Searching and Finding

SharePoint Community Wiki

All searches begin with a quest. Completing that quest successfully implies that the object of the quest, which is usually some form of information, has been found. Searches require an adaptive approach at both a strategic and tactical level, if they are to culminate in a satisfactory outcome.

SharePoint users may use search for a variety of reasons. First, they may search to discover; to find information of which they were not previously aware. Second, they may search to retrieve; to locate information that they know of, but cannot find. Finally, they may search to locate people, products and services.

Under the Covers
SharePoint Search relies on indexes in order to function efficiently. These indexes, which are analogous to those found in reference books, are built and refreshed on a periodic basis. The use of indexes means that search results may be returned quickly, but rely on the relevant index being relatively up-to-date.

SharePoint Search provides the ability to search not only the SharePoint repository but also locally available databases, file systems, RSS feeds and even the internet. The facility to search multiple repositories concurrently is termed Federated Search.

Improving Search through Organization
The findability of a search system – its ability to locate and make use of relevant information – is predicated on information being classified and filed correctly. The usefulness of the search system, which is directly correlated to its findability, increases as the consistency and accuracy of the classification metadata for information increases. There are several complementary approaches which may be applied to both content that is managed by SharePoint and also to content that is known to, but not managed by SharePoint, that can be used to improve the findability of the search system.

Controlling Search
SharePoint provides two main gateways to the search system. These are the search control web part and the search site. The search control web part is widely available, being potentially available on all non-administrative pages, and may be used to perform straightforward queries using both full-text and property-based search terms. The search site, which is provisioned from a standard SharePoint site template, provides a richer environment for constructing complex search queries. In fact, the capabilities of the search control and the search site are roughly equivalent; it is just that the search site is easier to use for complex queries.

SharePoint Search Options
SharePoint provides three main providers for search. These are Search Server 2010 Express, SharePoint 2010 Server and FAST Search for SharePoint. These platforms provide a range of search facilities that allow a particular enterprise to select which platform is most appropriate to its needs. The entry-level platform, Search Server 2010 Express, has a number of restrictions and limitations in terms of scalability, but is completely appropriate for installations where searching is not a high-volume or business critical application. SharePoint 2010 Server represents a step-up from the entry level platform, and supports the full range of search facilities including federated search. FAST Search for SharePoint represents a solution for enterprises where scalability, flexibility and performance are critical.