Hi DylanBrown
To improve the search functionality in your SharePoint library and address the issues you mentioned, you can follow these steps:
Customizing the Search Results Page: SharePoint allows you to customize the search results page, where you can modify how the search results are displayed. You can sort the results by relevancy, add custom filters, and enhance the overall user experience.
Creating Managed Properties: To enable custom filtering and sorting, you need to create managed properties for the specific metadata you want to filter by (e.g., "Created Date," "Created By," etc.). Managed properties help in making the data searchable and sortable in a more meaningful way.
Customizing Search Queries: SharePoint uses search queries to retrieve data. You can customize these queries to ensure that the search only happens within the library you specify. This will prevent the search from scanning the entire SharePoint environment and restrict the results to the targeted library.
Configuring Search Schema: The search schema defines how SharePoint interprets the content and its metadata. By configuring the search schema, you can map crawled properties to managed properties, which is essential for making your custom filters work correctly.
Reindexing the Library: After making changes to the search functionality, it's essential to reindex the specific library to ensure that the changes take effect. Reindexing will refresh the search index and include any new or modified managed properties.
Testing and User Training: Before deploying the changes to production, it's vital to test the search functionality thoroughly to ensure it meets your requirements. Also, consider providing user training or documentation on how to use the new search features effectively.
To achieve all these customizations, you may need assistance from someone familiar with SharePoint's backend, such as a SharePoint developer or administrator. If you have an IT department or SharePoint experts within your organization, it's best to reach out to them for help with this urgent task.
Remember to perform these customizations in a test or development environment before applying them to the production environment to avoid any unintended consequences. Once you are satisfied with the changes, you can deploy them to your live SharePoint environment.