Automatic Indexing

You are here: Operations > System > Index Management > Automatic Indexing

Magento Open Source, 1.9.x

Magento 1.x Security Patch Notice
For Magento Open Source 1.5 to 1.9, Magento is providing software security patches through June 2020 to ensure those sites remain secure and compliant. Visit our information page for more details about our software maintenance policy and other considerations for your business.

Automatic Indexing

Magento reindexes automatically whenever one or more items are changed (for example, price changes, catalog or shopping cart price rules are created, new categories added, and so on). Reindexing is performed as a background process; your store is accessible during all reindexing processes.

To avoid problems when multiple Admin users update objects that trigger automatic reindexing, set all indexers to run as cron jobs. Otherwise, every time an object is saved, any affected objects with dependencies might cause a deadlock. Symptoms of a deadlock include high CPU usage and MySQL errors. As a best practice, schedule indexing as a cron job to prevent deadlocks from occurring.

Index Modes

The default mode for each indexer is specified in the system configuration. By default, indexers that require manual updating are set to “Update on Save,” which means reindexing occurs after a change is made from the Admin. The other option is to manually reindex every time a change is made. (For example, if you change product attributes in the Admin, you must manually update the Product Attributes index.) If you ever need to override the default index mode, you can use the Action control.

Examples: Index Actions and Controls

Index Actions
Action	Result	To Control
Creating a new store, new customer group, or any action listed in “Actions that Cause a Full Reindex.”	Full reindex .	Full reindexing is performed on the schedule determined by your Magento cron job. In a few cases, full reindexing must be performed manually.
Bulk loading of items in the following ways: Magento import/export Direct SQL query Any other method that directly adds, changes, or deletes data.	Partial reindex (only changed items are reindexed)	At the frequency determined by your Magento cron job.
Changing scope (for example, from global to website)	Partial reindex (only changed items are reindexed)	At the frequency determined by your Magento cron job.

To change the index mode:

On the Admin menu, select System > Index Management.

Select the checkbox of each indexer you want to change.

Set Actions to “Change Index Mode.” Then, set Index Mode to one of the following:

Update on Save
Manual Update

Change Index Mode

Click the Submit button to apply the change to each selected indexer.

Events that Trigger Reindexing

Reindex Triggers
Index Type	Reindexing Event
Product Prices	Add customer group. Change configuration settings.
Flat catalog1The flat product and category indexers also influence how catalog and shopping cart price rules are indexed. If you have a large number of SKUs (about 500,000 or more), you will notice a dramatic improvement in indexing time for price rules. To take advantage of this improvement, you must enable Use Flat Catalog Product. product data	Add store. Add store group. Add, edit, or delete attribute (for searching and filtering).
Flat catalog category data	Add store. Add store group. Add, edit, or delete attribute (for searching and filtering).
Catalog category/product index	Add, edit, or delete products (single, mass, and import). Change product-to-category relations. Add, edit, or delete categories. Add or delete stores. Delete store groups. Delete websites.
Catalog search index	Add, edit, or delete products (single, mass, and import). Add or delete stores. Delete store groups. Delete websites.
Stock status index	Change inventory configuration settings.
Category permissions index	Add store, add store group, add or delete or update attribute (for searching and filtering),

Events that Trigger a Full Reindex

Full Reindex Triggers

Indexer

Event

Catalog Category Flat Indexer

Create a new store.

Create a new store view.

Create, or delete an attribute that is any of the following:

Searchable or visible in advanced search
Filterable
Filterable in search
Used for sorting

Change an existing attribute to be any of the preceding.

Enable flat category frontend options.

Catalog Product Flat Indexer

Create a new store.

Create a new store view.

Create, or delete an attribute that is any of the following:

Searchable or visible in advanced search
Filterable
Filterable in search
Used for sorting

Change an existing attribute to be any of the preceding.

Enable flat category frontend options.

Stock status indexer

When the following Inventory configuration options change:

Stock Options:	Display Out of Stock Products
Product Stock Options:	Manage Stock

Price Indexer

Adding a new customer group.

When any of the following Inventory configuration options change:

Stock Options:	Display Out of Stock Products
Product Stock Options:	Manage Stock
Price:	Catalog Price Scope

Category or Product Indexer

Create or delete a store view.

Delete a store.

Delete a website.