searchEntity: query

Namespace: microsoft.graph

Runs the query specified in the request body. Search results are provided in the response.

This API is available in the following national cloud deployments.

Global service	US Government L4	US Government L5 (DOD)	China operated by 21Vianet
✅	✅	✅	✅

Permissions

Choose the permission or permissions marked as least privileged for this API. Use a higher privileged permission or permissions only if your app requires it. For details about delegated and application permissions, see Permission types. To learn more about these permissions, see the permissions reference.

Permission type	Least privileged permissions	Higher privileged permissions
Delegated (work or school account)	Mail.Read	Acronym.Read.All, Bookmark.Read.All, Calendars.Read, Chat.Read, ExternalItem.Read.All, Files.Read.All, QnA.Read.All, Sites.Read.All
Delegated (personal Microsoft account)	Not supported.	Not supported.
Application	Files.Read.All	Sites.Read.All

HTTP request

POST /search/query

Request headers

Name	Description
Authorization	Bearer {token}. Required. Learn more about authentication and authorization.
Content-type	application/json. Required.

Request body

In the request body, provide a JSON object with the following parameters.

Parameter	Type	Description
requests	searchRequest collection	A collection of one or more search requests each formatted in a JSON blob. Each JSON blob contains the types of resources expected in the response, the underlying sources, paging parameters, requested fields, and actual search query. Be aware of known limitations on searching specific combinations of entity types, and sorting or aggregating search results.

Response

If successful, this method returns HTTP 200 OK response code and a searchResponse collection object in the response body.

Examples

Example 1: Basic call to perform a search request

The following example shows how to search for expected connector items.

Request

HTTP

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/search/query
Content-type: application/json

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "entityTypes": [
        "externalItem"
      ],
      "contentSources": [
        "/external/connections/connectionfriendlyname"
      ],
       "region": "US",
       "query": {
        "queryString": "contoso product"
      },
      "from": 0,
      "size": 25,
      "fields": [
        "title",
        "description"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

C#

// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// Dependencies
using Microsoft.Graph.Search.Query;
using Microsoft.Graph.Models;

var requestBody = new QueryPostRequestBody
{
	Requests = new List<SearchRequest>
	{
		new SearchRequest
		{
			EntityTypes = new List<EntityType?>
			{
				EntityType.ExternalItem,
			},
			ContentSources = new List<string>
			{
				"/external/connections/connectionfriendlyname",
			},
			Region = "US",
			Query = new SearchQuery
			{
				QueryString = "contoso product",
			},
			From = 0,
			Size = 25,
			Fields = new List<string>
			{
				"title",
				"description",
			},
		},
	},
};

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Search.Query.PostAsQueryPostResponseAsync(requestBody);

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

CLI

// THE CLI IS IN PREVIEW. NON-PRODUCTION USE ONLY
mgc search query post --body '{\
  "requests": [\
    {\
      "entityTypes": [\
        "externalItem"\
      ],\
      "contentSources": [\
        "/external/connections/connectionfriendlyname"\
      ],\
       "region": "US",\
       "query": {\
        "queryString": "contoso product"\
      },\
      "from": 0,\
      "size": 25,\
      "fields": [\
        "title",\
        "description"\
      ]\
    }\
  ]\
}\
'

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Go

import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go"
	  graphsearch "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go/search"
	  graphmodels "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go/models"
	  //other-imports
)

graphClient := msgraphsdk.NewGraphServiceClientWithCredentials(cred, scopes)


requestBody := graphsearch.NewQueryPostRequestBody()


searchRequest := graphmodels.NewSearchRequest()
entityTypes := []graphmodels.EntityTypeable {
	entityType := graphmodels.EXTERNALITEM_ENTITYTYPE 
	searchRequest.SetEntityType(&entityType)
}
searchRequest.SetEntityTypes(entityTypes)
contentSources := []string {
	"/external/connections/connectionfriendlyname",
}
searchRequest.SetContentSources(contentSources)
region := "US"
searchRequest.SetRegion(&region) 
query := graphmodels.NewSearchQuery()
queryString := "contoso product"
query.SetQueryString(&queryString) 
searchRequest.SetQuery(query)
from := int32(0)
searchRequest.SetFrom(&from) 
size := int32(25)
searchRequest.SetSize(&size) 
fields := []string {
	"title",
	"description",
}
searchRequest.SetFields(fields)

requests := []graphmodels.SearchRequestable {
	searchRequest,
}
requestBody.SetRequests(requests)

query, err := graphClient.Search().Query().PostAsQueryPostResponse(context.Background(), requestBody, nil)

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Java

// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

com.microsoft.graph.search.query.QueryPostRequestBody queryPostRequestBody = new com.microsoft.graph.search.query.QueryPostRequestBody();
LinkedList<SearchRequest> requests = new LinkedList<SearchRequest>();
SearchRequest searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
LinkedList<EntityType> entityTypes = new LinkedList<EntityType>();
entityTypes.add(EntityType.ExternalItem);
searchRequest.setEntityTypes(entityTypes);
LinkedList<String> contentSources = new LinkedList<String>();
contentSources.add("/external/connections/connectionfriendlyname");
searchRequest.setContentSources(contentSources);
searchRequest.setRegion("US");
SearchQuery query = new SearchQuery();
query.setQueryString("contoso product");
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
searchRequest.setFrom(0);
searchRequest.setSize(25);
LinkedList<String> fields = new LinkedList<String>();
fields.add("title");
fields.add("description");
searchRequest.setFields(fields);
requests.add(searchRequest);
queryPostRequestBody.setRequests(requests);
var result = graphClient.search().query().post(queryPostRequestBody);

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

JavaScript

const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

const searchResponse = {
  requests: [
    {
      entityTypes: [
        'externalItem'
      ],
      contentSources: [
        '/external/connections/connectionfriendlyname'
      ],
       region: 'US',
       query: {
        queryString: 'contoso product'
      },
      from: 0,
      size: 25,
      fields: [
        'title',
        'description'
      ]
    }
  ]
};

await client.api('/search/query')
	.post(searchResponse);

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PHP

<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\GraphServiceClient;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Models\QueryPostRequestBody;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Models\SearchRequest;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Models\EntityType;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Models\SearchQuery;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);

$requestBody = new QueryPostRequestBody();
$requestsSearchRequest1 = new SearchRequest();
$requestsSearchRequest1->setEntityTypes([new EntityType('externalItem'),	]);
$requestsSearchRequest1->setContentSources(['/external/connections/connectionfriendlyname', 	]);
$requestsSearchRequest1->setRegion('US');
$requestsSearchRequest1Query = new SearchQuery();
$requestsSearchRequest1Query->setQueryString('contoso product');
$requestsSearchRequest1->setQuery($requestsSearchRequest1Query);
$requestsSearchRequest1->setFrom(0);
$requestsSearchRequest1->setSize(25);
$requestsSearchRequest1->setFields(['title', 'description', 	]);
$requestsArray []= $requestsSearchRequest1;
$requestBody->setRequests($requestsArray);


$result = $graphServiceClient->search()->query()->post($requestBody)->wait();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PowerShell

Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Search

$params = @{
	requests = @(
		@{
			entityTypes = @(
			"externalItem"
		)
		contentSources = @(
		"/external/connections/connectionfriendlyname"
	)
	region = "US"
	query = @{
		queryString = "contoso product"
	}
	from = 0
	size = 25
	fields = @(
	"title"
"description"
)
}
)
}

Invoke-MgQuerySearch -BodyParameter $params

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Python

from msgraph import GraphServiceClient
from msgraph.generated.models.query_post_request_body import QueryPostRequestBody
from msgraph.generated.models.search_request import SearchRequest
from msgraph.generated.models.entity_type import EntityType
from msgraph.generated.models.search_query import SearchQuery

graph_client = GraphServiceClient(credentials, scopes)

request_body = QueryPostRequestBody(
	requests = [
		SearchRequest(
			entity_types = [
				EntityType.ExternalItem,
			],
			content_sources = [
				"/external/connections/connectionfriendlyname",
			],
			region = "US",
			query = SearchQuery(
				query_string = "contoso product",
			),
			from = 0,
			size = 25,
			fields = [
				"title",
				"description",
			],
		),
	],
)

result = await graph_client.search.query.post(request_body)

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Response

The following example shows the response.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
  "value": [
    {
      "searchTerms": [
        "searchTerms-value"
      ],
      "hitsContainers": [
        {
          "hits": [
            {
              "hitId": "1",
              "rank": 1,
              "summary": "_summary-value",
              "resource": "The source field will contain the underlying graph entity part of the response"
            }
          ],
          "total": 47,
          "moreResultsAvailable": true
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Example 2: Basic call to use queryTemplate

The following example shows how to use the queryable property createdBy to retrieve all files created by a user.

Request

HTTP

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/search/query
Content-type: application/json

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "entityTypes": [
        "listItem"
      ],
        "region": "US",
        "query": {
        "queryString": "contoso",
        "queryTemplate":"{searchTerms} CreatedBy:Bob"
      },
      "from": 0,
      "size": 25
    }
  ]
}

C#

// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// Dependencies
using Microsoft.Graph.Search.Query;
using Microsoft.Graph.Models;

var requestBody = new QueryPostRequestBody
{
	Requests = new List<SearchRequest>
	{
		new SearchRequest
		{
			EntityTypes = new List<EntityType?>
			{
				EntityType.ListItem,
			},
			Region = "US",
			Query = new SearchQuery
			{
				QueryString = "contoso",
				QueryTemplate = "{searchTerms} CreatedBy:Bob",
			},
			From = 0,
			Size = 25,
		},
	},
};

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Search.Query.PostAsQueryPostResponseAsync(requestBody);

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

CLI

// THE CLI IS IN PREVIEW. NON-PRODUCTION USE ONLY
mgc search query post --body '{\
  "requests": [\
    {\
      "entityTypes": [\
        "listItem"\
      ],\
        "region": "US",\
        "query": {\
        "queryString": "contoso",\
        "queryTemplate":"{searchTerms} CreatedBy:Bob"\
      },\
      "from": 0,\
      "size": 25\
    }\
  ]\
}\
'

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Go

import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go"
	  graphsearch "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go/search"
	  graphmodels "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go/models"
	  //other-imports
)

graphClient := msgraphsdk.NewGraphServiceClientWithCredentials(cred, scopes)


requestBody := graphsearch.NewQueryPostRequestBody()


searchRequest := graphmodels.NewSearchRequest()
entityTypes := []graphmodels.EntityTypeable {
	entityType := graphmodels.LISTITEM_ENTITYTYPE 
	searchRequest.SetEntityType(&entityType)
}
searchRequest.SetEntityTypes(entityTypes)
region := "US"
searchRequest.SetRegion(&region) 
query := graphmodels.NewSearchQuery()
queryString := "contoso"
query.SetQueryString(&queryString) 
queryTemplate := "{searchTerms} CreatedBy:Bob"
query.SetQueryTemplate(&queryTemplate) 
searchRequest.SetQuery(query)
from := int32(0)
searchRequest.SetFrom(&from) 
size := int32(25)
searchRequest.SetSize(&size) 

requests := []graphmodels.SearchRequestable {
	searchRequest,
}
requestBody.SetRequests(requests)

query, err := graphClient.Search().Query().PostAsQueryPostResponse(context.Background(), requestBody, nil)

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Java

// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

com.microsoft.graph.search.query.QueryPostRequestBody queryPostRequestBody = new com.microsoft.graph.search.query.QueryPostRequestBody();
LinkedList<SearchRequest> requests = new LinkedList<SearchRequest>();
SearchRequest searchRequest = new SearchRequest();
LinkedList<EntityType> entityTypes = new LinkedList<EntityType>();
entityTypes.add(EntityType.ListItem);
searchRequest.setEntityTypes(entityTypes);
searchRequest.setRegion("US");
SearchQuery query = new SearchQuery();
query.setQueryString("contoso");
query.setQueryTemplate("{searchTerms} CreatedBy:Bob");
searchRequest.setQuery(query);
searchRequest.setFrom(0);
searchRequest.setSize(25);
requests.add(searchRequest);
queryPostRequestBody.setRequests(requests);
var result = graphClient.search().query().post(queryPostRequestBody);

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

JavaScript

const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

const searchResponse = {
  requests: [
    {
      entityTypes: [
        'listItem'
      ],
        region: 'US',
        query: {
        queryString: 'contoso',
        queryTemplate: '{searchTerms} CreatedBy:Bob'
      },
      from: 0,
      size: 25
    }
  ]
};

await client.api('/search/query')
	.post(searchResponse);

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PHP

<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\GraphServiceClient;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Models\QueryPostRequestBody;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Models\SearchRequest;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Models\EntityType;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Models\SearchQuery;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);

$requestBody = new QueryPostRequestBody();
$requestsSearchRequest1 = new SearchRequest();
$requestsSearchRequest1->setEntityTypes([new EntityType('listItem'),	]);
$requestsSearchRequest1->setRegion('US');
$requestsSearchRequest1Query = new SearchQuery();
$requestsSearchRequest1Query->setQueryString('contoso');
$requestsSearchRequest1Query->setQueryTemplate('{searchTerms} CreatedBy:Bob');
$requestsSearchRequest1->setQuery($requestsSearchRequest1Query);
$requestsSearchRequest1->setFrom(0);
$requestsSearchRequest1->setSize(25);
$requestsArray []= $requestsSearchRequest1;
$requestBody->setRequests($requestsArray);


$result = $graphServiceClient->search()->query()->post($requestBody)->wait();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PowerShell

Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Search

$params = @{
	requests = @(
		@{
			entityTypes = @(
			"listItem"
		)
		region = "US"
		query = @{
			queryString = "contoso"
			queryTemplate = '{searchTerms} CreatedBy:Bob"
		}
		from = 0
		size = 25
	}
)
}

Invoke-MgQuerySearch -BodyParameter $params

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Python

from msgraph import GraphServiceClient
from msgraph.generated.models.query_post_request_body import QueryPostRequestBody
from msgraph.generated.models.search_request import SearchRequest
from msgraph.generated.models.entity_type import EntityType
from msgraph.generated.models.search_query import SearchQuery

graph_client = GraphServiceClient(credentials, scopes)

request_body = QueryPostRequestBody(
	requests = [
		SearchRequest(
			entity_types = [
				EntityType.ListItem,
			],
			region = "US",
			query = SearchQuery(
				query_string = "contoso",
				query_template = "{searchTerms} CreatedBy:Bob",
			),
			from = 0,
			size = 25,
		),
	],
)

result = await graph_client.search.query.post(request_body)

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Response

The following example shows the response.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "value": [
        {
            "searchTerms": [
                "contoso"
            ],
            "hitsContainers": [
                {
                    "hits": [
                        {
                            "hitId": "1",
                            "rank": 1,
                            "summary": "_summary-value",
                            "resource": {
                                "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.listItem",
                                "id": "c23c7035-73d6-4bad-8901-9e2930d4be8e",
                                "createdBy": {
                                    "user": {
                                        "displayName": "Bob",
                                        "email": "Bob@contoso.com"
                                    }
                                },
                                "createdDateTime": "2021-11-19T17:04:18Z",
                                "lastModifiedDateTime": "2023-03-09T18:52:26Z"
                            }
                        }
                    ],
                    "total": 1,
                    "moreResultsAvailable": false
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Related content

• Search mail messages
• Search calendar events
• Search content in SharePoint and OneDrive (files, lists and sites)
• Search custom types (Graph Connectors) data
• Search with queryTemplate
• Sort search results
• Use aggregations to refine search results