Pausing an Update of a Content Index

You can pause an update to a content index if, for example, the server response time slows noticeably, or if you are performing several concurrent updates and you want to release resources to allow for a higher-priority index.

If you pause the update, the procedure pauses after it finishes processing the current document. The index contains everything processed before you paused the update. In a single server configuration, the changes made before the pause appear in search results. In a server farm configuration, pausing an update prevents any updated documents from appearing in search results because propagation to the search servers does not occur. Propagating the index will cause the contents of the partially-updated index to be reflected in search results. For more information about propagating an index, see Propagating a Content Index. You can resume the update later, and the update continues from the point at which it left off.

Closing the Manage Content Indexes page or restarting the computer that stores the index does not affect the paused status.

Note  In a server farm configuration, you cannot pause an update while it is propagating files to the search server.

Pause an update of a content index

1. On the Site Settings page, in the Manage Search Settings and Indexed Content section, click Configure search and indexing.
2. On the Configure Search and Indexing page, in the Content Indexes section, click Manage the list of indexes.
3. On the Manage Content Indexes page, rest the pointer on the index name, and then click the arrow that appears.
4. On the menu that appears, click Pause Update.