Problem

It can be very difficult to identify why you do not get the search results you expected from Sitecore Search, but there is a simple way to help untangle what is going on.

Solution

It is possible to see the query that Sitecore generates and sends to SolR and then use the query on the SolR instance to see what data is returned to Sitecore.

This is such a huge help when trying to understand why your queries do not work!

Step 1 – Find the Query that was sent to SolR from Sitecore

Sitecore logs all the queries it sends to SolR in the standard sitecore log folder, look for files named Search.log.xxx.yyy.txt .

Step 2 – Execute the query in your SolR instance

Go to your Solr instance, and use the core selector drop down to select the index your Sitecore Search query is being executed against.

Select Query, from the menu

Then paste the query from the sitecore log, and you can see the result that is returned to Sitecore.

This has helped me a lot, so I hope this helps others untangling their search results using Sitecore Search 🙂