Directus native search does not work with super-table

[DjLawRee]

Super Table search doesn't use Directus native search
Issue
Super Table search only filters displayed items, while Directus native search queries underlying data including metadata and relational fields.

Expected Behavior
Super Table search should utilize Directus's native search capabilities to query all underlying data, not just visible items.

[DjLawRee]

Screenshots for refference

[smartlabsAT]

Hi @DjLawRee,

Thank you for the detailed bug report!

You've raised an important point - the current search functionality indeed only filters the already loaded/visible items, instead of utilizing Directus's native search capabilities that can query all underlying data.

We will address this issue and enhance the search functionality to:

• Utilize native Directus Search API
• Search through all data (not just visible items)
• Include metadata and relational fields in the search

This issue is now on our priority list. Updates will follow!

Thanks again for the feedback!

[smartlabsAT]

Hi @DjLawRee,

Thank you for the detailed report! We've been investigating this issue.

Current Search Approach

We use an enhanced search implementation (not pure native Directus search) because we need to:

• Search across all languages in translation fields
• Support relational fields (which native search cannot do)
• Handle different field types appropriately

Need Help to Reproduce

We're unable to reproduce your exact issue. To help us fix this, could you please tell us:

1. Which specific field contains the search term you're looking for?
2. What field type is that field? (string, text, JSON, many-to-one relation, etc.)

We suspect there might be specific field types that aren't being handled correctly in our search logic.

Planned Improvements

Based on your report, we're planning to:

• Fix native Directus search field integration
• Improve Many-to-One relation search syntax
• Better handle JSON fields and other field types
• Fix pagination display when no results found

Once we know which field type is causing the issue, we can implement the targeted fix.

Thanks for your help! 🙏

[DjLawRee]

No problem , I will create detailed step by step report , how to reproduce the problem this evening 👍

…

On Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 12:52 PM Christopher Schwarz ***@***.***> wrote: *smartlabsAT* left a comment (smartlabsAT/directus-super-table#24) <#24 (comment)> Hi @DjLawRee <https://github.com/DjLawRee>, Thank you for the detailed report! We've been investigating this issue. Current Search Approach We use an enhanced search implementation (not pure native Directus search) because we need to: - Search across *all languages* in translation fields - Support *relational fields* (which native search cannot do) - Handle different field types appropriately Need Help to Reproduce We're unable to reproduce your exact issue. To help us fix this, could you please tell us: 1. *Which specific field* contains the search term you're looking for? 2. *What field type* is that field? (string, text, JSON, many-to-one relation, etc.) We suspect there might be specific field types that aren't being handled correctly in our search logic. Planned Improvements Based on your report, we're planning to: - Fix native Directus search field integration - Improve Many-to-One relation search syntax - Better handle JSON fields and other field types - Fix pagination display when no results found Once we know which field type is causing the issue, we can implement the targeted fix. Thanks for your help! 🙏 — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#24 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ATGJ5VSAV6WNQJ44IIU5NTT3P3GMTAVCNFSM6AAAAACE6NKX6KVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTEMZSG44DOOJXGU> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[OSZII]

Hi this may belong here too. Supertable requests .title of the translation even if these fields don't exist and this causes an error resulting in nothing being shown:

Table hidden because of error:

Console:

Request url: http://0.0.0.0:8055/items/Saints?fields[]=id&fields[]=image.id&fields[]=images&fields[]=name&fields[]=status.status_color&fields[]=status.status&fields[]=translations.id&fields[]=translations.status&fields[]=translations.title&fields[]=translations.name&page=1&limit=25&meta=filter_count,total_count&deep[status][_fields][0]=*

Request error:

{
    "errors": [
        {
            "message": "You don't have permission to access field \"title\" in collection \"Saints_translations\" or it does not exist. Queried in \"translations\".",
            "extensions": {
                "reason": "You don't have permission to access field \"title\" in collection \"Saints_translations\" or it does not exist. Queried in \"translations\".",
                "code": "FORBIDDEN"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Translations has no column named title:

And the search also doesn't properly work. For example I have name in translations for en and german:

but if I search for berg there is no result shown:

Here is a sql file for testing:

orthodox-study.sql

Please let me know if you need anything else or if this is the wrong issue

[smartlabsAT]

Hi @OSZII,

Thank you for the detailed report! I've split your findings into two separate issues:

1. The .title field bug has been moved to a new issue (will be created after this comment) as it's a distinct bug that needs immediate fixing
2. The translation search improvements will continue to be tracked here in Directus native search does not work with super-table #24

This way we can address the critical bug independently while working on the broader search enhancements.

We'll prioritize fixing the .title bug first, then implement the translation search improvements.

[Warwolfer]

hi @smartlabsAT, instead of opening a new issue I'll add this here since it seems to be connected with the .title bug
I have a many-to-many table, and it seemed to try to find name in the pivot table, causing nothing to load.

[smartlabsAT]

Hi @Warwolfer,

Thank you for the report! Your finding is the same bug pattern as the previously-fixed #34 (.title field in translations) — but applied to M2M pivot/junction collections instead of translation collections.

Since this is a distinct bug from the search functionality being tracked here in #24, I've split it out into a separate issue: #55

That way we can:

• Fix the M2M field-injection bug as a focused, independent hotfix
• Keep Directus native search does not work with super-table #24 dedicated to the original search-functionality discussion (@DjLawRee's JSON-field search and @OSZII's translation search)

Thanks again for taking the time to report this!