Blacklist

The blacklist strikes an individual document from the search index and keeps it out. Without it, a document deleted from Solr comes straight back the next time its record is saved or its component re-indexed.

Most hubs never use it. It exists for the one record that has to stop appearing in search now, and that you cannot or should not remove from the hub: a resource whose author has asked for it to be quietly withdrawn while a correction is prepared, a member profile a spam wave has filled with keywords, a project page that got indexed while it was briefly public. In each case the record has to stay where it is, and only its visibility in search is the problem.

Blacklisting a document

1. Go to Components > Search > Searchable Components.
2. Select the record count beside the type you want, for example Resources. That opens Solr Search Indexed Documents for that type.
3. Find the document. The Filter box takes a Solr query, so title:microscope narrows the list; leaving it empty lists everything.
4. Select Add to blacklist in that row.

The document is deleted from Solr as the button is pressed, and the row's button changes to Marked for Removal. There is no queue and no waiting period: the next search will not find it.

The change is reversible, but not symmetrically: removing the entry lifts the block without putting the document back, so undoing a blacklisting takes a re-index of that type as well. Blacklisting one record is instant and harmless; be more careful about working down a long list, since restoring what you change your mind about means saving each record again or re-indexing the whole type.

Reviewing and undoing

Components > Search > Index Blacklist lists every entry, showing the document id, who added it, and when, each with a Remove entry button. The screen reads There are no entries on the blacklist when it is empty.

Removing an entry only lifts the block; it does not put the document back. The document returns the next time its record is saved, or the next time its component is re-indexed from Searchable Components or Run Full Index.

What the block covers

Every route into the index checks the blacklist before writing:

• the live path, when Search - Solr handles a saved record;
• the batch path, when a component is indexed or rebuilt.

The check is by document id, and the id is unique to one record of one type, so blacklisting a resource has no effect on any other document.