Searching Multiple Objects
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Search and return results from more than one object in a single SOSL statement
- Limit which fields are searched using IN NAME FIELDS or IN specific field groups
- Process each object's results separately after the search runs
Prerequisites: "Your First SOSL Search"
Searching several objects at once
List<List<sObject>> searchResults = [
FIND 'Riverbend' IN ALL FIELDS
RETURNING Account(Id, Name), Contact(Id, LastName, Email), Lead(Id, Company)
];
List<Account> accounts = searchResults[0];
List<Contact> contacts = searchResults[1];
List<Lead> leads = searchResults[2];
System.debug('Found ' + accounts.size() + ' accounts, ' + contacts.size() + ' contacts, ' + leads.size() + ' leads.');This is the direct payoff from this module's first lesson — one search, three object types, a single round trip instead of three separate SOQL queries.
Narrowing the search with IN NAME FIELDS
List<List<sObject>> searchResults = [
FIND 'Riverbend' IN NAME FIELDS
RETURNING Account(Id, Name)
];IN ALL FIELDS searches every searchable text field on each object; IN NAME FIELDS narrows the search specifically to name-type fields (like Account.Name or Contact.LastName) — useful when you know you're searching for a name specifically, not scanning notes or descriptions too.
A real business example: Global Support Search
String searchTerm = 'connectivity issue';
List<List<sObject>> searchResults = [
FIND :searchTerm IN ALL FIELDS
RETURNING Case(Id, Subject, Status), Knowledge__kav(Id, Title)
];A support agent's global search box searching both open Case records and a knowledge base article object at once is a textbook SOSL scenario — one search box, multiple object types, exactly the shape this module exists for. (Note the :searchTerm bind variable — Module 20's bind variable syntax works in SOSL too.)
Exercise
Write a SOSL search for 'Dlamini' across both Contact (Id, LastName) and Lead (Id, LastName), then debug each list's size.
Show hint
RETURNING Contact(Id, LastName), Lead(Id, LastName)
Searching Multiple Objects Quiz
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Summary
A single SOSL search can span several objects at once — genuinely useful whenever a search term could plausibly belong to more than one kind of record.