# Faceting

[](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/talend-data-catalog/Content/developer-guide/metadata-query-language-mql/faceting.htm)

Faceting allows the user to group search results into categories based on the values of an attribute type. For example, you can group the search results based on the

> Object Type

system attribute. You can get the numbers of objects in a category, e.g. Column, and find the objects of that category. Faceting makes it easy for users to explore search results, narrowing in on exactly the results they are looking for.

If the search index is a Solr index, many system attributes can be used in faceting. Refer to the Column

> Supported in FACET

of System Attributes. Custom attributes of the following data types can also be used in faceting: Boolean, Integer, Date, DateTime, Enumeration, Enumeration (Multi-value), String, User and Users. To facet on a Date or DateTime attribute, a

> Data Range Gap

parameter, such as YEAR, MONTH, DAY, or HOUR, must be provided. Faceting is also supported on the Data Profiling attributes and Source History attributes.

If the search index is a Lucene index, only

> Model Id

and

> Object Type

system attributes can be used in faceting.