Forum Discussion
Improve SharePoint search result
Hi Community,
Our intranet is built on SharePoint Online.
I have been looking for ways to improve the SharePoint search result, which is quite poor at the moment.
Is it possible to utilise Azure Cognitive Services to build an AI powered search engine?
Furthermore, if we could build a Chat bot with Azure OpenAI and deploy to the Intranet, it will not only return better results, but also providing better experience with NLP.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks all!
- Yes, it is possible. For example, you can use the Azure Cognitive Search service to add full-text search and faceted search capabilities or the Azure Text Analytics API to extract insights such as key phrases, entities, and sentiment from your SharePoint content. You can use Azure Bot Service to build, deploy, and manage a conversational bot and then embed it in SharePoint pages to provide users with a more interactive and conversational search experience. The chatbot can use Azure OpenAI to understand natural language queries and provide relevant search results. It is all really cool stuff!!
- Yes, it is possible. For example, you can use the Azure Cognitive Search service to add full-text search and faceted search capabilities or the Azure Text Analytics API to extract insights such as key phrases, entities, and sentiment from your SharePoint content. You can use Azure Bot Service to build, deploy, and manage a conversational bot and then embed it in SharePoint pages to provide users with a more interactive and conversational search experience. The chatbot can use Azure OpenAI to understand natural language queries and provide relevant search results. It is all really cool stuff!!
- That is really exciting! Also that's of stuff!
I don't know where to start.
Do you mind DM or exchange email to share some further ideas?
Thanks. - Please explain how data privacy is managed for sharepoint content - pages/documents/lists/etc?
Hi nhtkid,
Thank you for reaching out and expressing your interest in improving the search result experience in SharePoint Online. I'm glad to inform you that there are indeed ways to enhance SharePoint search using Azure Cognitive Services and Azure OpenAI.
To begin with, Azure Cognitive Search is a powerful service that can be integrated with SharePoint Online. It allows you to create a custom search solution tailored to your organization's needs. By leveraging Azure Cognitive Search, you can enhance the relevance of search results, enable advanced filtering and faceting options, and improve overall search performance.
Additionally, Azure Cognitive Services offers various AI-powered capabilities that can further augment your search experience. For instance, you can utilize the Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities of Azure Cognitive Services to improve the understanding of user queries and provide more accurate results. With NLP, you can implement features like sentiment analysis, entity recognition, and language understanding, which can significantly enhance the search relevance.
Regarding your suggestion of building a chatbot with Azure OpenAI and deploying it to the intranet, it's a great idea! Azure Bot Service coupled with Azure OpenAI can enable you to create intelligent chatbots that can assist users with their search queries. These chatbots can leverage NLP capabilities to understand user intent and provide contextual and personalized search results. Integrating the chatbot with SharePoint Online would not only enhance the search experience but also offer a more interactive and user-friendly way for employees to find the information they need.
In summary, by leveraging Azure Cognitive Services and Azure OpenAI, you can improve SharePoint search results and provide a better search experience. I recommend exploring the documentation and resources available for Azure Cognitive Search, Azure Cognitive Services, and Azure Bot Service to get started with implementing these enhancements.
I hope this information proves helpful to you. If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please feel free to ask. Good luck with your SharePoint search improvement journey!
Best regards,
ow6nmusk- Hi ow6nmusk,
Thanks for your detailed message.
Is the following article a good starting point?
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/search-howto-index-sharepoint-online
Since everyone uses the integrated Microsoft Search in the Office 365 ecosystem, once we uplift the SPO search experience with ACS Index, can we directly link to the Microsoft Search bar within O365?
ThanksHi nhtkid @
You're welcome! Yes, the article you shared, "Index SharePoint Online content with Azure Cognitive Search," is a great starting point. It provides step-by-step instructions on how to index SharePoint Online content using Azure Cognitive Search, enabling you to enhance the search experience.
Regarding your question about linking the ACS Index to the Microsoft Search bar within Office 365, it's important to note that Azure Cognitive Search and Microsoft Search are separate services. While Azure Cognitive Search can improve the search experience within SharePoint Online, it does not directly integrate with the Microsoft Search bar.
Microsoft Search is a centralized search experience that spans across multiple Microsoft services, including SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Teams, and more. It uses its own indexing and relevance algorithms to deliver search results. Azure Cognitive Search, on the other hand, provides a customizable search solution that you can integrate with SharePoint Online to enhance the search capabilities within the SharePoint environment.
If you want to leverage the Microsoft Search bar in Office 365, you can explore the Microsoft Search API and Microsoft Graph API to programmatically interact with it and retrieve search results. This would require separate integration efforts, and the specific implementation details may vary based on your requirements.
In summary, while Azure Cognitive Search can significantly improve the search experience within SharePoint Online, directly linking it to the Microsoft Search bar in Office 365 would involve additional integration efforts. I recommend exploring the Microsoft Search documentation and APIs to understand the possibilities and available options for integrating with the Microsoft Search bar.
I hope this clarifies the distinction between Azure Cognitive Search and Microsoft Search. If you have any more questions or need further assistance, please feel free to ask!
Best regards,
