Create an Atlas Search Index

Navigate to the Atlas Cluster Overview page.

Click Databases in the top-left corner of Atlas to navigate to the Database Deployments page for your project.

Click the cluster name to view cluster details.

Click the Search tab.

Create an index.

• For your first index, click Create Search Index.

• For subsequent indexes, click Create Index.

Select a Configuration Method and click Next.

• For a guided experience, select Visual Editor.

  Note

  The Visual Editor doesn't support custom analyzers, synonym mapping definitions, or fields of type embeddedDocuments.

• To edit the raw index definition, select JSON Editor.

Enter the Index Name, and set the Database and Collection.

1. In the Index Name field, enter a name for the index.

   Note

   If you name your index default, you don't need to specify an index parameter when using the $search pipeline stage. Otherwise, you must specify the index name using the index parameter.

2. In the Database and Collection section, find the database or collection, and select the collection name.

3. If you use the Visual Editor, click Next.

Review the default Atlas Search index configuration settings.

If you are satisfied with the default configuration, skip to step 9. If you wish to refine your Atlas Search index, proceed to the next step.

Customize your Atlas Search index configuration settings.

• If you are using the Visual Editor, click Refine Your Index to make changes to any of the following settings and click Save Changes.

  Field Name	Description	Necessity
  Index Analyzer	Specify the analyzer to use for indexing the collection data. By default, Atlas Search uses the standard analyzer ("lucene.standard"). Corresponds to the analyzer setting.	Optional
  Search Analyzer	Specify the analyzer to use when parsing data for the Atlas Search queries. By default, Atlas Search uses the standard analyzer ("lucene.standard"). Corresponds to the searchAnalyzer setting.	Optional
  Dynamic Mapping	Specify dynamic or static mapping of fields. To disable dynamic mapping, set "dynamic": to Off. By default, dynamic mapping is enabled. If you disable dynamic mapping, you must specify the fields to index. To learn more about dynamic and static mappings, see Review Atlas Search Index Syntax. Corresponds to the mappings.dynamic setting.	Required
  Store Full Document	Specify whether to store entire documents on Atlas Search. If this is enabled, Atlas Search stores all the fields in the documents by default. You can exclude specific fields from storage on Atlas Search in the Field Mappings definition for the fields. To learn more about storing fields, see Define Stored Source Fields in Your Atlas Search Index.	Required
  Field Mappings	Required if dynamic mapping is disabled. To add the fields to index, you must specify the following settings for each field: Field name - Name of the field to index. Enable Dynamic Mapping - Static or dynamic mapping to use. If you disable dynamic mapping, the data in the field isn't automatically indexed. Store Original Value - Flag to store field on Atlas Search. This is enabled by default if Store Full Document is enabled. However, you can toggle the setting to Off to exclude the field from storage. To learn more about storing fields, see Define Stored Source Fields in Your Atlas Search Index. Data Type Configuration - Field data type. To learn more about the supported data types and their options, see BSON Data Types and Atlas Search Field Types. Note Unlike compound indexes, the order of fields in the Atlas Search index definition is not important. Fields can be defined in any order. Corresponds to the mappings.fields setting.	Conditional
  Synonyms Mappings	Specify synonym mappings to use in your index. To learn more, see Define Synonym Mappings in Your Atlas Search Index. To add synonym mappings, you must specify the following settings for each synonym: Synonym mapping name - Label that identifies the synonym mapping to refer to at query time. You must specify a unique value. You can't specify an empty string value. Synonym source collection - Label that identifies the MongoDB collection in the same database as the Atlas Search index. Documents in this collection use the format described in the Synonyms Source Collection Documents. You can also add an empty collection or load a sample collection. Analyzer - Label that identifies the analyzer to use with this synonym mapping. Note You can use a synonym mapping to query only fields analyzed with the same analyzer. By default, Atlas Search uses the standard analyzer ("lucene.standard"). You can specify any Atlas Search analyzer except the following Language analyzers: lucene.kuromoji lucene.cjk Custom analyzer tokenizers and token filters: nGram Tokenizer edgeGram Tokenizer daitchMokotoffSoundex Token Filter nGram Token Filter edgeGram Token Filter shingle Token Filter Corresponds to the synonyms setting.	Optional.

• If you are using the JSON Editor, replace the default definition with any of the following settings and click Next. To learn more about index definition settings, see Review Atlas Search Index Syntax.

  Field Name	Description	Necessity
  analyzer	Specify the analyzer to use for indexing the collection data. By default, Atlas Search uses the standard analyzer ("lucene.standard").	Optional
  searchAnalyzer	Specify the analyzer to use when parsing data for the Atlas Search queries. By default, Atlas Search uses the standard analyzer ("lucene.standard").	Optional
  mappings.dynamic	Specify dynamic or static mapping of fields. To disable dynamic mapping, set "dynamic": to false. By default, dynamic mapping is enabled. If you disable dynamic mapping, you must specify the fields to index. To learn more about dynamic and static mappings, see Review Atlas Search Index Syntax.	Required
  mappings.fields	Required if dynamic mapping is disabled. Specify the fields that you would like to index. To learn more, see Define Field Mappings. Note Unlike compound indexes, the order of fields in the Atlas Search index definition is not important. Fields can be defined in any order.	Conditional
  storedSource	Note storedSource is only available on Atlas clusters running one of the following versions: MongoDB 4.4.12+ MongoDB 5.0.6+ MongoDB 6.0+ Specify fields in the documents to store for query-time look-ups using the returnedStoredSource option. Value can be one of the following: true, to store all fields false, to not store any fields Object that specifies the fields to include or exclude from storage If omitted, defaults to false. To learn more about the syntax and fields, see Define Stored Source Fields in Your Atlas Search Index. Note You can store fields of all BSON Data Types on Atlas Search.	Optional
  synonyms	Specify synonym mappings to use in your index. To learn more, see Define Synonym Mappings in Your Atlas Search Index. Note You can use a synonym mapping to query only fields analyzed with the same analyzer. By default, Atlas Search uses the standard analyzer ("lucene.standard").	Optional

Optional: If you use the Visual Editor, you can save or delete your index definition draft.

1. Click Cancel.

2. Click Save Draft or Delete Draft.

To learn more about creating an index using an index draft, see Resume or Delete an Atlas Search Index Draft.

Click one of the following buttons.

• Create Search Index if you are creating a default index.

• Save Changes if you are creating a custom index.

Close the You're All Set! Modal Window.

A modal window appears to let you know your index is building. Click the Close button.

Check the status.

The newly created index appears on the Search tab. While the index is building, the Status field reads Build in Progress. When the index is finished building, the Status field reads Active.