If your environment contains data, manually run the Initially Index Smart Search Data batch job to index the data. If your environment does not contain any data, you do not need to run the Initially Index Smart Search Data job. When you run the Load batch job to load data, the Load batch job automatically runs the Initially Index Smart Search Data batch job and indexes the data. A search request uses the indexes to search for records.
Run the Initially Index Smart Search Data batch job on all the base objects that contribute to the business entities. When you run the Initially Index Smart Search Data batch job on a base object, the Elasticsearch server indexes the data in the searchable fields. The job then adds the indexed data to all the collections that represent the business entities to which the searchable fields belong. If a collection is too large, you can split the collection into one or more shards. Shards are the logical pieces of a collection split over multiple nodes. When you perform a search, the Elasticsearch server reads the collections and returns the matching fields.
The Initially Index Smart Search Data batch job indexes the records asynchronously and reports successful completion after the job queues the indexing request for all the records. A search request can show the indexed records only after the successful completion of the index request, which might take a few minutes.
If you update the searchable properties of a field after you index your data, the indexes are deleted. You must run the Initially Index Smart Search Data batch job to index the data. In addition, the indexing process is a resource-intensive process, so do not run multiple Initially Index Smart Search Data batch jobs in parallel.