Unable to find records in global search

General search notes and recommendations:
 

• Searching for Community Users is only expected to return matching Contact records. Global search does not return Community User records in People search results.

• Use complete search terms when possible. If the exact search term is not known follow the recommendations for Wildcards and operators for search. 

• Perform a sort or filter the search results to try to find the record you are looking for. Review Filter and Sort Search Results in Lightning Experience .
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• If the Tab setting is set to Hidden for any object, both standard or custom, then the Global search will not return any records.

• Record IDs are not indexed for search and therefore will not return any results.  Vote or comment on the Idea to change this behavior.

Step 1: Review your Record access

• System Administrators - Make sure there aren't any Org Wide Defaults or Role Hierarchy settings restricting access to records.

• Standard Users (or profiles with limited access) - Contact your Salesforce administrator for more assistance

Step 2: Review your organization's Global Search settings

Global Search keeps track of which objects you use and how often you use them. It also arranges the search results accordingly. Results for the object you use most frequently appear at the top of the list. Keeping this in mind, the following are possible:
 

• The object the affected User is looking for is not an object they interact on a regular basis. This makes it a low-priority on search results, thus it might not show up in the top search results. For more details review the Objects displayed in search results inconsistent between users article.

• In Salesforce Classic UI: After performing a Global Search, click Search All to search across all items using your current search terms. Hover over an object in the results list and pin the object in order to have it returned in initial object search results each time..

• In Lightning Experience UI: There isn’t a 'Search All' option in search results. 'Top Results' displays the most relevant records grouped by your most frequently used objects. To see results for other objects, click object names on the left side of the page, under 'Search Results.' Searchable objects are listed in the same order they appear in the navigation bar. If you don’t see an object listed under 'Search Results,' select 'Show More' to see all objects available to you, listed in alphabetical order.

• Results ordering - Actual record result differences that are being seen between two Users for a certain object may be due to the search engine sorting results most relevant to each User based on search term frequency, order, and uniqueness, record and user activity, and access permissions. See SOSL Limits and How Are Search Results Ordered? for more information.

Step 3: Check for Search Crowding

If the User has access to the record but it's still excluded from results, it may be due to Search Crowding. To confirm, attempt to locate it by using a more specific search term that's unique to the affected record to verify whether it's then returned in results as expected. See Guidelines for Reducing Search Crowding for more details.

Step 4: Check the object settings (for custom objects)

If the User has access to custom object's record but it's still excluded from results, it may be due to 'Allow Search' being disabled on the custom object's settings. To confirm, go to Setup, find the desired object and select Edit. Check the object's settings and look for 'Allow Search.'  The checkbox beside it should be checked, indicating it is enabled for Users to search its records.

Step 5: Search results are adjusted for the user who performs the search

• If you don't have access to a record, but someone else does, it appears for them but not you. Access permissions are based on users' profiles. If an object isn’t available in your user profile, you won’t be able to see results for that object.

• Record ownership boosts records in results. If you own the record, it appears higher in the search results.

• Object history boosts records in results. Records from object types that you use more frequently have higher priority in your search results.