diff --git a/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt b/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
index 8aaf8dcf7..11ed462a1 100644
--- a/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
+++ b/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
  - fixed #11960: Billing address mandatory fields not specified
  - fixed #11975: Cannot paste threads: "Cannot call method isa()"
  - fixed #11976: Use Container URL in search gives user Permission Denied
+ - fixed #11985: Search.pl should warn on bad assets
 
 7.10.6
  - fixed #11974: Toolbar icons unclickable in Webkit using HTML5
diff --git a/sbin/search.pl b/sbin/search.pl
index d086e0fa3..b5249d59a 100755
--- a/sbin/search.pl
+++ b/sbin/search.pl
@@ -19,6 +19,13 @@ BEGIN {
     $webguiRoot = File::Spec->rel2abs(File::Spec->catdir(File::Basename::dirname(__FILE__), File::Spec->updir));
     unshift @INC, File::Spec->catdir($webguiRoot, 'lib');
 }
+foreach my $libDir ( readLines( "preload.custom" ) ) {
+    if ( !-d $libDir ) {
+        warn "WARNING: Not adding lib directory '$libDir' from preload.custom: Directory does not exist.\n";
+        next;
+    }
+    unshift @INC, $libDir;
+}
 
 use Getopt::Long;
 use WebGUI::Asset;
@@ -89,7 +96,11 @@ sub reindexSite {
 	my @searchableAssetIds;	
 	while (my ($id, $class) = $rs->array) {
 		my $asset = WebGUI::Asset->new($session,$id,$class);
-		if (defined $asset && $asset->get("state") eq "published" && ($asset->get("status") eq "approved" || $asset->get("status") eq "archived")) {
+                if ( !$asset ) {
+                    warn sprintf "- Asset %s (%s) could not be instantiated\n", $id, $class;
+                    next;
+                }
+		if ($asset->get("state") eq "published" && ($asset->get("status") eq "approved" || $asset->get("status") eq "archived")) {
 			print $asset->getId."\t".$asset->getTitle."\t";
 			my $t = [Time::HiRes::gettimeofday()];
 			$asset->indexContent;
@@ -143,6 +154,23 @@ sub updateSite {
 	print "\nSite indexing took ".Time::HiRes::tv_interval($siteTime)." seconds.\n";
 }
 
+#-------------------------------------------------
+sub readLines {
+    my $file = shift;
+    my @lines;
+    if (open(my $fh, '<', $file)) {
+        while (my $line = <$fh>) {
+            $line =~ s/#.*//;
+            $line =~ s/^\s+//;
+            $line =~ s/\s+$//;
+            next if !$line;
+            push @lines, $line;
+        }
+        close $fh;
+    }
+    return @lines;
+}
+
 __END__
 
 =head1 NAME