Facets and filters

Use this page when you need the conceptual model behind the Facets page in the Kea Labs Search Pro admin: what a facet is, how the facet list is split into three zones, which facet types are available, and how that list becomes the filter sidebar on the storefront.

For the PrestaShop-specific how-to — where the controls live in the PrestaShop back office, what each field on the edit modal accepts, and the recommended save workflow — see Facets (PrestaShop).

What a facet is

A facet is one filter on the storefront. Each facet exposes a list of values, and a shopper narrows the results by picking one or more of those values.

In the admin, every facet you see on the Facets page is one filter that the storefront can show. A typical storefront sidebar for a clothing catalog is built from a list that looks like:

• category — string facet, value list
• brand — string facet, value list
• color — color facet, value list with color swatches
• size — string facet, value list
• in_stock — boolean facet, on/off
• price — number facet, min/max range

Each entry on that sidebar is a facet in the admin.

What a facet contains

Every facet has a fixed set of editable properties. The Facets edit modal exposes them under these labels:

Property	What it controls
Title	The label shown on the storefront filter sidebar.
Type	The kind of value the facet holds: String, Number, Boolean, or Color. The Type choice determines which storefront widget renders the facet.
Position	Where the facet sits in the storefront sidebar. The behaviour is controlled by Manual positioning (see below).
Manual positioning	When off, the facet sits in the middle group and is sorted by frequency (the natural zone). When on, the facet is anchored to a fixed position from the top or the bottom of the sidebar, signed integer (0 = top, -1 = one from the bottom, etc.).
Visible	Whether the facet is shown on the storefront. Hidden facets stay in the admin list but are not shown to shoppers.

[!NOTE] Changing a facet type changes how the storefront renders the filter and may invalidate existing value mappings. Change the type only when you can verify the filter in preview afterwards.

You can edit title, type, position, and visibility for facets already available in the shop. You do not create catalog attributes from this page. If a filter is missing, check the catalog data first and refresh indexing so the facet list can be rebuilt from the current products.

The three placement zones

The facet list on the Facets page is divided into three horizontal groups. Drag a facet between groups to change how it is ordered on the storefront.

• Pinned to the top — facets that the merchant wants to show first, in a fixed order. Examples: category, brand. Position is the slot index from the top, starting at 0.
• Natural order — facets that you do not want to pin. The storefront reorders this group on every render so the facet with the most matching values for the current query appears first.
• Pinned to the bottom — facets that the merchant wants to show last, in a fixed order. Examples: price, in_stock. Position is the slot index from the bottom, starting at -1.

When a facet is in the natural zone, its Manual positioning toggle is off and the admin shows it as Natural Order. Moving the facet out of the natural zone enables manual positioning.

Facet value editors

Some facet types need per-value configuration. When the admin shows an Edit values action for a facet, open it to map raw catalog values to the labels or colours shown to shoppers.

• String and Number — values are read from the catalog and are not edited from the Facets page.
• Boolean — the value editor maps each catalog value to a display label.
• Color — the value editor maps each catalog color to a display label and a swatch color.

[!TIP] If a facet does not show an Edit values action, its values are controlled by the catalog data and the index, not by this page.

How a change reaches the storefront

Some filter changes affect indexed search data. Others only change how an existing filter is presented.

An index refresh is needed when:

• the indexed facet set changes;
• a facet type is changed;
• a Boolean or Color value mapping is changed.

An index refresh is not required when:

• a facet is moved between zones;
• the manual position of an existing facet is changed;
• the title of an existing facet is changed.

Platforms can handle the refresh differently. In PrestaShop, saving an indexed filter change starts or queues catalog indexing automatically.

[!NOTE] A facet title change renames the storefront filter. The underlying facet identity and its value list are preserved.

Common mistakes

• Sorting pinned facets alphabetically in the natural zone. The natural zone ignores your ordering. To get a specific order, move the facet out of the natural zone and use manual positioning.
• Changing a facet type without checking the storefront. A type change can alter how values render. Save, wait for any required index refresh, and verify in preview.
• Anchoring every facet to a fixed position. The natural zone exists for a reason — it lets the storefront highlight the most useful filters for the current query. Pinning everything to the top removes that signal.

Related pages

• Facets (PrestaShop) — PrestaShop-specific how-to.
• Fields and priorities — the Fields tab, which controls which fields the search engine looks at.
• Synonyms — the Synonyms tab, which controls what shoppers mean when they type a query.