Faster Search Module

Usually standard FreeScout search works just fine. But if your server is not very powerful and your database grows to hundreds of thousands or millions of conversations the search performance may become a problem. This is when this module can be helpful.

You may use a cloud based Meilisearch engine or install it on your own server or use DigitalOcean one-click install. If you decide to host Meilisearch on your server please keep in mind that FreeScout Team does not provide an assistance with this – you will need to do it on your own.

Conversations in FreeScout consist of “threads”. Notes, messages sent by customers and support agents in FreeScout are called “threads”. Conversation threads are indexed by Meilisearch in the background by cron. The process of indexing may take several minutes / hours depending on the number conversations and threads in your database.

When conversations are added or updated in the FreeScout it takes from few seconds to one minute to update Meilisearch index and reflect updates in the search results.

When the Meilisearch integration is not Active or Meilisearch becomes unavailable the system automatically falls back to the standard FreeScout search.

Requirements

• Make sure to use Meilisearch v0.30.4 or higher.
• If you are using Custom Fields module, make sure to update it to the latest version.

Filtering Search Results

FreeScout search provides an ability to filter search results using filters on the left panel.

When filtering specifically by “subject” or “body” the Meilisearch is looking for a full exact match instead of substring match (see this discussion).

Meilisearch by default is searching also in attachments file names. When “attachment name” filter (provided by Extended Attachments Module) is applied, the search is looking for exact attachment file name match.

Troubleshooting

When using Cloud Meilisearch sometimes we’ve experienced “OpenSSL SSL_connect: SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL in connection” error. It was fixing by itself after some time.