Sharepoint search for files not working

Question

Hello 

 

Please i need your help on this issue.

WE are experiencing an issue with SharePoint search for files.

We have uploaded multiple files into the SharePoint "PDQ Freight" a few days ago, but none of the files are appearing in the search results across different platforms such as One Drive, SharePoint in a browser, and the SharePoint Android app.

Answer 1

Hi @Iniobong Nkanga ,

Thanks for your reply.

According to the information you provided earlier, the file cannot be searched in many places, so I focused on the search settings for troubleshooting.

According to the screenshots you provided, you searched under the file path of Document>Personal -, but no results were found, right?

I tested it and found that both the exact search and the wildcard search could find the file in the same path.

Exact search:

Wildcard search:

We recommend that you try the following:

1. Create a new library in the same site and try again.
2. Try it in another site.
3. Switch browsers and try again.
4. Switch accounts and try again.

Looking forward to your reply.

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Answer 2

Hi @Iniobong Nkanga ,

There are many reasons for this situation.

Here are some steps you can take to address the missing search results:

1. Check Site-Level Settings:

• As an admin, locate the site (“PDQ Freight”) where the files are missing from search results.
• Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner and select “Site Settings.”
• Under the “Search” section, choose “Search and offline availability.”
• Ensure that “Allow this site to appear in Search results” is set to Yes.
• After making this change, the site should be indexed during the next scheduled crawl.

2. Verify Library-Level Settings:

• Similarly, check the document library where the files were uploaded.
• Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner and select “Library Settings.”
• Navigate to “Advanced Settings.”
• Confirm that “Allow items from this document library to appear in search results?” is set to Yes.
• Once adjusted, the library should be indexed during the next scheduled crawl.

3. Check Draft Items:

• Ensure that draft items are being crawled. Sometimes drafts are excluded from search results.
• If needed, verify the draft item settings in SharePoint.

4. Parent Site and Subsite Permissions:

• If the subsite doesn’t inherit permissions, .aspx pages won’t appear in search results.
• Set the search visibility option in Srchvis.aspx to “Always index all Web Parts on this site” and consider inheriting permissions from the parent site.

5. Wildcard Search Queries:

When searching, use the * character as a wildcard at the end of any word in your query. For example, “micro*” finds documents containing “Microsoft” or "microchip".

Remember to allow time for indexing after making changes.

Hope this helps.

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