
- Ensure that the 'Attributes' field of the dictionary entries for the columns you want to search does not contain 'exclude_search'.

5. Check the Global Text Search Configuration:
- Navigate to "System Properties > Text Search" in ServiceNow.
- Ensure that the 'glide.ui.text_search.enabled' property is set to true.

6. Rebuild the Text Index:
- If the above steps do not resolve the issue, you may need to rebuild the text index.
- Navigate to "System Definition > Text Index" in ServiceNow.
- Click 'Rebuild Text Index'.

7. Check the Browser Console for Errors:
- If the 'Recently searched' section does not appear, there may be a client-side issue.
- Open the browser console and check for any errors.

Remember, any changes to the system properties or the text index should be done by a ServiceNow administrator and should be tested in a non-production environment first.

Please mark it Correct and Hit Like if you find this helpful!

Regards,

Karthiga

[Christoffer M]

I've done all of these steps twice and the issue still persists.

[Karthiga S]

Check on the system search properties

https://docs.servicenow.com/en-US/bundle/vancouver-platform-administration/page/administer/search-ad... 

Regards,

Karthiga

[Christoffer M · Accepted solution]

The initial fix was to set 'glide.ui.polaris.ais_ready' to 'false'