Disabling 'Contextual Search'

[CynthiaCo]

When opening our AEM Essentials DAM last week, the search landing page had a new search option beside the standard ‘Search’ and ‘Browse Assets’: ‘Contextual Search’. We did nothing to enable this feature. We don’t feel the need for it to be an offering to our team at this point in time and would like to remove it. I found instructions for how this search feature can be disabled however my general settings (as well as a colleague's) do not have a Contextual Search section neither does our Console Administrator.

Steps described in Search and discover assets in Assets Essentials | Adobe Experience Manager

Disable Contextual Search
Administrators also have the option to disable Contextual Search for users in your organization. To do so, execute the following steps:
1. Navigate to Settings > General Settings.
2. In the Contextual Search section, turn off the Enable Contextual Search for your organization toggle to disable the Contextual Search feature for all users in your organization.

My settings show our former configuration in layout as well as preview; there is nothing related to contextual search. Why did this search option suddenly appear without notice? Why can we not turn it off? How do we turn it off? I opened a support ticket last week and still have not received an answer, was hoping that someone here might be able to help.

[EstebanBustamante]

Hi, 

The "contextual search" feature was introduced as part of the latest release of Assets Essentials, as detailed in this link: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-manager-assets-essentials/help/release-notes. This update was released on April 18, 2024. Unfortunately, it seems that you cannot disable this feature, at least not at the moment. I find it interesting that the section you described in your question for disabling the Contextual Search is no longer available in the link you shared. Your best option is to provide feedback for this new feature and/or submit a support ticket, which it seems you have already done 

[CynthiaCo · Accepted solution]

Actually I learned that this was a case of documentation posted prior to feature being released. This was brought to Adobe's attention this week, and as of 3 pm today, within General Settings there is a toggle to disable contextual search.