Blog Post

Microsoft Search Blog
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Microsoft Search Updates - July 2020

wbaer's avatar
wbaer
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Jul 13, 2020

Have you ever misplaced something?  Maybe it was your car keys, your favorite jewelry, or something else…  The typical process you go through is probably something like this – you ask yourself the question, “where did I put my keys” and then walk backward from where you last went, which rooms you were last in…

 

That process is synonymous with a traditional search experience, a query and continuous refining of the query until you find what you were looking for – while this process may work for you on one occasion, it’s not consistent enough to be valuable in the future, and what if the keys you’re looking for, aren’t the ones you misplaced, but those of a roommate, partner, or someone else?

 

This is why search needs to evolve, to become more personal, more context aware, and more available so wherever you are, whatever it is, you can find it the first time, with minimal effort, and precision.

 

Microsoft Search is the evolution of search, smarter search to help you stay in touch with what’s important and trending around you in Microsoft 365 and your connected systems.

 

New Search Locations

Contextual Search in Microsoft Teams

Find information faster with contextual search in Microsoft Teams. Users will now have the ability to search for content in a specific channel or chat by pressing CTRL + F. Search results will only contain messages and files found in the selected chat or channel.

Learn more on searching for messages and more in Microsoft Teams at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/search-for-messages-and-more-in-teams-4a351520-33f4-42ab-a5ee-5fc0ab88b263.

 

New Search Answers

Acronym search in SharePoint and Office.com

Did you know that 2-3% of search queries entered by employees are related to acronyms? The new Acronyms feature in Microsoft Search helps users navigate their company’s often-confusing alphabet soup.

 

Then, when users come across an acronym they may not recognize, a simple search in SharePoint, Office.com, or Bing will reveal common definitions from your organization’s unique definitions in addition to AI mined suggestions from files and conversations.

 

Learn more about creating and curating acronym answers at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftsearch/manage-acronyms.

 

Customization & Extensibility

Enrich Profile Cards in Office 365

The hundreds of millions of users of Microsoft 365 cloud services form part of the core of Microsoft Graph. The users' data is carefully managed, protected, and with proper authorization, made available by Microsoft Graph services to drive productivity and creativity in businesses.

 

People are the heart and soul of intelligent insights in the Microsoft Graph, but more importantly of your company - but finding the right people at the right time isn’t always easy.  Sometimes you’re looking for more than just a name and face, maybe it’s a skill, location, or something else.

 

Now via the Microsoft Graph you can add any of the existing or 15 custom attributes to an individual’s profile card. 

 

Learn more about enriching Office 365 profile cards at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-search-blog/add-additional-properties-to-the-profile-card-using-the-profile/ba-p/1496467.

 

PnP Modern Search

We’ve updated PnP Modern Search at https://github.com/microsoft-search/pnp-modern-search.  Check out the latest release for more news about this update.

 

Connectors

Microsoft Search increases productivity and saves time finding information, whether at work, at home, or on the go. In the workplace, Microsoft Search reaches across all enterprise content and across all entry points with a consistent and familiar user experience.; however, search is most powerful when it brings together information and insights across data sources…

 

Last month we expanded availability Microsoft Graph connectors for Microsoft Search to Targeted Release – as we continue to enable organizations to connect their disparate systems to Microsoft Search through Microsoft and partner connectors, we’re looking for feedback on where we can improve and what connectors we should consider moving forward.

 

Salesforce Connector Preview Program

As we continue to develop native connectors for Microsoft Search, we'd like to invite you or your customers to participate in a private preview program for our upcoming Salesforce connector.

 

We're excited to work with you to learn how you would use this connector and listen to your feedback. We'd love to have a range of customers and partners of different sizes and industries with a wide variety of business scenarios. Since we are still in very early stages, please use the form below to nominate your customer or organization for private preview inclusion and we will contact you if your organization is accepted.  

 

Nominate your organization at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-search-blog/nominate-your-organization-for-our-salesforce-connector-preview/ba-p/1513043.

 

Connector Feedback Survey

Are you using or planning to use content connectors to expand the types of content sources that appear in Microsoft Search results. If so, fill in this brief 10-question survey to tell us more about your interest in connectors – including building your own connectors.

 

Other Updates and Announcements

Recently, Microsoft commissioned Forrester Research to help quantify the benefits companies saw when they actively used and promoted using Microsoft Search through Bing. To do so, Forrester spoke with IT Pros at seven different organizations about how they functioned before and after using Bing as an entry point to the Microsoft Search experience. 

 

Learn more about the TEI study and view the results at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-search-blog/how-it-pros-saved-time-money-and-reduced-helpdesk-headaches-with/ba-p/1443490.

 

Keep up to date with the latest on Microsoft Search by following us on Twitter @MicrosoftSearch or at the Microsoft Search Resource Center on the TechCommunity.

Updated Jul 15, 2020
Version 2.0
  • melkinsco's avatar
    melkinsco
    Iron Contributor

    PnP parts are tremendous. We've been able to use them to parameterize search and integrate with GIS to provide spatial search capabilities into SharePoint online.  Very powerful!  FYI, the Navigation/Megamenu in Modern doesn't handle them well so if you use one page and pass it parameters using the menu, it often requires a second click.

    Looking forward to when Microsoft Search will have this built in. 

    On a side note, any idea when GCC will catch up on Microsoft Search?  Acronyms, etc.?  Even the look and feel is different.

    Thanks