Display all items in a category when searching by category name

[jayoram52Participant]

Hi, we’ve installed Ajax Search Pro for a client on a WooCommerce site. The search seems to be working well, but the client has noticed something about the search results which we can’t find an answer for, so we’re hoping you can help.

The products on the site are mainly clothing items. They are categorized according to the type of garment, for example “dresses”. All dresses have the name of the designer in the title, plus the type of garment. So the title might be something like “Chanel black dress”. Then more information about the item is in the description.

If you search for something like “Chanel dress”, the results that are returned seem correct. The problem is when you type in just the name of a category. There are 606 items in the “dresses” category, but if you just type in “dresses” in the search field, only 506 items are found.

We’ve read through the documentation and have tried changing various settings, but can’t find a way of returning all the items in a category. We’re using the index table and have created a new index.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have.

Jay

[Ernest MarcinkoKeymaster]

Hi,

You are looking for this feature, solution 2 to be exact, since you are using the index table engine. Make sure the product categories are selected, then re-create the index.
Also make sure, that the index table engine is activated on the search instance options.

Best,
Ernest Marcinko
If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)

[jayoram52Participant]

Thanks for you reply. Those options are already set and the index table is activated.

The question is why we are not getting all results from a given category.

Some examples:

“shoes” we get 808 results out of 907

“dresses” we get 506 out of 606

“accessories” we get 286 out 386

It seems like there’s a limit to the number of results being returned (close to 100 less than the total). Is there some way to remove the limit and return all the results? That’s what the client is looking for.

Thanks,

Jay

[Ernest MarcinkoKeymaster]

It can be numerous things – filters, incorrectly set limits, exclusions etc..
The result limits can be set here, but I highly doubt it’s the case. Nevertheless make sure it is set to a high number according to your needs.
It is also possible, that some items are excluded from search. WooCommerce will automatically remove those items from the results page in most cases – but they are still counted on the back-end when listing by category. This is the most likely scenario.
Also check if there are no category based exclusions set here. This also happens very often.

Best,
Ernest Marcinko
If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)

[jayoram52Participant]

I experimented with the limit settings and then realized what was happening. The results limit was set to 100 before and like I said in my previous message if you searched “dresses” at the bottom of the screen it displayed the message “More results… (506)”. There are 606 in the category, so the the total is 606 and if you subtract 100, you get 506. The number in parentheses is not the total number, it’s the remaining number of results that can be retrieved. This is what caused the confusion and made the client think that all the items were not being retrieved.

Thanks for your help.

Jay

[Ernest MarcinkoKeymaster]

You cannot access this content. Best,
Ernest Marcinko
If you like my products, don't forget to rate them on codecanyon :)

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