diff --git a/assets/html/search.js b/assets/html/search.js
index 5d32c3aac9e..03100467c1c 100644
--- a/assets/html/search.js
+++ b/assets/html/search.js
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ require(["jquery", "lunr", "lodash"], function($, lunr, _) {
         'yet',
         'you',
         'your'
-        ])
+    ])
 
     // add . as a separator, because otherwise "title": "Documenter.Anchors.add!"
     // would not find anything if searching for "add!", only for the entire qualification
@@ -177,74 +177,77 @@ require(["jquery", "lunr", "lodash"], function($, lunr, _) {
     lunr.Pipeline.registerFunction(lunr.stopWordFilter, 'juliaStopWordFilter')
     lunr.Pipeline.registerFunction(lunr.trimmer, 'juliaTrimmer')
 
-    var index = lunr(function () {
-        this.ref('location')
-        this.field('title')
-        this.field('text')
-        documenterSearchIndex['docs'].forEach(function(e) {
-            this.add(e)
-        }, this)
-    })
-    var store = {}
+    $.getJSON("search_index.json", function (documenterSearchIndex) {
 
-    documenterSearchIndex['docs'].forEach(function(e) {
-        store[e.location] = {title: e.title, category: e.category}
-    })
+        var index = lunr(function () {
+            this.ref('location')
+            this.field('title')
+            this.field('text')
+            documenterSearchIndex.forEach(function (e) {
+                this.add(e)
+            }, this)
+        })
+        var store = {}
 
-    $(function(){
-        function update_search(querystring) {
-            tokens = lunr.tokenizer(querystring)
-            results = index.query(function (q) {
-                tokens.forEach(function (t) {
-                    q.term(t.toString(), {
-                        fields: ["title"],
-                        boost: 100,
-                        usePipeline: false,
-                        editDistance: 0,
-                        wildcard: lunr.Query.wildcard.NONE
-                    })
-                    q.term(t.toString(), {
-                        fields: ["title"],
-                        boost: 10,
-                        usePipeline: false,
-                        editDistance: 2,
-                        wildcard: lunr.Query.wildcard.NONE
-                    })
-                    q.term(t.toString(), {
-                        fields: ["text"],
-                        boost: 1,
-                        usePipeline: true,
-                        editDistance: 0,
-                        wildcard: lunr.Query.wildcard.NONE
+        documenterSearchIndex.forEach(function (e) {
+            store[e.location] = { title: e.title, category: e.category }
+        })
+
+        $(function () {
+            function update_search(querystring) {
+                tokens = lunr.tokenizer(querystring)
+                results = index.query(function (q) {
+                    tokens.forEach(function (t) {
+                        q.term(t.toString(), {
+                            fields: ["title"],
+                            boost: 100,
+                            usePipeline: false,
+                            editDistance: 0,
+                            wildcard: lunr.Query.wildcard.NONE
+                        })
+                        q.term(t.toString(), {
+                            fields: ["title"],
+                            boost: 10,
+                            usePipeline: false,
+                            editDistance: 2,
+                            wildcard: lunr.Query.wildcard.NONE
+                        })
+                        q.term(t.toString(), {
+                            fields: ["text"],
+                            boost: 1,
+                            usePipeline: true,
+                            editDistance: 0,
+                            wildcard: lunr.Query.wildcard.NONE
+                        })
                     })
                 })
-            })
-            $('#search-info').text("Number of results: " + results.length)
-            $('#search-results').empty()
-            results.forEach(function(result) {
-                data = store[result.ref]
-                link = $('<a>')
-                link.text(data.title)
-                link.attr('href', documenterBaseURL+'/'+result.ref)
-                cat = $('<span class="category">('+data.category+')</span>')
-                li = $('<li>').append(link).append(" ").append(cat)
-                $('#search-results').append(li)
-            })
-        }
-
-        function update_search_box() {
-            querystring = $('#search-query').val()
-            update_search(querystring)
-        }
-
-        $('#search-query').keyup(_.debounce(update_search_box, 250))
-        $('#search-query').change(update_search_box)
-
-        search_query_uri = parseUri(window.location).queryKey["q"]
-        if(search_query_uri !== undefined) {
-            search_query = decodeURIComponent(search_query_uri.replace(/\+/g, '%20'))
-            $("#search-query").val(search_query)
-        }
-        update_search_box();
-    })
+                $('#search-info').text("Number of results: " + results.length)
+                $('#search-results').empty()
+                results.forEach(function (result) {
+                    data = store[result.ref]
+                    link = $('<a>')
+                    link.text(data.title)
+                    link.attr('href', documenterBaseURL + '/' + result.ref)
+                    cat = $('<span class="category">(' + data.category + ')</span>')
+                    li = $('<li>').append(link).append(" ").append(cat)
+                    $('#search-results').append(li)
+                })
+            }
+
+            function update_search_box() {
+                querystring = $('#search-query').val()
+                update_search(querystring)
+            }
+
+            $('#search-query').keyup(_.debounce(update_search_box, 250))
+            $('#search-query').change(update_search_box)
+
+            search_query_uri = parseUri(window.location).queryKey["q"]
+            if (search_query_uri !== undefined) {
+                search_query = decodeURIComponent(search_query_uri.replace(/\+/g, '%20'))
+                $("#search-query").val(search_query)
+            }
+            update_search_box();
+        })
+    });
 })
diff --git a/src/Writers/HTMLWriter.jl b/src/Writers/HTMLWriter.jl
index 30401703672..d7df040bc82 100644
--- a/src/Writers/HTMLWriter.jl
+++ b/src/Writers/HTMLWriter.jl
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ mutable struct HTMLContext
     documenter_js :: String
     search_js :: String
     search_index :: Vector{SearchRecord}
-    search_index_js :: String
+    search_index_json :: String
     search_navnode :: Documents.NavNode
     local_assets :: Vector{String}
 end
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ function render(doc::Documents.Document, settings::HTML=HTML())
     !isempty(doc.user.sitename) || error("HTML output requires `sitename`.")
 
     ctx = HTMLContext(doc, settings)
-    ctx.search_index_js = "search_index.js"
+    ctx.search_index_json = "search/search_index.json"
 
     copy_asset("arrow.svg", doc)
 
@@ -255,10 +255,8 @@ function render(doc::Documents.Document, settings::HTML=HTML())
 
     render_search(ctx)
 
-    open(joinpath(doc.user.build, ctx.search_index_js), "w") do io
-        println(io, "var documenterSearchIndex = {\"docs\":")
+    open(joinpath(doc.user.build, ctx.search_index_json), "w") do io
         JSON.print(io, ctx.search_index)
-        println(io, "\n}")
     end
 end
 
@@ -419,7 +417,7 @@ function render_search(ctx)
         html[:lang=>"en"](
             head,
             body(navmenu, article),
-            script[:src => relhref(src, ctx.search_index_js)],
+            script[:src => relhref(src, ctx.search_index_json)],
             script[:src => relhref(src, ctx.search_js)],
         )
     )