The search in Datatables plugin does not work like what you have mentioned. what ever you have added in the search box of datatables plugin, If handled in back-end with with all columns then search will return result matching search from all columns. If you limit two two columns then search will be done in only two columns. It depend on your choice. you can either handle filtering or sorting at back-end business logic layer or you can do it at database level. I recommend looking into ASP.NET MVC & Datatables JQuery Plugin Server Side Integration article for better understanding. This example uses datables ajax. I hope it helps.