diff --git a/src/calibre/db/fts/connect.py b/src/calibre/db/fts/connect.py
index af979a9e9b..5512b9b306 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/fts/connect.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/fts/connect.py
@@ -137,31 +137,36 @@ class FTS:
 
     def search(self,
         fts_engine_query, use_stemming, highlight_start, highlight_end, snippet_size, restrict_to_book_ids,
+        return_text=True,
     ):
         fts_engine_query = unicode_normalize(fts_engine_query)
         fts_table = 'books_fts' + ('_stemmed' if use_stemming else '')
-        text = 'books_text.searchable_text'
-        if highlight_start is not None and highlight_end is not None:
-            if snippet_size is not None:
-                text = f'snippet("{fts_table}", 0, "{highlight_start}", "{highlight_end}", "…", {max(1, min(snippet_size, 64))})'
-            else:
-                text = f'highlight("{fts_table}", 0, "{highlight_start}", "{highlight_end}")'
-        query = 'SELECT {0}.id, {0}.book, {0}.format, {1} FROM {0} '
-        query = query.format('books_text', text)
+        if return_text:
+            text = 'books_text.searchable_text'
+            if highlight_start is not None and highlight_end is not None:
+                if snippet_size is not None:
+                    text = f'snippet("{fts_table}", 0, "{highlight_start}", "{highlight_end}", "…", {max(1, min(snippet_size, 64))})'
+                else:
+                    text = f'highlight("{fts_table}", 0, "{highlight_start}", "{highlight_end}")'
+            text = ', ' + text
+        else:
+            text = ''
+        query = 'SELECT {0}.id, {0}.book, {0}.format {1} FROM {0} '.format('books_text', text)
         query += f' JOIN {fts_table} ON fts_db.books_text.id = {fts_table}.rowid'
         query += f' WHERE "{fts_table}" MATCH ?'
         data = [fts_engine_query]
         query += f' ORDER BY {fts_table}.rank '
         conn = self.get_connection()
         try:
-            for (rowid, book_id, fmt, text) in conn.execute(query, tuple(data)):
+            for record in conn.execute(query, tuple(data)):
+                book_id = record[1]
                 if restrict_to_book_ids is not None and book_id not in restrict_to_book_ids:
                     continue
                 yield {
-                    'id': rowid,
+                    'id': record[0],
                     'book_id': book_id,
-                    'format': fmt,
-                    'text': text,
+                    'format': record[2],
+                    'text': record[3] if return_text else '',
                 }
         except apsw.SQLError as e:
             raise FTSQueryError(fts_engine_query, query, e) from e