Reindex SharePoint Document Library using Power Automate

[ananda]

Hello Can we Re-index SharePoint Document Library using Power Automate ? Thanks ananda

[365-Assist]

1 - You would probably get a better response posting this in the Power Automate Community General Power Automate Discussion - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)

2 - Why would you want to conduct this Admin task as part of Power Automate?

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Darren Lutchner - 365 Assist

[RusselThomas]

Hi @ananda ,

Unless you plan to use RPA or serverless functions to achieve this, the short answer is probably "no".

Indexing in SharePoint is done according to a schedule and is typically incremental as performing an initial index is heavily resource intensive, and manual re-indexing is typically used to incorporate new schema changes, not to refresh the index. 

As I'm sure you're already aware, forcing a re-index comes with the following caution,

"Reindexing a site can cause a massive load on the search system. Don't reindex your site unless you've made changes that require all items to be reindexed."

I'm not aware of any SPO REST API methods that will allow you to trigger this programatically, but this might perhaps be an avenue of research for you.  

The last approach may be to use RPA to do this, but again - heavy caution.

As per @365-Assist 's response, perhaps sharing what you're trying to achieve and why might open up other avenues of exploration?

Kind regards,

RT

[ananda]

Hello Russel Thomas

Thank you for your thoughts. I'm not re indexing the entire site, Only the document library, Which is connected to my app. Thinking below solution.
Pnp Power Shell for re indexing library and put it in Azure functions and schedule it. at 30 minutes interval.

Need to check how it works.

Thanks 

[RusselThomas]

Hi @ananda ,

The key is still the method - whether using SPO PowerShell cmdlets or REST API, I'm not aware of any methods (for SharePoint Online anyway) that would allow you to queue a trigger to reindex a specific library. 

I'm also taking into consideration that unlike SharePoint on premises, the SharePoint Online crawl schedule is something Microsoft manages - not tenants.  

You might notice that on the manual button for reindexing a library the wording is as follows;

"Click the Reindex Document Library button to reindex all of the content in this document library during the next scheduled crawl." - so when you use this, you're just queuing a request to reindex when the crawler runs again, you're not actually triggering the crawler.

The way I understand it, it's unlikely you're going to find what you're looking for.  Let me know if you do find something though, I'm always happy to be proved wrong!

Kind regards,

RT

[ananda]

Hello RT

Thanks for the inputs.

"Click the Reindex Document Library button to reindex all of the content in this document library during the next scheduled crawl."

Default time interval is 15 minutes , so let it schedule it for next run. Below piece of code should work.

$SiteURL = "https://Crescent.sharepoint.com"

$ListName="Projects"

Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Credentials (Get-Credential)

Request-PnPReIndexList -Identity $ListName

Let see how it works.

But I have a catch now. I have to hide the library for users and Re Index will not work on hidden list/ library. which I noticed just now.

Thanks

ananda

[RusselThomas]

Hi @ananda ,

That sounds odd - I thought 'hiding' a library was simply removing the quick launch nav option...doesn't make sense that it would affect reindexing...very odd.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Kind regards,

RT