A search returns nothing

Three causes cover nearly every empty result, and only one of them is a fault.

Work through them in order.


#In order

Check

What it means

Has the page been indexed?

Unindexed pages carry no Capable field values, so they do not match. Check index coverage

Does the query use a leading wildcard?

Confluence does not support one. It fails quietly and matches nothing

Is the capability installed?

A field written by Diagrams does not exist if Diagrams is not installed

Can you see the pages at all?

Search never returns a page you could not already open


#A few things worth knowing

  • A brand new install answers very little until indexing converges. That is expected, not broken.

  • Re-index one space to test the theory quickly rather than the whole site.

  • Confluence's own fields work regardless of Capable indexing.



Check coverage before you doubt the query.