Searching for "hidden" products

[mkeith1]

How can i make the basic search and advanced search find "hidden" products? Currently they can only be found in a search if they are "Public".

[mazhar]

This is not possible without modifying the respective search methods in back end. Perhaps you can try FindProducts method of ProductDataSource class which is used on admin side and lists the hidden products as well.

[mkeith1]

so what's the difference between a hidden product and a private product? Is a product only searchable when it is labeled "Public"?

[mazhar]

Yes. The difference between a hidden and private product is that you can access hidden product directly through its URL but you can't do same thing with private product.