Using Unified Search in the AWS Management Console

The AWS Management Console includes a search bar at the top of every AWS console page. This search bar can search the AWS service documentation and blog topics, and take you directly to AWS service console pages. It can also return the resources in your AWS account when you have appropriate Resource Explorer permissions.

With Unified Search, users can search for resources from any AWS service console without having to first navigate to the AWS Resource Explorer console. Unified Search returns regional results from the current Region by default, or cross-region results if an aggregator index is configured.

Access to resource results in Unified Search is permission-based. Users with, at minimum, the permissions in the AWSResourceExplorerReadOnlyAccess managed policy can immediately search for resources in any Region where they have access, with results varying based on their permission level and the type of indexes available in the Region.

Tip

When you want to use the Unified Search bar to search specifically for resources, begin your search query by typing /Resources. This causes AWS resources to be ranked higher in the search results than results that do not represent resources.

Important

Unified Search automatically inserts a wildcard character (*) operator at the end of the first keyword in the string. This means that unified search results include resources that match any string that starts with the specified keyword.

The search performed by the Query text box on the Resource search page in the Resource Explorer console does not automatically append a wildcard character. You can insert a * manually after any term in the search string.

Checking if resource search is enabled

To see if resource search is enabled in your AWS account, verify that the following requirements for Resource Explorer are met:

• Users must have, at minimum, the permissions in the AWSResourceExplorerReadOnlyAccess managed policy. Resource Explorer automatically provides search functionality, with results varying based on permission level and index type (user-owned indexes provide complete results, Resource Explorer-owned indexes provide partial results).

• (Optional) For cross-region search results, you can create an aggregator index in a Region of your choice. Without an aggregator, Unified Search returns regional results from the current Region.

Enabling Unified Search

Resource search in Unified Search is automatically available when users have appropriate Resource Explorer permissions. To enhance Unified Search functionality with full results, cross-Region results, or custom views, you can optionally complete the following steps:

1. (Optional) Completing setup for Resource Explorer to create user-owned indexes for complete search results.

2. (Optional) Enabling cross-Region search by creating an aggregator index to enable cross-Region search results.

3. (Optional) Configuring a Resource Explorer view to provide access to resource searches for specific filtering requirements or access control.