Is text within a database not findable?

[Jarrod Reimann]

I've noticed that text within tables databases doesn't seem to be indexed and/or simply cannot be found using Confluences search/global search.

Is there a solution or way around this? It completely negates our ability to use databases if the text within those tables cannot be searched for and referenced using integrations, etc.

[Dan Breyen]

Hi @Jarrod Reimann I'm not experiencing that behavior in my instance.  I created a table, put some words in some cells, and published the page.  Then I searched for those words and it found the pages.  If you add data to a table and then search for it right away, it may take a few moments to index.

Do you have an example that you could share?  I took a quick look on Atlassian's Jira Site for anything related and didn't see anything that stuck out as an issue.  

Are you searching for a word, a string, something else?  Does it happen for multiple users?  Have you tried another machine or another browser?  Just trying to eliminate some variables.

If you do have a specific example, I would suggest contacting Atlassian Support so they can weigh in on the issue.  

Hope that helps.

[Jarrod Reimann]

In my case we have a confluence page that's been around for some months. The only content in that page is a Table. Within that table are columns for things like the titles of some reports, their details, etc. None of the content of that table is findable.

Ex. If I copy the title of one of the reports listed in the table and search it in the confluence global search, it doesn't appear anywhere in the results - that is, the page from which it was copied from is never listed in the search results. In fact the only way I can get that page to appear in the search results is by searching a word which exists in the title of the page itself. Our confluence is still relatively early days too so not much content to get lost in.

[Dirk Lachowski]

When you write “table”, do you really mean a table or is it a database?

[Jarrod Reimann]

Hey Dirk, yes it is indeed a database. I suppose that is the issue here?

[Dirk Lachowski]

It seems to be undocumented if text in database text fields is indexed by the global search, but they come with their own per-database search ( https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/database-tour/ ), so that’s most likely the reason.

[Jarrod Reimann]

That would make sense. I mean, facing facts, I cannot search contents of a database in confluence using global search. Anything else I have tested is searchable. Because there is such little functionality to the databases and because I cannot find anything that would change this, I think that is the answer.