# Enabling document attributes for search in Amazon Q Business
<a name="boosting-searchable-attributes"></a>

**Note**  
Relevance tuning has replaced metadata boosting. For more information, see [Tuning the query results based on document attribute relevancy](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/qbusiness-ug/relevancy-tuning.html).

For `STRING` and `STRING_LIST` type attributes to be eligible for boosting, they must first be enabled for search in your Amazon Q index.

The following sections outline how to do so using both the console and the API.

**Topics**
+ [Using the console](#enable-attribute-search-console)
+ [Using the API](#enable-attribute-search-api)

## Using the console
<a name="enable-attribute-search-console"></a>

To enable document attributes using the console, use the **Metadata** functionality. The following procedure outlines how.

**To create and map document attributes to index fields **

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon Q Business console.

1. From the left navigation pane, from **Enhancements**, choose **Metadata controls**.

1. From **Metadata**, choose **Add metadata field**.

1. From the **Add metadata field** dialog box that opens up, do the following:

   1. For **Metadata field name** – Add a name for the metadata field you're adding to the index.

   1. For **Data type** – Select the data type you want to assign to the metadata field.

   1. For **Usage type** – Select **Searchable** to mark your field searchable to end users.

   1. Select **Add** to finish adding the metadata field to your index.

   Repeat the previous step to add create and map more metadata fields. Once you add a metadata field, you can't delete it.

1. To save all the metadata fields you added, select **Save**.
**Note**  
If you leave the page without saving your changes, any metadata fields you added won't be saved.

You can update the searchability of a metadata field at any time.

## Using the API
<a name="enable-attribute-search-api"></a>

To enable these attributes for search using the API, use the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_DocumentAttributeConfiguration.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_DocumentAttributeConfiguration.html) object of the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_UpdateIndex.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_UpdateIndex.html) API operation.

The following sections provide AWS CLI examples of how to enable document attributes for search.

**Topics**
+ [Making reserved document attributes searchable](#enable-reserved-attribute-search)
+ [Making custom document attributes searchable](#enable-custom-attribute-search)
+ [Checking document attribute search activation](#check-attribute-search)

### Making reserved document attributes searchable
<a name="enable-reserved-attribute-search"></a>

The following is an example of how to use the AWS CLI to enable for search the `STRING` type reserved document attribute `_category` and the `STRING_LIST` type reserved document attribute `_authors` by using the [UpdateIndex](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_UpdateIndex.html) API operation.

```
aws qbusiness update-index \
--application-id APPLICATION_ID \
--index-id INDEX_ID \
--document-attribute-configurations '
          [
            {
              "name": "_category",
              "type": "STRING",
              "search": "ENABLED"
            },
            {
              "name": "_authors",
              "type": "STRING_LIST",
              "search": "ENABLED"
            }
          ]'
```

### Making custom document attributes searchable
<a name="enable-custom-attribute-search"></a>

You can also enable custom document attributes for search using the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_DocumentAttributeConfiguration.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_DocumentAttributeConfiguration.html) object of the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_UpdateIndex.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_UpdateIndex.html) API operation.

The following is an example of how to use the AWS CLI to enable for search the custom `STRING` and `STRING_LIST` type document attributes using the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_UpdateIndex.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_UpdateIndex.html) API operation.

```
aws qbusiness update-index \
--application-id APPLICATION_ID \
--index-id INDEX_ID \
--document-attribute-configurations '
          [
            {
              "name": "custom_string",
              "type": "STRING",
              "search": "ENABLED"
            },
            {
              "name": "custom_string_list",
              "type": "STRING_LIST",
              "search": "ENABLED"
            }
            ]'
```

### Checking document attribute search activation
<a name="check-attribute-search"></a>

To check if a `STRING` or `STRING_LIST` type document attribute has been enabled for search successfully, use the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_GetIndex.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/api-reference/API_GetIndex.html) API operation.

```
aws qbusiness get-index \
--application-id APPLICATION_ID \
--index-id INDEX_ID
```

The AWS CLI returns the following type of response:

```
{
...
    "documentAttributeConfigurations": [
        {
            "name": "_authors",
            "search": "ENABLED",
            "type": "STRING_LIST"
        },
        {
            "name": "_category",
            "search": "ENABLED",
            "type": "STRING"
        },
        {
            "name": "_created_at",
            "search": "DISABLED",
            "type": "DATE"
        },
        {
            "name": "_data_source_id",
            "search": "ENABLED",
            "type": "STRING"
        },
        {
            "name": "_document_title",
            "search": "ENABLED",
            "type": "STRING"
        },
        {
            "name": "_file_type",
            "search": "ENABLED",
            "type": "STRING"
        },
        {
            "name": "_language_code",
            "search": "ENABLED",
            "type": "STRING"
        },
        {
            "name": "_last_updated_at",
            "search": "DISABLED",
            "type": "DATE"
        },
        {
            "name": "_source_uri",
            "search": "ENABLED",
            "type": "STRING"
        },
        {
            "name": "_version",
            "search": "ENABLED",
            "type": "STRING"
        },
        {
            "name": "_view_count",
            "search": "DISABLED",
            "type": "NUMBER"
        }
    ],
...
}
```