Why Global Search Returns More Results in Salesforce Lightning Experience Than in Salesforce Classic

How Lightning Experience Type-Ahead Search Works

This is expected behavior. Global Search in Lightning Experience is designed in a way that includes standard search results as well as the instant search results you see when you begin typing into the search bar.

'Type ahead' search is more complex than this, but the functionality is similar to performing a standard global search with a wildcard (*) appended to the end of the search term. The combination of the global search, with the addition of the type ahead records, may result in more records being returned in Lightning Experience versus Classic.

To learn more about the 'Type Ahead' function, please review the 'Instant Results in Lightning Experience' section of the What Are the Results I See As I Type in the Search Bar? documentation.

How to Get Comparable Results in Salesforce Classic

To effectively receive the same results for a search term in Classic and Lightning, users may consider manually adding a wildcard (*) onto the end of their search term(s) in Classic.

For example, search for Smith* instead of Smith.