If you're not seeing certain attributes available to select from the dropdown menus of Attributes for faceting, Searchable attributes, Custom Ranking, or similar configuration sections in the Algolia Dashboard, it’s likely due to how the attribute list is generated.
How attribute drop down inputs are populated
The attributes available for selection are based on a "records sample" taken from your index. Specifically, this sample is built from the first 10 records returned by an empty search (i.e. a search with no query). If an attribute doesn't appear in any of those 10 records, it won’t show up in the dropdown list, even if it exists in other records.
Adding attributes that don't appear
You can still add any attribute manually, even if it’s not listed:
Click into the dropdown.
Type the attribute name exactly as it appears in your records.
Select the option to add it manually (usually the first item in the autocomplete).
Warning messages
When adding an attribute manually, you may see a warning like the one below, stating that the attribute isn't present in all records. This is a safeguard to help prevent typos, but as long as the attribute name is correct, the configuration will still work as expected.
This flexibility allows you to configure indexing behavior even for attributes that aren’t widely distributed across your dataset.