When Google Cloud Search receives a request to delete an item, it doesn't immediately remove the entire item. Instead, Cloud Search performs a soft delete by marking the item as deleted and removing a subset of information, such as ACLs, content, and metadata. Other information, like the item version, is retained.
If a reindexing request provides a version greater than the existing value while the item is in a soft delete state, Cloud Search restores the item.
Cloud Search keeps an item marked as deleted for 7-10 days before performing a hard delete to permanently remove it. After a hard delete, the item ceases to exist and its version number no longer refers to it.
Maintain consistent item versions
Your content connector should handle item versioning. However, if you delete an
item outside of your connector logic using
items.delete,
ensure successful reindexing by doing one of the following:
- Reindex your content after the hard delete (7-10 days).
- When manually deleting an item, use the actual item version obtained using
items.get.
Failure to follow these suggestions results in indexing errors.