[BUG] Request-PnPReIndexWeb stopped working

[Tetronic]

Reporting an Issue or Missing Feature

Running "Request-PnPReIndexWeb" does not increase the property bag value "vti_searchversion" of my connected SPO Web.

Expected behavior

I would expect that the value of the property bag key "vti_searchversion" would increase, as it is, when I manually do the reindex via the UI (under site settings -> Search and offline availability)

Actual behavior

The property bag value does not increase. Before the execution it was 19 and after the execution it is still 19.
To check this, I used the command "Get-PnPPropertyBag" after I connected to the web via "Connect-PnPOnline":
The relevant line of the "Get-PnPPropertyBag" - output is:
vti_searchversion 19

I even disconnected and reconnected via "Connect-PnPOnline", but it still gives me the vti_searchversion 19.

Steps to reproduce behavior

`

$SiteURL = "xxx"
$AppID = "xxx"

function DoFullCrawlForCurrentWeb() {

try{

Request-PnPReIndexWeb

Write-Host "Current Web is marked for Full Crawl" -ForegroundColor Green

}
catch {
write-host -f Red "Error at marking Current Web!" $_.Exception.Message
}

}

Connect-PnPOnline -URL $SiteURL -Interactive -ClientId $AppID

$WebsCollection = Get-PnPSubWeb -Recurse -IncludeRootWeb

ForEach ($Web in $WebsCollection) {

Write-Host "Processing Web: "$Web.Url -ForegroundColor Blue

Connect-PnPOnline -URL $Web.Url -Interactive -ClientId $AppID

DoFullCrawlForCurrentWeb
Write-Host ""

break

}
`

What is the version of the Cmdlet module you are running?

3.1.0

Which operating system/environment are you running PnP PowerShell on?

• Windows
• Linux
• MacOS
• Azure Cloud Shell
• Azure Functions
• Other : please specify

[reshmee011]

@Tetronic : can you please confirm whether the actual indexing is done in the background when you run the cmdlet request-pnpreindexweb? The underlying API calls a CSOM function ReIndexWeb which probably skip increasing the value of the property vti_searchversion.

[Tetronic]

@reshmee011 : thanks for your quick response. I tested it now by uploading two documents and used the global search to find the documents. Before executing "Request-PnPReIndexWeb", I couldn't find them. After the execution the search returned them. So skipping to increase the property bag value is the reaspon. That's good, because that means the original problem of this issue is solved.
Anyways, maybe the PnP team could also increase the property bag value, to align the behaviour to the manual task via the UI, or at least add this info to the manual: https://pnp.github.io/powershell/cmdlets/Request-PnPReIndexWeb.html
I guess that would help more users other than me.

[reshmee011]

@Tetronic : Thanks very much for getting back to me and confirming that this isn’t an issue with the current cmdlet. I appreciate you taking the time to clarify.

That said, I’d suggest this may be more of an enhancement request rather than a bug. Personally, I’d be inclined to pursue an update to the documentation to clarify the expected behaviour.

I came across this blog post by Loitzl: https://blog.loitzl.com/posts/troubleshooting-sharepoint-online-search/.
It mentions that the vti_searchversion property value should increment, although I must admit I haven’t historically validated that property value myself.

Previously, I would have used Get-PnPSearchCrawlLog to verify the last crawled date of the site or list content to ensure the crawl process was functioning as expected. However, with Get-PnPSearchCrawlLog now deprecated, that option is no longer available, which makes validation more challenging.

[Tetronic]

Yes, I agree, now it's a enhancement.
Yeah, without Get-PnPSearchCrawlLog it's difficult to determine whether the search flag was increased or not. I will try to take a look into the code of "Request-PnPReIndexWeb" the following days, perhaps I could also verify that the vti_searchversion won't be increased.

[reshmee011]

The code is very simple, calling the CSOM method to request the indexing. I don't know how to check anymore without Get-PnPSearchCrawlLog whether it's working. As per blog https://blog.loitzl.com/posts/troubleshooting-sharepoint-online-search/, it seems it should have increased the vti_searchversion value automatically.