Mastering $search in SharePoint REST API — The Modern Search Power in Power Automate

If you’ve ever used Power Automate or the SharePoint REST API, you’ve probably seen the mysterious $search parameter or the _api/search/query endpoint.

At first glance, $search might look like just another filter option — but it’s actually your gateway to SharePoint’s modern search engine, the same one that powers the site search bar and Microsoft Search results.

In this post, you’ll learn:

• What $search actually does
• How it differs from $filter and direct list queries
• Real-world examples for Power Automate
• Performance and indexing details
• Best practices and limitations

Let’s dive in. 🧠

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🧭 What Is $search in SharePoint?

The $search parameter (or _api/search/query) allows you to query SharePoint’s Search Index, not the live list or library data.

That means it doesn’t just search one list — it can search:

• Entire sites or site collections
• Document libraries and metadata
• Pages and wiki content
• People (user profiles)
• Even connected data sources if your tenant uses Microsoft Search connectors

In short:

$search = “Ask SharePoint’s search engine for everything related to this keyword.”

It’s similar to typing a word into the SharePoint search box, but you can automate and refine it via API or Power Automate.

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⚙️ Basic REST Endpoint

The classic SharePoint Search endpoint looks like this:

GET https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/YourSite/_api/search/query?querytext='project plan'

This returns all indexed content in your site (or even tenant-wide, depending on permissions) that matches the words project plan.

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💡 $search vs $filter — Key Difference

Feature	$filter	$search
Where it runs	OData query (live list)	Search index (SharePoint Search service)
Speed	Depends on list size (slower for big lists)	Very fast (pre-indexed data)
Scope	One list or library	Whole site or tenant
Freshness	Real-time	May lag a few minutes
Supports ranking/relevance	❌ No	✅ Yes
Best for	Filtering structured data	Searching documents, pages, metadata

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🏎️ How Fast Is $search?

In most cases, $search is faster than $filter because:

• It queries pre-indexed content.
• It doesn’t hit live list data.
• It uses SharePoint’s search ranking engine.

However, it may not reflect very recent updates until the index refreshes (usually within 1–10 minutes).

✅ Great for document lookup, keyword discovery, and cross-site queries
❌ Not ideal for real-time or transactional data (e.g., workflow triggers)

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🧩 Example 1 — Searching Across Lists

Endpoint:

GET https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/Projects/_api/search/query?querytext='Budget'

Response (simplified):

{
  "PrimaryQueryResult": {
    "RelevantResults": {
      "Table": {
        "Rows": [
          {
            "Cells": [
              { "Key": "Title", "Value": "Budget Report 2025" },
              { "Key": "Path", "Value": "https://.../Shared Documents/BudgetReport2025.xlsx" },
              { "Key": "Author", "Value": "John Doe" },
              { "Key": "LastModifiedTime", "Value": "2025-10-15T08:00:00Z" }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

This pulls the most relevant “Budget” documents, whether they’re in libraries, pages, or even sub-sites.

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🧩 Example 2 — $search in Power Automate

Action: “Send an HTTP request to SharePoint”

Field	Value
Site Address	Your target site
Method	GET
Uri	_api/search/query?querytext='training'&rowlimit=5&selectproperties='Title,Path,Author,LastModifiedTime'

You can then use a Parse JSON action to extract:

• Title
• Path (direct URL)
• Author
• LastModifiedTime

And display or email results automatically.

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⚙️ Search Parameters You Should Know

Parameter	Description	Example
querytext	Your keyword or query	'project plan'
selectproperties	Which fields to return	Title,Path,Author,Size
rowlimit	Max results (default = 500)	10
trimduplicates	Remove duplicates	false
refiners	Add facets like file type	filetype,modifiedby
sortlist	Sorting by property	LastModifiedTime:descending

Example: Limit and sort results

_api/search/query?querytext='report'&rowlimit=10&selectproperties='Title,Path,Author'&sortlist='LastModifiedTime:descending'

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🧠 How Search Indexing Works

SharePoint continuously crawls and indexes site content.
By default:

• Indexed data updates within minutes of a change (not instantly).
• Some lists or columns may be excluded from search (check list settings).
• You can verify by going to List settings → Advanced settings → Search → “Allow items from this list to appear in search results.”

If you don’t see new content via $search, the index likely hasn’t refreshed yet.

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🧰 Example 3 — Tenant-Wide Search with Microsoft Graph

If you need to search across multiple SharePoint sites (or even Teams files), use Microsoft Graph Search API:

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/search/query
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "entityTypes": ["driveItem", "listItem", "site"],
      "query": { "queryString": "project plan" },
      "from": 0,
      "size": 10
    }
  ]
}

This version unifies SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams search — ideal for enterprise solutions.

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⚡ Performance & Best Practices

Tip	Why
Use $search for broad keyword lookups	Faster and more flexible
Combine $filter for structured logic	$search is not meant for numeric comparisons
Always use rowlimit	Prevent massive result sets
Use odata=nometadata headers	Cleaner, smaller responses
Handle pagination (startrow) for >500 results	Default cap is 500 items
Avoid “live filtering” with $search	Index delay may miss very recent changes

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🧭 When to Use $search

✅ Use $search when:

• You need to find documents or pages by keyword.
• You want to search across multiple lists/libraries.
• You want relevance-ranked results (not raw filters).
• You’re building a knowledge portal, content dashboard, or Power App with discovery features.

❌ Avoid $search when:

• You need up-to-the-second data.
• You’re doing exact numeric/date filtering.
• You’re updating/deleting items (use REST _api/web/lists/... instead).

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🧪 Example Use Case: “Document Finder” Flow

Imagine you want a Power Automate flow that:

1. Accepts a search term (“Budget 2025”) from a Power Apps text box.
2. Uses $search to find matching documents.
3. Emails the top 3 results to the user.

Steps:

1. Trigger: “When PowerApps button pressed”
2. Action: “Send an HTTP request to SharePoint” _api/search/query?querytext='@{triggerBody()?['TextInput']}'&rowlimit=3&selectproperties='Title,Path,LastModifiedTime'
3. Parse JSON
4. Create HTML table from results
5. Send an email with table body

✅ Fast, easy, and scalable.

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🔗 Useful Documentation

• SharePoint Search REST API Overview
• Working with HTTP Requests in Power Automate
• Microsoft Graph Search API Reference

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🏁 Summary

Aspect	$search Summary
Scope	Entire site / tenant
Speed	Fast (index-based)
Freshness	May lag a few minutes
Data Source	SharePoint Search Index
Ideal For	Document discovery, content search, cross-site lookups
Avoid For	Real-time or numeric filtering

Think of $search as your Google for SharePoint — incredibly powerful when you need to find content, but not when you need to filter it.

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