Preview features in Azure AI Search

This article identifies all features in public preview. This list is helpful for checking feature status.

Preview features are removed from this list if they're retired or transition to general availability. For announcements regarding general availability and retirement, see Service Updates or What's New.

Feature                         Category Description Availability
Integrated vectorization Index, skillset, queries Skills-driven data chunking and vectorization during indexing, and text-to-vector conversion during query execution. Create or Update Index (preview) for vectorizer, Create or Update Skillset (preview) for AzureOpenAIEmbedding skill and the data chunking properties of the Text Split skill, and Search POST (preview) for vectorQueries, 2023-10-01-Preview or later.
Import and vectorize data Azure portal A wizard that creates a full indexing pipeline that includes data chunking and vectorization. The wizard creates all of the objects and configuration settings. Available on all search services, in all regions.
AzureOpenAIEmbedding skill AI enrichment (skills) A new skill type that calls Azure OpenAI embedding model to generate embeddings during queries and indexing. Create or Update Skillset (preview), 2023-10-01-Preview or later. Also available in the portal through the Import and vectorize data wizard.
Text Split skill AI enrichment (skills) Text Split has two new chunking-related properties in preview: maximumPagesToTake, pageOverlapLength. Create or Update Skillset (preview), 2023-10-01-Preview or later. Also available in the portal through the Import and vectorize data wizard.
Index projections AI enrichment (skills) A component of a skillset definition that defines the shape of a secondary index, supporting a one-to-many index pattern, where content from an enrichment pipeline can target multiple indexes. Create or Update Skillset (preview), 2023-10-01-Preview or later. Also available in the portal through the Import and vectorize data wizard.
Azure Files indexer Indexer data source New data source for indexer-based indexing from Azure Files Create or Update Data Source (preview), 2021-04-30-Preview or later.
SharePoint Indexer Indexer data source New data source for indexer-based indexing of SharePoint content. Sign up to enable the feature. Use Create or Update Data Source (preview), 2020-06-30-Preview or later, or the Azure portal.
MySQL indexer Indexer data source New data source for indexer-based indexing of Azure MySQL data sources. Sign up to enable the feature. Use Create or Update Data Source (preview), 2020-06-30-Preview or later, .NET SDK 11.2.1, and Azure portal.
Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB indexer Indexer data source New data source for indexer-based indexing through the MongoDB APIs in Azure Cosmos DB. Sign up to enable the feature. Use Create or Update Data Source (preview), 2020-06-30-Preview or later, or the Azure portal.
Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Gremlin indexer Indexer data source New data source for indexer-based indexing through the Apache Gremlin APIs in Azure Cosmos DB. Sign up to enable the feature. Use Create or Update Data Source (preview), 2020-06-30-Preview or later.
Native blob soft delete Indexer data source Applies to the Azure Blob Storage indexer. Recognizes blobs that are in a soft-deleted state, and removes the corresponding search document during indexing. Create or Update Data Source (preview), 2020-06-30-Preview or later.
Reset Documents Indexer Reprocesses individually selected search documents in indexer workloads. Reset Documents (preview), 2020-06-30-Preview or later.
speller Query Optional spelling correction on query term inputs for simple, full, and semantic queries. Search Documents (preview), 2020-06-30-Preview or later, and Search Explorer (portal).
Normalizers Query Normalizers provide simple text preprocessing: consistent casing, accent removal, and ASCII folding, without invoking the full text analysis chain. Search Documents (preview), 2020-06-30-Preview or later.
featuresMode parameter Relevance (scoring) Relevance score expansion to include details: per field similarity score, per field term frequency, and per field number of unique tokens matched. You can consume these data points in custom scoring solutions. Search Documents (preview), 2019-05-06-Preview or later.
Azure Machine Learning (AML) skill AI enrichment (skills) A new skill type to integrate an inferencing endpoint from Azure Machine Learning. Create or Update Skillset (preview), 2019-05-06-Preview or later. Also available in the portal, in skillset design, assuming Azure AI Search and Azure Machine Learning services are deployed in the same subscription.
Incremental enrichment AI enrichment (skills) Adds caching to an enrichment pipeline, allowing you to reuse existing output if a targeted modification, such as an update to a skillset or another object, doesn't change the content. Caching applies only to enriched documents produced by a skillset. Create or Update Indexer (preview), API versions 2021-04-30-Preview, 2020-06-30-Preview, or 2019-05-06-Preview.
moreLikeThis Query Finds documents that are relevant to a specific document. This feature has been in earlier previews. Search Documents (preview) calls, in all supported API versions: 2023-10-10-Preview, 2023-07-01-Preview, 2021-04-30-Preview, 2020-06-30-Preview, 2019-05-06-Preview, 2016-09-01-Preview, 2017-11-11-Preview.

Preview features in Azure SDKs

Each Azure SDK team releases beta packages on their own timeline. Check the change log for mentions of new features in beta packages:

Using preview features

Experimental features are available through the preview REST API first, followed by Azure portal, and then the Azure SDKs.

The following statements apply to preview features:

  • Preview features are available under Supplemental Terms of Use, without a service level agreement.
  • Preview features might undergo breaking changes if a redesign is required.
  • Sometimes preview features don't make it into a GA release.

How to call a preview REST API

Preview REST APIs are accessed through the api-version parameter on the URI. Older previews are still operational but become stale over time and aren't updated with new features or bug fixes.

For content operations, 2023-10-01-Preview is the most recent preview version. The following example shows the syntax for Search POST (preview):

GET {endpoint}/indexes('{indexName}')?api-version=2023-10-01-Preview

For management operations, 2021-04-01-Preview is the most recent preview version. The following example shows the syntax for Update Service 2021-04-01-preview version.

PATCH https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}/resourceGroups/{resourceGroupName}/providers/Microsoft.Search/searchServices/{searchServiceName}?api-version=2021-04-01-preview
{
  "location": "{{region}}",
  "sku": {
    "name": "basic"
  },
  "properties": {
    "replicaCount": 3,
    "partitionCount": 1,
    "hostingMode": "default"
  }
}

See also