Facet fields are metadata fields that allow users to filter out certain results from a search. You can see facet fields if you click the search button and then look at the left sidebar. You'll see facet fields there under "Limit Your Search."
To see a list of all available facet fields, go to Dashboard > Search (under Configuration) > Facets tab. Here, you can also select which fields should display for your exhibit. You can also rearrange the order or sort them by frequency or value.
One general principle is that facet fields contain controlled vocabulary terms (such as FAST) while non-faceted fields contain keyword-searchable terms. Facet fields sometimes have the same or duplicate values of their non-faceted counterparts, but this may not always be the case for your specific metadata or objects.
In terms of Solr indexing or your mapping document, faceted fields end with _ftesim or _ftesi (their non-faceted counterparts would be _tesim and _tesi). For more information, see How Solr Indexes Metadata.
Facet fields must be configured in app/controllers/catalog_controller. See the Blacklight configuration page for more info.
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