---
title: Locate and index content
slug: '2679'
canonical_url: https://docs.coveo.com/en/2679/
collection: project-guide
source_format: adoc
---
# Locate and index content
This section focuses on the indexing phase of your search project:


![Search project activity diagram | Coveo](https://docs.coveo.com/en/assets/images/coveo-solutions/search-project-activity-diagram-indexing-phase-highlighted.svg)

Your unified [index](https://docs.coveo.com/en/204/) is at the heart of your [Coveo organization](https://docs.coveo.com/en/185/).
This index can be populated by many [sources](https://docs.coveo.com/en/246/), each of which is configured to regularly retrieve [items](https://docs.coveo.com/en/210/) from a specific content repository.
Sources can also retrieve [permissions](https://docs.coveo.com/en/223/) and [security identities](https://docs.coveo.com/en/240/) to replicate a secured system.

Most source [connectors](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2734/) (such as `Salesforce`, `Sitemap`, and `Web`) use [crawlers](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2121/) to pull content into an index, while others (including `Sitecore`, `Database`, and `File System`) rely on the [Push API](https://docs.coveo.com/en/68/) instead.

**Articles in this section**

* [About the indexing process](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2684/)

* [Prepare to index content](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2680/)

* [Apply indexing techniques](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2721/)

* [Keep an index up to date](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2705/)

* [Explore indexed content](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2751/)