There are several things to consider before you begin using full-text searching. First of all, you must install Microsoft full-text searching, an option presented to you when you install SQL Server 2012. However, this option is not selected by default, so you must choose to install this option to be able to use the Microsoft Search service. Without Enterprise Manager, menu options for full-text searching will be disabled. Transact-SQL commands used against the database will also fail.

Secondly, you should know that full-text catalogs can only be built on columns that are character-based data types such as char, nchar, varchar, nvarchar, text, and ntext. You cannot have an index on numeric data types like integer and money. This is because full-text searching is based on just that, text.

It is important to remember that, like clustered relational indexes, there can be only one full-text index on any given table. All desired columns that are specified as part of the index will be added to that one index. In the next lesson, we will discuss how to define your full-text indexes.

Creates a full-text index on a table or indexed view in a database in SQL Server. Only one full-text index is allowed per table or indexed view, and each full-text index applies to a single table or indexed view. A full-text index can contain up to 1024 columns.