Search Display Templates Error

Question

Hello - In our SharePoint Online environment, some newly created Site Collections are facing issues with Search. When users try to execute a search query, they see the following error -

"The search display templates are not present in this site collection. To add them, you need to activate the "Search Server Web Parts and Templates" feature on the Site Collection Features Page"

This error is showing up randomly, in about 20% of the site collections we are provisioning. Although the errors are going away once we activate the feature, we are trying to figure out what is causing this? Is this a known bug?

Request your help in identifying the root cause of this issue.

Answer 1

Hi Shashi,

Thanks for your updates.

To better understand and investigate this issue, could you let us know the detailed provision steps you have done for the site collection? Also I’d like to collect some additional information for a check. To protect your privacy, I have sent you a private message to collect the information. You can access the private message via the link below:

https://community.office365.com/user/conversations.

Please also notify us on the forum if you’ve replied to the private message so that we can know your updates at the same time. Once the information is collected, we’ll further look into the issue from our side.

Thanks,

Kerwin

Answer 2

We have not been able to successfully replicate this issue using any of these methods because its only occurring in a small portion of site collections being provisioned. Once provisioned, we are using Metalogix Content Matrix to move content into these site collections from older SP 2010 site collections. We are not sure at this point what is causing the issue since we cannot replicate it. We are also checking with Metalogix at the same time if their tool could have caused this. However, I have seen this issue being reported by several users on different forums so am guessing something must be happening at the time of provisioning.

Does this help?

Answer 3

Hi Shashi,

To troubleshoot this issue, could you help us confirm the following points?

1. Have you tried creating a new site collection via SharePoint admin center to check the outcome?
2. How about run the New-SpoSite command directly via PowerShell?

   https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fp161370

We look forward to your updates.

Thanks,

Kerwin

Answer 4

I am not sure what you mean by customized template? We have been creating Site Collections in a standard way using Remote PowerShell. Please see the code below that we are using for provisioning -

$GivenSiteTemplate = $item.FieldValues.Choose_x0020_Site_x0020_Template

$StorageQuota = $item.FieldValues.Storage_x0020_Quota_x0020__x0028 * 1000

if($GivenSiteTemplate -eq "Project")  $SiteTemplate = "PROJECTSITE#0"

elseif($GivenSiteTemplate -eq "Intranet")  $SiteTemplate = "BLANKINTERNETCONTAINER#0"

else $SiteTemplate = "STS#0"

New-SPOSite -Url $item.FieldValues.Site_x0020_Collection_x0020_URL -Owner $item.FieldValues.Primary_x0020_Administrator -StorageQuota $StorageQuota -Title $item["Title"] -CompatibilityLevel 15 -LocaleID 1033 -Template $SiteTemplate -TimeZoneId 13

We are using exactly the same process for all the Collections being created. But somehow this issue shows up in only some of the Site collections (all team sites). So while I understand that this issue can be fixed by running that feature, I am still trying to figure out what is causing this. Can you please point me in a direction that will help me fix this at the provisioning time?

Answer 5

Hi Shashi,

This issue may be caused by the customized template configured before in which the related search features are missing or broken. Generally, search will work on most sites without this feature being activated, however, when we meet this error message, we can just go to Site Settings page to activate the Search Server Web Parts and Templates feature to resolve it. If this issue persists after features enabled, you can post back and we’ll further investigate it to help you.

Thanks for your understanding.

Kerwin