Wrong Sharepoint Search Results for Search Queries with 2 (or more) Words

Question

Wrong Sharepoint Search Results for Search Queries with 2 (or more) Words

S. Kunze 5

Dear experts,

I encountered the following issue with the Sharepoint Search functionality used by means of PnP Modern Search: When entering one word as search term, the results are fine. However with two (or more) words, the results are wrong and behave in an erroneous way.

In particular I observed the following behavior: A search item is returned when searched for either <word 1> or <word 2>. However, when searching for <word 1> + <word 2> there is no result. Sometimes, it is even more strange and the order of the search words determines if there is found a result or not. For example search term <word 1> <word 2> returns a result but <word2> <word 1> does not.

I reproduced this wrong behavior by means of a Sharepoint page with only one managed property that is used for search and the following text, that contains sample words of type "WuselX" that are nowhere found. If you want to reproduce the error, you may use this text and search for "Wusel1" and "Wusel2" which will produce a search result, while "Wusel1 Wusel2" will not.

This is the text:

This description is used to test the search functionality running only on the description. Search for one or more of the following words: Wusel1 and Wusel2 Wusel3 Wusel4 Wusel5 now there are filler words to extend the distance Wusel6 Wusel7 and a word in paranthesis (Wusel8). (This sentence Wusel9 is in parenthesis.) Wusel10

And here the results:

Screenshot 2025-05-30 at 11.22.59

Screenshot 2025-05-30 at 11.23.18

Screenshot 2025-05-30 at 11.23.45

Does anybody has an explanation for this behavior and an idea how to fix it. Obviously, if I search for several words, the Search should return all objects that contain all of the search words.

Thank you in advance!

Kasper Larsen 0 Reputation points MVP

2025-06-18T08:04:16.4266667+00:00

It is very hard to guess what is wrong based on the current info. Could you share the Query Template in the Results web part, or even better, the Payload from the dev tools:
S. Kunze 5 Reputation points

2025-06-18T09:57:27.4633333+00:00

Hi,

actually, the query template is quite simple:

( ( RefinableString121: {searchTerms} ) ) Path:{Site}/SitePages

with RefinableString121 the managed property that is mapped to the "CAO Short Description" property of the pages in the library.

Unfortunately, I do not have access to the developer tools since I am only a user, not an administrator. However, I will try to get the information from our internal 2nd level support and post it here in due time.

1 answer

Your answer

Kasper Larsen 0 Reputation points MVP

2025-06-18T08:04:16.4266667+00:00

It is very hard to guess what is wrong based on the current info. Could you share the Query Template in the Results web part, or even better, the Payload from the dev tools:
S. Kunze 5 Reputation points

2025-06-18T09:57:27.4633333+00:00

Hi,

actually, the query template is quite simple:

( ( RefinableString121: {searchTerms} ) ) Path:{Site}/SitePages

with RefinableString121 the managed property that is mapped to the "CAO Short Description" property of the pages in the library.

Unfortunately, I do not have access to the developer tools since I am only a user, not an administrator. However, I will try to get the information from our internal 2nd level support and post it here in due time.

Answer 1

Kasper Larsen 0 MVP

Oh, but you do have access to the developer tools, as it is in your browser. Hit F12 and you will see it.

I replace your RefinableString121 with RefinableString00 ( mapped to title ) and it works just fine here, this is the in the response when I search for "in details" :

"Key": "QueryModification",

                "Value": "( ( RefinableString00: in details ) ) Path:\"https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/PnPModernSearchHQ\"/SitePages -ContentClass=urn:content-class:SPSPeople",

                "ValueType": "Edm.String"

So it sounds the error is in the data. In order to inspect the data returned by search, I can recommend the browser extension SP Editor

S. Kunze 5 Reputation points

2025-06-18T14:44:39.41+00:00

Hi,

Thanks for the guidance. I have installed EDGE and used the developer tools to inspect the request for the search results.

I reproduced the issue as described in my first post. Actually I posted three search queries with the search terms “Wusel6”, “Wusel7” and “Wusel6 Wusle7” respectively. The latter shall be interpreted as “Wusel6” AND “Wusel7”, i.e. searching for documents that contain the word Wusel6 AND the word Wusel7.

I have copied the post query as well as the response from the server for all three cases in one file (see attachment: Requests-Responses.txt). It is evident, that the search queries are very similar and only differ in one line with regards to the search term.

In contrast, the results (responses) differ as described in my first post: The first two cases lead to the same result since the field RefinableString121 contains the Words Wusel6 as well as Wusel7. In contrast the third query does not lead to a real result. This is obviously not correct: Since the example document contains both words Wusel6 and Wusel7 in the description, it should be returned as result also for the search term “Wusel6 Wusel7”.

I think it is a severe defect in the Sharepoint’s search functionality. MICROSOFT has to take it up and fix it.

Share via

Wrong Sharepoint Search Results for Search Queries with 2 (or more) Words

1 answer

Your answer