diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/api-report.md b/plugins/catalog-react/api-report.md
index 8c6b3a729f..2d6152fb07 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/api-report.md
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/api-report.md
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ import { Entity } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 import { IconButton } from '@material-ui/core';
 import { IconComponent } from '@backstage/core-plugin-api';
 import { InfoCardVariants } from '@backstage/core-components';
+import { JsonObject } from '@backstage/types';
+import { JsonValue } from '@backstage/types';
 import { LinkProps } from '@backstage/core-components';
 import { Observable } from '@backstage/types';
 import { Overrides } from '@material-ui/core/styles/overrides';
@@ -217,6 +219,7 @@ export type EntityFilter = {
     string,
     string | symbol | (string | symbol)[]
   >;
+  getBackendRequestParameter?: () => Record<string, JsonObject | JsonValue>;
   filterEntity?: (entity: Entity) => boolean;
   toQueryValue?: () => string | string[];
 };
@@ -541,6 +544,13 @@ export class EntityTextFilter implements EntityFilter {
   // (undocumented)
   filterEntity(entity: Entity): boolean;
   // (undocumented)
+  getBackendRequestParameter(): {
+    fullTextFilter: {
+      term: string;
+      fields: string[];
+    };
+  };
+  // (undocumented)
   readonly value: string;
 }
 
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useAllEntitiesCount.ts b/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useAllEntitiesCount.ts
index ba971b088d..dae6df55ee 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useAllEntitiesCount.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useAllEntitiesCount.ts
@@ -30,13 +30,13 @@ export function useAllEntitiesCount() {
   const request = useMemo(() => {
     const { user, ...allFilters } = filters;
     const compacted = compact(Object.values(allFilters));
-    const filter = reduceCatalogFilters(compacted);
+    const catalogFilters = reduceCatalogFilters(compacted);
     const newRequest: QueryEntitiesInitialRequest = {
-      filter,
+      ...catalogFilters,
       limit: 0,
     };
 
-    if (Object.keys(filter).length === 0) {
+    if (Object.keys(catalogFilters).length === 0) {
       prevRequest.current = undefined;
       return prevRequest.current;
     }
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useOwnedEntitiesCount.ts b/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useOwnedEntitiesCount.ts
index 2f03a0b285..1fc147daf2 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useOwnedEntitiesCount.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useOwnedEntitiesCount.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import useAsync from 'react-use/lib/useAsync';
 import { catalogApiRef } from '../../api';
 import { EntityOwnerFilter, EntityUserFilter } from '../../filters';
 import { useEntityList } from '../../hooks';
-import { reduceCatalogFilters } from '../../utils';
+import { CatalogFilters, reduceCatalogFilters } from '../../utils';
 import useAsyncFn from 'react-use/lib/useAsyncFn';
 import useDeepCompareEffect from 'react-use/lib/useDeepCompareEffect';
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ export function useOwnedEntitiesCount() {
   );
 
   const { user, owners, ...allFilters } = filters;
-  const { ['metadata.name']: metadata, ...filter } = reduceCatalogFilters(
+  const catalogFilters = reduceCatalogFilters(
     compact(Object.values(allFilters)),
   );
 
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ export function useOwnedEntitiesCount() {
       async (req: {
         ownershipEntityRefs: string[];
         owners: EntityOwnerFilter | undefined;
-        filter: Record<string, string | symbol | (string | symbol)[]>;
+        filter: CatalogFilters;
       }) => {
         const ownedClaims = getOwnedCountClaims(
           req.owners,
@@ -60,9 +60,12 @@ export function useOwnedEntitiesCount() {
           return 0;
         }
 
+        const { ['metadata.name']: metadata, ...filter } = req.filter.filter;
+
         const { totalItems } = await catalogApi.queryEntities({
+          ...req.filter,
           filter: {
-            ...req.filter,
+            ...filter,
             'relations.ownedBy': ownedClaims,
           },
           limit: 0,
@@ -75,15 +78,19 @@ export function useOwnedEntitiesCount() {
 
   useDeepCompareEffect(() => {
     // context contains no filter, wait
-    if (Object.keys(filter).length === 0) {
+    if (Object.keys(catalogFilters).length === 0) {
       return;
     }
     // ownershipEntityRefs is loading, wait
     if (ownershipEntityRefs === undefined) {
       return;
     }
-    fetchEntities({ ownershipEntityRefs, owners, filter });
-  }, [ownershipEntityRefs, owners, filter]);
+    fetchEntities({
+      ownershipEntityRefs,
+      owners,
+      filter: catalogFilters,
+    });
+  }, [ownershipEntityRefs, owners, catalogFilters]);
 
   const loading = loadingEntityRefs || loadingEntityOwnership;
 
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useStarredEntitiesCount.ts b/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useStarredEntitiesCount.ts
index f7b2b101f3..66c0dd97e5 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useStarredEntitiesCount.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/src/components/UserListPicker/useStarredEntitiesCount.ts
@@ -34,13 +34,14 @@ export function useStarredEntitiesCount() {
   const request = useMemo(() => {
     const { user, ...allFilters } = filters;
     const compacted = compact(Object.values(allFilters));
-    const filter = reduceCatalogFilters(compacted);
+    const catalogFilters = reduceCatalogFilters(compacted);
 
     const facet = 'metadata.name';
 
     const newRequest: QueryEntitiesInitialRequest = {
+      ...catalogFilters,
       filter: {
-        ...filter,
+        ...catalogFilters.filter,
         /**
          * here we are filtering entities by `name`. Given this filter,
          * the response might contain more entities than expected, in case multiple entities
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/src/filters.ts b/plugins/catalog-react/src/filters.ts
index 55983d124b..5f1324f6cf 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/src/filters.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/src/filters.ts
@@ -108,6 +108,16 @@ export class EntityTextFilter implements EntityFilter {
     return true;
   }
 
+  getBackendRequestParameter() {
+    return {
+      fullTextFilter: {
+        term: this.value,
+        // Update this to be more dynamic based on table columns.
+        fields: ['metadata.name', 'metadata.title'],
+      },
+    };
+  }
+
   private toUpperArray(
     value: Array<string | string[] | undefined>,
   ): Array<string> {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/src/hooks/useEntityListProvider.test.tsx b/plugins/catalog-react/src/hooks/useEntityListProvider.test.tsx
index 4ba5f51503..d5208d4f10 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/src/hooks/useEntityListProvider.test.tsx
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/src/hooks/useEntityListProvider.test.tsx
@@ -338,6 +338,7 @@ describe('<EntityListProvider pagination />', () => {
         orderFields,
         fullTextFilter: {
           term: '2',
+          fields: ['metadata.name', 'metadata.title'],
         },
       });
     });
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/src/hooks/useEntityListProvider.tsx b/plugins/catalog-react/src/hooks/useEntityListProvider.tsx
index 81bf8fb9e3..68b3fff735 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/src/hooks/useEntityListProvider.tsx
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/src/hooks/useEntityListProvider.tsx
@@ -233,17 +233,9 @@ export const EntityListProvider = <EntityFilters extends DefaultEntityFilters>(
             compact(Object.values(outputState.appliedFilters)),
           );
 
-          if (
-            !isEqual(previousBackendFilter, backendFilter) ||
-            requestedFilters.text?.value !== outputState.textSearch
-          ) {
+          if (!isEqual(previousBackendFilter, backendFilter)) {
             const response = await catalogApi.queryEntities({
-              filter: backendFilter,
-              fullTextFilter: requestedFilters.text
-                ? {
-                    term: requestedFilters.text.value,
-                  }
-                : undefined,
+              ...backendFilter,
               limit,
               orderFields: [{ field: 'metadata.name', order: 'asc' }],
             });
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/src/types.ts b/plugins/catalog-react/src/types.ts
index 41c7d75f0d..161398609d 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/src/types.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/src/types.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */
 
 import { Entity } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
+import { JsonObject, JsonValue } from '@backstage/types';
 
 /** @public */
 export type EntityFilter = {
@@ -29,6 +30,13 @@ export type EntityFilter = {
     string | symbol | (string | symbol)[]
   >;
 
+  /**
+   * A superset of `getCatalogFilters` that supports filtering based on parameters outside of the
+   *  catalog filter system. Examples include `fullTextFilter` or `orderFields`.
+   * @returns
+   */
+  getBackendRequestParameter?: () => Record<string, JsonObject | JsonValue>;
+
   /**
    * Filter entities on the frontend after a catalog-backend request. This function will be called
    * with each backend-resolved entity. This is used when frontend information is required for
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-react/src/utils/filters.ts b/plugins/catalog-react/src/utils/filters.ts
index 580d7b0b76..ad597c08e7 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-react/src/utils/filters.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-react/src/utils/filters.ts
@@ -26,16 +26,29 @@ import {
   EntityUserFilter,
   UserListFilter,
 } from '../filters';
+import { merge } from 'lodash';
 
-export function reduceCatalogFilters(
-  filters: EntityFilter[],
-): Record<string, string | symbol | (string | symbol)[]> {
+export interface CatalogFilters {
+  [x: string]:
+    | string
+    | Record<string, string | symbol | (string | symbol)[]>
+    | undefined;
+  filter: Record<string, string | symbol | (string | symbol)[]>;
+  fullTextFilter?: {
+    term: string;
+  };
+}
+
+export function reduceCatalogFilters(filters: EntityFilter[]): CatalogFilters {
   return filters.reduce((compoundFilter, filter) => {
-    return {
-      ...compoundFilter,
-      ...(filter.getCatalogFilters ? filter.getCatalogFilters() : {}),
-    };
-  }, {} as Record<string, string | symbol | (string | symbol)[]>);
+    const addedFilters = {};
+    if (filter.getBackendRequestParameter) {
+      Object.assign(addedFilters, filter.getBackendRequestParameter());
+    } else if (filter.getCatalogFilters) {
+      Object.assign(addedFilters, { filter: filter.getCatalogFilters() });
+    }
+    return merge(compoundFilter, addedFilters);
+  }, {} as CatalogFilters);
 }
 
 /**