---
title: "Configuring Search term autocomplete for SearchStax"
date: "2026-05-04T12:52:31+00:00"
summary:
image:
type: "page"
url: "/acquia-cloud-platform/configuring-search-term-autocomplete-searchstax"
id: "d523e1fb-27f8-4dce-8cb8-aa205891dc08"
---

Search term autocomplete enables site visitors to see suggested words or phrases as they type. Visitors can click a suggestion to run the search quickly.

The following are the methods to configure Search term autocomplete for SearchStax:

*   [Configuring Search term autocomplete in Drupal](#serach-term-autocomplete-drupal)
*   [Configuring Search term autocomplete in SearchStax](#serach-term-autocomplete-searchstax)

Configuring Search term autocomplete in Drupal
----------------------------------------------

This method provides suggestions through content from specific indexed fields. This method does not require switching methods for migration. However, it is potentially expensive in terms of server utilization.

1.  Sign in to your Drupal site with the Administrator role.
2.  In the admin menu, click **Extend**.
3.  Locate and select the **Search API Solr Autocomplete** checkbox and click **Install**.
4.  Navigate to **Configuration** > **Search and metadata** > **Search API**.
5.  On the Search API page, locate and click on the name of the SearchStax index you created.
6.  Click the **Autocomplete** tab and enable the SearchStax index for your Search views.
7.  In the **Suggester plugins** section, select the **Retrieve from server** checkbox.
8.  In the **Configure suggester** dropdown, select the fields you want to base suggestions on.
    
    Ensure that you limit the selection to a total of 10 to 12 fields. If you exceed the limit, the request may be rejected.
    
9.  Click **Save**.
10.  Reindex the content.

Configuring Search term autocomplete in SearchStax
--------------------------------------------------

This method provides suggestions based on a developer-uploaded dictionary or actual user analytics data.

1.  Sign in to your Drupal site with the Administrator role.
2.  In the admin menu, click **Extend**.
3.  Locate and select the **Search API Solr Autocomplete** checkbox and click **Install**.
4.  Navigate to **Configuration** > **Search and metadata** > **Search API**.
5.  On the Search API page, locate and click on the name of the SearchStax index you created.
6.  Click the **Autocomplete** tab and enable the SearchStax index for your Search views.
7.  In the **Suggester plugins** section, clear the **Retrieve from server** checkbox and select the **SearchStax** checkbox.
8.  Click **Save**.
9.  Sign in to [SearchStax Studio – Site Search](https://searchstudio.searchstax.com/) and open your Search App.
10.  Navigate to **Recommendations** > **Auto-Suggest**.
11.  Select the **Enable Auto-Suggest** checkbox.
12.  Do one of one of the following:
     *   Select **Dictionary-Driven** and upload your line-delimited `.txt` file that contains your curated search terms. In addition, add any individual high-priority words using the **Add Word** field.
         
         With this selection, the system ignores raw index data and only uses terms in your dictionary.
         
     *   Select **Data+Dictionary-Driven** and upload your line-delimited `.txt` file that contains your curated search terms. In addition, add any individual high-priority words using the **Add Word** field.
         
         With this selection, the system uses terms in your dictionary and also uses analytics data from recent searches to populate suggestions for supported tiers.
         
13.  Set the number of suggestions and the character limit required to trigger them.
14.  Click **Publish**.
     
     Changes do not reflect on the live site until they are published.
     

Note

If you use the UI Kit method, configuration in SearchStax remains the same. The only difference is that you do not need to enable or configure the the Search API Solr Autocomplete sub-module in Drupal