diff --git a/src/plugins/saved_objects_finder/public/finder/saved_object_finder.tsx b/src/plugins/saved_objects_finder/public/finder/saved_object_finder.tsx
index b280e626467d..86940d52a81b 100644
--- a/src/plugins/saved_objects_finder/public/finder/saved_object_finder.tsx
+++ b/src/plugins/saved_objects_finder/public/finder/saved_object_finder.tsx
@@ -349,6 +349,9 @@ export class SavedObjectFinderUi extends React.Component<
       box: {
         incremental: true,
         'data-test-subj': 'savedObjectFinderSearchInput',
+        schema: {
+          recognizedFields: ['type', 'tag'],
+        },
       },
       filters: this.props.showFilter
         ? [
diff --git a/src/plugins/saved_objects_management/public/management_section/objects_table/components/__snapshots__/table.test.tsx.snap b/src/plugins/saved_objects_management/public/management_section/objects_table/components/__snapshots__/table.test.tsx.snap
index 7e88de9674cc..bc0eda7e6d5a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/saved_objects_management/public/management_section/objects_table/components/__snapshots__/table.test.tsx.snap
+++ b/src/plugins/saved_objects_management/public/management_section/objects_table/components/__snapshots__/table.test.tsx.snap
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ exports[`Table prevents hidden saved objects from being deleted 1`] = `
     box={
       Object {
         "data-test-subj": "savedObjectSearchBar",
+        "schema": Object {
+          "recognizedFields": Array [
+            "type",
+            "tag",
+          ],
+        },
       }
     }
     filters={
@@ -234,6 +240,12 @@ exports[`Table should render normally 1`] = `
     box={
       Object {
         "data-test-subj": "savedObjectSearchBar",
+        "schema": Object {
+          "recognizedFields": Array [
+            "type",
+            "tag",
+          ],
+        },
       }
     }
     filters={
diff --git a/src/plugins/saved_objects_management/public/management_section/objects_table/components/table.tsx b/src/plugins/saved_objects_management/public/management_section/objects_table/components/table.tsx
index dbd9b2a55060..a32a1e9e958e 100644
--- a/src/plugins/saved_objects_management/public/management_section/objects_table/components/table.tsx
+++ b/src/plugins/saved_objects_management/public/management_section/objects_table/components/table.tsx
@@ -392,7 +392,12 @@ export class Table extends PureComponent<TableProps, TableState> {
       <Fragment>
         {activeActionContents}
         <EuiSearchBar
-          box={{ 'data-test-subj': 'savedObjectSearchBar' }}
+          box={{
+            'data-test-subj': 'savedObjectSearchBar',
+            schema: {
+              recognizedFields: ['type', 'tag'],
+            },
+          }}
           filters={filters as any}
           onChange={this.onChange}
           defaultQuery={this.props.initialQuery}
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/parse_search_params.test.ts b/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/parse_search_params.test.ts
index f8c030e0641e..c6df745be847 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/parse_search_params.test.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/parse_search_params.test.ts
@@ -17,9 +17,7 @@ describe('parseSearchParams', () => {
     const searchParams = parseSearchParams('tag:((()^invalid');
     expect(searchParams).toEqual({
       term: 'tag:((()^invalid',
-      filters: {
-        unknowns: {},
-      },
+      filters: {},
     });
   });
 
@@ -33,7 +31,6 @@ describe('parseSearchParams', () => {
     expect(searchParams.filters).toEqual({
       tags: undefined,
       types: undefined,
-      unknowns: {},
     });
   });
 
@@ -44,20 +41,16 @@ describe('parseSearchParams', () => {
       filters: {
         tags: ['foo', 'dolly'],
         types: ['bar'],
-        unknowns: {},
       },
     });
   });
 
-  it('handles unknowns field clauses', () => {
+  it('considers unknown field clauses to be part of the raw search term', () => {
     const searchParams = parseSearchParams('tag:foo unknown:bar hello');
     expect(searchParams).toEqual({
-      term: 'hello',
+      term: 'unknown:bar hello',
       filters: {
         tags: ['foo'],
-        unknowns: {
-          unknown: ['bar'],
-        },
       },
     });
   });
@@ -69,7 +62,6 @@ describe('parseSearchParams', () => {
       filters: {
         tags: ['foo', 'bar'],
         types: ['dash', 'board'],
-        unknowns: {},
       },
     });
   });
@@ -81,7 +73,6 @@ describe('parseSearchParams', () => {
       filters: {
         tags: ['42', 'true'],
         types: ['69', 'false'],
-        unknowns: {},
       },
     });
   });
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/parse_search_params.ts b/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/parse_search_params.ts
index 989accdf2ea1..1df6c1123a32 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/parse_search_params.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/parse_search_params.ts
@@ -17,32 +17,24 @@ const aliasMap = {
 };
 
 export const parseSearchParams = (term: string): ParsedSearchParams => {
+  const recognizedFields = knownFilters.concat(...Object.values(aliasMap));
   let query: Query;
 
   try {
-    query = Query.parse(term);
+    query = Query.parse(term, {
+      schema: { recognizedFields },
+    });
   } catch (e) {
     // if the query fails to parse, we just perform the search against the raw search term.
     return {
       term,
-      filters: {
-        unknowns: {},
-      },
+      filters: {},
     };
   }
 
   const searchTerm = getSearchTerm(query);
   const filterValues = applyAliases(getFieldValueMap(query), aliasMap);
 
-  const unknownFilters = [...filterValues.entries()]
-    .filter(([key]) => !knownFilters.includes(key))
-    .reduce((unknowns, [key, value]) => {
-      return {
-        ...unknowns,
-        [key]: value,
-      };
-    }, {} as Record<string, FilterValues>);
-
   const tags = filterValues.get('tag');
   const types = filterValues.get('type');
 
@@ -51,7 +43,6 @@ export const parseSearchParams = (term: string): ParsedSearchParams => {
     filters: {
       tags: tags ? valuesToString(tags) : undefined,
       types: types ? valuesToString(types) : undefined,
-      unknowns: unknownFilters,
     },
   };
 };
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/types.ts b/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/types.ts
index dc931a469fd7..7b1ce5b762c8 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/types.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/global_search_bar/public/search_syntax/types.ts
@@ -27,9 +27,5 @@ export interface ParsedSearchParams {
      * Aggregation of `type` and `types` field clauses
      */
     types?: FilterValues<string>;
-    /**
-     * All unknown field clauses
-     */
-    unknowns: Record<string, FilterValues>;
   };
 }