Alation Search¶
Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation
Alation Cloud Service provides three search capabilities to help users discover data in the catalog:
Depending on your Alation Cloud Service tier, your instance may use one or more of these capabilities.
Full-Page Search¶
Full-Page Search is available on all Alation Cloud Service tiers. It finds catalog objects and document content by matching keywords against indexed content and by factoring in usage statistics, such as how often data objects are queried and catalog pages are visited, to rank results by relevance.
Access Search¶
The Search box is located at the center of the Alation homepage and in the top navigation bar on all other pages. As you type, the search box dynamically displays the top matching results. Click a result to open the corresponding catalog page, or click the Search Alation link at the top of the open Search box to navigate to the Full-Page Search results page.
Misspelled keywords are auto-corrected.
Use quotation marks around a search term for an exact match.
You can search for objects using data object subpaths, such as
<database name>.<schema name>or<table name>.<column name>.
As you type, the search box displays up to three keyword auto-complete suggestions along with matching catalog objects.
Note
Search Autocomplete is enabled by default. See Configure Search on Alation Cloud Service for information about enabling or disabling it.
Search Results¶
The Full-Page Search results page displays results sorted by relevance by default. Each result shows:
Object Title — the title and name of the object (if different from the title)
Object Type and Hierarchy — the object type and its path in the catalog hierarchy
Description — the object description; for queries, a portion of the SQL code may be shown
Trust Flags — Endorsement, Important Info, Warning, or Deprecation icons, where applicable
Results can be displayed as a list or a table. To switch views, select List View or Table View from the dropdown at the top right of the results page.
To customize the table view:
Click Edit Columns above the table to show or hide columns.
Note
The Result column cannot be hidden.
Drag columns in the All Columns list to reorder them.
Click Update to apply your changes or Reset to restore the default column layout.
Table view customizations persist across sessions until manually reset.
Filter Search Results¶
The Full-Page Search results page includes filters to narrow results. Standard filters available for most object types include:
Object Type
Starred / Watched / Visited
Source
Trust Flags
Tagged With
Additional filter categories include governance filters (policy-related), documentation filters (glossaries and terms), people and related objects (business owners, stewards), custom fields (cost center, department), and date filters.
Some filters include a Not set option for objects where a particular field has not been populated. Server Admins can request that Alation Support disable Not set options — see Configure Search on Alation Cloud Service.
To clear all applied filters, click the three-dot icon (Options) in the top right corner and select Clear Filters, or click Clear All in the Filters panel of the Search Results page.
You can also filter search results by domain. See Search with Domains for more information.
Export Search Results¶
To export search results to a CSV file:
Click the three-dot icon (Options) in the top right corner and select Export Results. The Export Search Results as CSV dialog appears.
Click Confirm. The CSV file downloads, limited to
10,000rows. A download status notification is sent to your email if you have Alation email notifications enabled.
When exporting from the table view, the exported CSV contains only the columns you have chosen to display.
Search Operators¶
In addition to standard keywords, Full-Page Search supports the following operators.
Wildcard Search¶
Use the * wildcard to match object names and titles by pattern. Wildcard search only matches against Name and Title fields — not Description.
Pattern |
Matches |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Names/titles ending with the term |
|
|
Names/titles beginning with the term |
|
|
Names/titles beginning with term1 and ending with term2 |
|
|
The term anywhere in the name or title |
|
Wildcard search is case-insensitive and supports alphanumeric characters, digits, and the following special characters: ,, >, -, _, [, ].
Combining wildcard patterns with other search operators is not supported.
Negative Search¶
Use a hyphen (-) to exclude a word from results. For example, apple -pie returns results containing apple but not pie. Multiple negative keywords are supported: apple -orange -banana.
Exact Search¶
Surround a phrase in quotation marks to search for an exact match. For example, "apple pie" returns only results containing that exact phrase.
Search Query Reference¶
Query Type |
Example |
Behavior |
|---|---|---|
Single keyword |
|
Returns all objects containing the keyword. |
Multiple keywords |
|
Returns objects containing either keyword. Results containing both are ranked higher. |
Explicit AND |
|
Returns objects containing both keywords. |
Explicit AND with extra keyword |
|
Parsed as |
Negative keyword |
|
Returns objects with apple but not orange. |
Exact phrase |
|
Returns objects containing the exact phrase. |
Exact phrase + negative |
|
Returns objects with the exact phrase but not the negative keyword. |
Exact phrase + keyword |
|
Returns objects with the exact phrase and optionally the keyword. |
Multiple exact phrases |
|
Returns objects containing either phrase (implicit OR). |
Underscore-connected |
|
Returns objects matching apple, orange, or apple_orange. Results with the full string ranked higher. |
Dot-separated |
|
By default, treated as a hierarchical path (e.g., schema.table). Configurable — see Configure Search on Alation Cloud Service. |
Wildcard |
|
Matches names/titles by pattern. |
Plus symbol |
|
Supported as a literal search term. |
Exclamation mark |
|
Supported as a literal search term. |
Multiple explicit AND operators (e.g., apple AND orange AND pear) and nested AND queries are not supported.
Saved Searches¶
You can save search queries, including keywords, filters, and sort settings, for quick reuse. Saved searches are user-specific and visible only to you.
To save a search:
On the Full-Page Search results page, configure your desired keywords, filters, and sort settings.
Click Save this search on top of the Search results page. The Create New Saved Search dialog opens.
Enter a name in the Name Your Search field and click Create.
The saved search appears in the Saved Searches section of the Filters panel.
Manage a Saved Search¶
You can manage a saved search from the Saved Searches section. Click the three dots next to a saved search to access the Options dropdown. When you modify a saved search, the Options dropdown has these options:
Save Changes: Saves your changes to the existing saved search
Save as New: Saves the modified search as a new entry
Rename: Renames the saved search
Copy Link: Copies the URL of the saved search to your clipboard
Delete: Permanently deletes the saved search
The same options are available from the Edit list next to the saved search name when you open a saved search from the Saved Searches section.
Changes are lost if you navigate away, perform a new search, or select a different saved search without saving.
Search by Synonyms and Lexicon Abbreviations¶
Alation Search supports synonyms to help users find objects using alternative terms. Two sources of synonyms are supported:
Custom synonyms: Defined via the search synonym API. For example, you can define
msftas a synonym forMicrosoft.Lexicon abbreviations: Confirmed abbreviation-expansion pairs from Lexicon are treated as synonyms. A search for an abbreviation also returns results matching its expansion. Note that searching for a full word does not return Lexicon abbreviations.
Search Ranking¶
Alation Search ranks results using a combination of text match relevance, object popularity, and trust flags:
Endorsement boosts an object’s search rank, surfacing trusted data near the top of results.
Deprecation penalizes an object’s rank, moving it toward the bottom regardless of any endorsements.
By default, Data Sources, Terms, Articles, and Tags receive the highest ranking boost. Alation Support can adjust the relative weight of object types and trust flag influence on request — see Configure Search on Alation Cloud Service.
Bulk Actions¶
Full-Page Search results support bulk operations on selected objects. See the following topics for details:
Intelligent Search¶
Intelligent Search is available on Alation Cloud Service instances at the Deluxe tier and above. Instances at the Essential tier use Full-Page Search with Keyword Search only.
Intelligent Search combines Keyword Search with Semantic Search (AI Similarity Search) to surface results based on the meaning of a search query, not just literal keyword matches. This allows users to find relevant catalog objects without knowing their precise names or descriptions.
For example, a search for heart disease fatality rate using Keyword Search matches those exact words across catalog content. Intelligent Search additionally applies Semantic Search, which recognizes that Cardiovascular Death Rate is conceptually related and includes those results — without the user needing to know that terminology exists in the catalog.
How Intelligent Search Works¶
Intelligent Search uses a pre-trained sentence transformer large language model (LLM) to process catalog content and search queries:
Catalog content is converted into numerical vectors that capture its meaning.
When a user enters a search query, it is transformed into a vector using the same model.
The query vector is compared against catalog content vectors to identify conceptual matches.
Results from both Semantic Search and Keyword Search are blended, with semantic results ranked higher.
The transition between Keyword and Semantic Search is seamless — users enter queries as usual and the system applies both methods automatically.
Language Support¶
Intelligent Search supports English only.
Content Privacy¶
Alation’s sentence transformer model is pre-trained on public data. Customer instance data is never used for model training.
Intelligent Search and the Search API¶
Intelligent Search works through the Search API without any additional configuration.
Disabling Intelligent Search¶
Intelligent Search can be disabled on request via an Alation Support ticket. If disabled, the instance reverts to Keyword Search only. See Configure Search on Alation Cloud Service.
Ask Alation¶
Ask Alation is an AI-powered search agent available on Alation Cloud Service. It must be enabled by a Server Admin before users can access it. See Configure Search on Alation Cloud Service.
Ask Alation accepts plain-English questions, automatically identifies relevant search terms, applies catalog filters, and returns summarized answers with direct links to catalog content. Users can refine results through follow-up questions in a conversational chat interface, without needing to know catalog structure or filter terminology.
How Ask Alation Differs from Intelligent Search¶
Intelligent Search interprets the meaning of a query and returns the closest matching objects. It works well for most discovery scenarios but does not automatically apply catalog filters. For example, searching for insurance claims dashboard with Intelligent Search may not recognize that dashboard corresponds to a specific object type filter (such as BI Reports).
Ask Alation is designed for more complex, filter-dependent queries. It interprets the full intent of a question, applies relevant filters automatically, and presents a summarized answer — making it better suited for users unfamiliar with catalog structure or technical terminology.
Use Ask Alation¶
Ask Alation is integrated into the search bar on the Alation homepage and on every catalog page.
Click the Search icon.
Toggle Ask Alation on to switch from standard search to Ask Alation mode.
Type your question in plain English. For example: Find documentation about margins in the insurance glossary, or What is the definition of insurance claims?
Review the summarized answer. Click Expand to see all catalog objects retrieved to form the answer.
Use the chat interface to ask follow-up questions and refine results.
To switch back to standard search, toggle Ask Alation off.
Provide Feedback¶
At the end of any answer, click the Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down button to rate the accuracy of the response. Feedback is used to fine-tune prompts and is not used to train the underlying LLM.
See Ask Alation for more information about Ask Alation.