Using Facets

Build a Search UI Coveo Relevance Cloud Developer System Administrator Product Documentation

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Facet Features

A facet is a search interface component that allows the end user to refine a query by selecting filters based on item metadata(i.e., field values). The search results that don’t match the end user’s selection disappear from the result list. Facet content is updated every time the end user interacts with other facets or the search box.

The JavaScript Search Framework also allows you to automatically reorder facets and facet values based on usage analytics data representing past end-user interactions with a search interface (see Deploy Dynamic Navigation Experience).

If your search interface window is narrow, such as when it’s embedded as a panel in a page or displayed on a mobile device, facets are available in the Filters drop-down menu.

For example:

If you’re a member of the Administrators built-in group in your Coveo organization, make sure to read the following articles:

Parts of a Facet

1	The Type facet shows a list of item (i.e., search result) types.
2	With the Account and Opportunity values selected, the search results only show items of these types.
3	The number of matching search results for each selected facet value.
4	Search appears when there are additional values available. Click and type a few characters to search these values.
5	Click to clear all selected values in a facet.
6	In the More menu (), you can reorder facet values by number of Occurrences, Score, or Label, in either Ascending or Descending order.
7	In the More menu, select Collapse to hide facet values and reduce the size of the facet.
8	Hover over a facet value and click on the right to exclude the corresponding items from the search results.
9	Click to extend or to reduce the list of values.

There are several facet types, some of which look different from those visible in the figure above.
When selecting facet values, their order within the facet won’t change until a new query is triggered by an action on a different component (e.g. selecting a value from a different facet or interacting with a breadcrumb). The new query prompts the facet values to be reordered, pushing the selected facet to the top of the facet list.

Selecting Several Values

To refine your search, you can select more than one value in a facet and you can select values in more than one facet. Each value selected or excluded is a filter applying on top of your other selections. The search results are updated accordingly and show the search results matching all your selections only.

The following facets allow you to filter search results by year and month of publication.

When you select 2016, 2017, February, March, and April, the displayed search results are items published in February, March, or April 2016, or February, March, or April 2017.

Deselecting Values

Above the search results, the selected and excluded facet values are displayed. Click X next to a value to delete this filter, or click Clear to clear all filters and display the original, complete list of results matching your query.

This search interface shows all results published in any month of 2017 but May.

Excluding Values

When you hover to the right of the result number of a facet value, an X icon appears. Click it to exclude the corresponding value. As a result, all items but those matching the excluded value appear in your search results.

Before you click X, all search results are displayed, regardless of their month of publication. When you click it, the result list updates to show all results but the 42 published in May.

Searching for Values

The values in a facet are typically listed by descending number of corresponding search results, but you can also use the facet search box to look for specific, less common field values. If you’re looking for a specific value, click Search and type it in the search box. You can then select or exclude this value.

Searching a Facet Value