---
title: "Enable incremental updates for a crawler"
slug: "enable-incremental-updates-for-a-crawler"
abstract: "How to enable incremental updates for a crawler source."
---
# Enable incremental updates for a crawler

If you want to update index documents and you don't want to wait for the next scheduled scan or manually trigger a reindex, a developer can use the [Ingestion API](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/developers/search-developer-guide/using-the-ingestion-api-to-add-content-to-an-index.html) to add or modify index documents.

Incremental updates [using the API are available](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/index-items/configure-indexing/crawler-specifications.html "Crawler specifications") only for the advanced web and API crawlers. Before a developer can use the API, you'll need to enable incremental updates for the crawler.

> [!important]
> When an administrator recrawls a pull source, either [manually](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/index-items/keep-indexes-up-to-date/manually-trigger-a-recrawl-or-reindex.html "Manually trigger a recrawl or reindex") or through [scheduled crawls](https://doc.sitecore.com/search/en/users/search-user-guide/index-items/keep-indexes-up-to-date/configure-a-crawler-schedule.html "Configure a crawler schedule"), Search updates all index documents with the latest data from your original content. This action overwrites any updates you made through the Ingestion API if they aren't also applied to the original content. To prevent this, we recommend that you always update the original content with changes made through the Ingestion API. This synchronization ensures that your modifications are maintained in future crawls.

To enable incremental updates for a crawler source:

1. On the menu bar, click **Sources**, and select the crawler source you created.
2. On the **Source Settings** page, next to **Incremental Updates**, click ![pencil_grey.png](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/search/en/users/search-user-guide/images/pencil_grey.png) **Edit**.
3. Turn on the **ENABLE INCREMENTAL UPDATES** switch.
4. Click **Save**.
5. Click **Publish**.