---
title: Defining local general indexes
related:
  - https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-locally-stored-search-indexes/creating-local-search-indexes.md
  - https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-azure-cognitive-search/creating-azure-search-indexes.md
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

General indexes allow searching through any type of objects used within the system. This includes items you may recognize from the administration interface, such as contacts, roles, sites, etc.

When editing [locally stored](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-locally-stored-search-indexes.md) general indexes in the **Smart search** application, specify the content on the **Indexed content** tab by defining the following properties:

- **Object name** – sets the type of objects searched by the index. The index stores information representing objects in the system of the specified type. When an object is created, removed or has one of its fields modified, the index automatically updates to reflect the changes.
- **Where condition** – sets a custom WHERE clause for the queries that retrieve data when building the index. Allows you to limit which records are included in the index.

![Editing a general index - defining the content](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/13/defining-local-general-indexes/Indexed_Content_General.png "Editing a general index - defining the content")

After you select the object type, you need to configure which fields the index includes. Switch to the **Search fields** tab.

The options in the _Field mapping for search results_ section allow you to configure how the system displays objects of the given type in search results. See [Mapping fields for search results](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-locally-stored-search-indexes/mapping-fields-for-search-results.md) for detailed information. Note that the final appearance of the results always depends on your site's [search interface implementation](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-locally-stored-search-indexes/building-a-search-interface-for-local-indexes.md).

The grid in the bottom section of the tab determines how the smart search indexes the object type's fields. These fields correspond with the columns of the database table that stores objects of the given type.

For [locally stored search indexes](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-locally-stored-search-indexes.md), only the options under the **Local** and **General** sections of the grid apply (to learn about Azure Search general indexes, see [Creating Azure Search indexes](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-azure-cognitive-search/creating-azure-search-indexes.md)). You can set the following options for individual fields:

| Content            | If selected, the content of the field is indexed and searchable in the standard way. Within search indexes, the values of all fields with the _Content_ option enabled are combined into a system field named **\_content** (this field is used to find or filter matching search items, but is NOT suitable for reading and displaying human-readable information such as search result extracts).<br>For the purposes of standard search, _Content_ fields are automatically tokenized by the analyzer of the used search index.                                         |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Searchable         | If selected, the field is stored separately within indexes and its content can be searched using expressions in format:<br>_:_<br>See [Smart search syntax](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/setting-up-search-on-your-website/using-locally-stored-search-indexes/smart-search-syntax.md) for more information about field searches.<br>Fields must be set as _Searchable_ to be usable in search result filtering or ordering conditions[.](http://preview/Documentation/devguide/smart_search_filter.htm)                                              |
| Tokenized          | Relevant for **Searchable** fields. Indicates if the content of the field is processed by the analyzer when indexing. This allows the search to find results that match individual tokens (subsets) of the field's value. If disabled, the search only returns items if the full value of the field exactly matches the search expression.<br>If a field has both the _Content_ and _Searchable_ options enabled, the _Tokenized_ option only affects the content used for field searches (content is always automatically tokenized for the purposes of standard search). |
| Custom search name | Relevant for **Searchable** fields. The specified value is used as a substitute for the field code name in _:_ search expressions.<br>**Note**: If you enter a Custom search name value, the original field name cannot be used.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |

![Configuring search field options for a locally stored general index](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/13/defining-local-general-indexes/General_Index_Search_Fields.png "Configuring search field options for a locally stored general index")

The configuration of search fields is global for objects of the given type. If you have multiple general indexes for one object type (i.e. using the same **Object name**), changing the search field settings for one index also affects the others.

Click **Set automatically** to use the default search field configuration for the object type. Confirm changes by clicking **Save**.

> **Info:** **General indexes and Sites**
>
> The content of general indexes is not affected by the selection made on the **Sites** tab.
>
> If you wish to configure a general index to search only through objects assigned to a specific site, we recommend using the **Where condition** property on the **Indexed content** tab. For example, a general index with the _Role_ **Object name** and _SiteID = 3_ set in its **Where condition** only indexes roles created under the site with a SiteID equal to 3. This approach is only possible for site-bound object types.