Unable to search for special characters in Adobe Experience Manager
In Adobe Experience Manager, search fails when asset metadata includes special characters like square brackets ([ or ] ). The search engine doesn’t support these characters, so queries stop processing at the bracket and return incomplete results. To fix search failures, avoid square brackets in metadata or use Query Builder for advanced queries.
Description description
Environment
- Product: Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) On-Premise, v6.5
- Instance: Production
Issue/Symptoms
-
Search fails when using square brackets (
[or]) in queries. -
AEM allows square brackets in asset properties (e.g., “Description”), but the search engine does not support them.
-
Queries with square brackets return incomplete or incorrect results due to input truncation.
-
For example:
- Searching for a description containing
NS78[. - Searching for
NS78[ -fails and does not return the intended asset.
- Searching for a description containing
Resolution resolution
To fix this issue, follow these steps:
- Avoid using square brackets (
[or]) in searchable fields like “Description” whenever possible. - If brackets are required in asset properties, be they can’t be reliably searched using standard AEM search.
- Use Query Builder to create advanced queries that bypass these limitations.
- For a long-term fix, work with your development team or Adobe support to explore custom search enhancements.
Note: Use only supported characters in searchable metadata to keep AEM search reliable.