KB User's Guide - Settings Tab - Searching / Sorting Options
Note
You must have full administrative permissions in your space to perform these steps. This means access to the Documents, Settings, and Users tabs.
KB Admins can tailor eleven Searching and Sorting specifics to meet their user's needs. This document will walk you through each of the features and show what they look like on the Live Site.
Navigation: KB Admin Tools > Settings tab > Searching / Sorting link > Searching Sorting Options screen. The image below shows expanding/collapsible panels containing the Searching / Sorting options for both your Internal and External KB sites.
Click the desired panel to expand the panel to display the eleven options available, as seen in the image below. Please read on to learn more about each setting.
Default Search Mode
This setting determines the manner in which search terms in the Search field are utilized. It is available on both Internal and External sites.
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Keywords + Title - Upon entering a word in the search, documents listed will either have that word in the title of the document or it will be in the keywords of that document. This is the Default setting.
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Fulltext (FTS) - Examines all of the words in every active document as it tries to match search criteria in the search field.
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Attachments - Examines the text of properly formatted PDF, Word (.doc and .docx), and Text (.txt) files attached to documents in a site.
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Keywords + attachments - Examines all text in the keywords field, plus all text in properly formatted files attached to documents in a site.
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Fulltext + attachments - Examines all of the words in every active document in addition to the text in properly formatted files attached to documents in a site.
Topics Dropdown Menu
Allow users to select a specific Topic from a dropdown menu next to the Search field. It is enabled for both Internal and External sites by default.
Users can select a specific Topic from in the dropdown menu. Documents pertaining to that Topic will appear in a table below the search. The image below shows the contents of the Topic dropdowm menu in the KB User's Guide live site. For more information about how to display/hide certain topics from this dropdown menu, please refer to the Dropdown attribute in this section.
Topics Filters Conditioning
This setting is available on both Internal and External sites. There are two options:
- Using the OR operator means: adding more keywords to a KB search will yield a larger set of documents. This is the default setting.
- Using the "AND" operator, adding more keywords to a KB search will further narrow the documents it will yield.
In the image below, we used the HRS KB as an example as they are using the "AND" operator. We have entered the word "sabbatical" in the Search field and selected four of their topics to yield a very narrow and specific set of documents.
Audience Dropdown Menu
Users can self-identify themselves as a specific Audience in the dropdown menu to yield documents selected just for them. Both Internal and External options are disabled by default.
In the image below, the enabled Audience dropdown list shows 5 delivered Audience types and 2 Custom Audience Types. For more information on Audiences feature, refer to this document: KB User's Guide - Documents Tab - Audiences.
Sort by Client OS/browser
While searching the KB, your Operating System (OS), browser and screen resolution are detected. Based on your user needs, this may need to be disabled. Both Internal and External options are disabled by default.
Searching KB sites that have created content specific to OS and browser will yield search results that applies to your own OS and browser, displaying what is most relevant to you at the very top of the search list. This means that the Search Priority may be overridden based on your search.
For example, a search on the external Help Desk KB Site of "clearing cache and cookies" will yield OS/ browser specific results. The image below shows a search from a Mac laptop using a Firefox browser. The search yields Mac/Firefox documents first and then displays a list of documents written for the Mac user on other browsers. Note how the document called ***Clearing Browser Cache and Cookies that was assigned the High Priority (as indicated by the red asterisks next to the name) is listed after the OS and browser-specific content.
However, the same search from a Windows laptop using Chrome will yield a different set of documents based on OS and browser detection. The image below shows a search that yields a Windows/ Chrome document first and then displays a list of documents written for the Windows user on other browsers. Again, note how the document called ***Clearing Browser Cache and Cookies that was assigned the High Priority (as indicated by the gold asterisks next to the name) is listed after the OS and browser-specific content.
Cross Site Search Option
Displays results from other internal and external sites to which you have access. Both Internal and External options are disabled by default.
When searching your live KB site , your search can display results in other internal and external live sites to which you have access. The image below displays search results for the keyword, "trash" in the KB User's Guide internal site. At the very bottom of the page, a link appears, Search other internal sites >>.
Clicking on this link will display results in other internal KB sites to which you have access, including the Unified KB circled in red in the image below.
Use Synonyms in User Search
Site search indexes the Common Synonyms table in the KB. Both Internal and External options are enabled by default.
When an end user performs a search in the KB, their search terms are sometimes matched up with Common Synonyms in the KB, which are also searched in the background. For example, if you enter the keyword back up, it will be matched up with the synonyms in the KB, "backup, backups, back-up, back-ups, backuping, back-uping, backing-up, back up, back ups". The image below is a line in the synonym table.
If you opt out of indexing Synonyms for your internal site, this will also disable synonym searches in the Admin Tools.
- Note: Opting out of synonyms in the internal/or external site will not take effect for searches performed on the Unified KB; synonyms will always be indexed there.
Advanced Search Link
Site search includes indexing the Common Synonyms table. Both Internal and External options are enabled by default.
The Advanced button is found next to the Search button, to allow for a finer-grained search.
Clicking on the Advanced button will yield a form (pictured below) allowing you to query a specific search mode, matching, topics, audience, sort by and results per page. For details on fields in this feature, please review this document.
Search Tip Page Link
A button that appears alongside the Search leading to a specific document with Search Tips. Both Internal and External DocID field is blank by default.
You may display a Search Tip button leading to a document that your team has developed with search tips very specific to the content of your KB site. The button appears on the same row as your Search field and button. In the image below, the Search Tip button is on the right, circled in blue.
Clicking on the button will yield a pop up box displaying your document. The example below is a document with Search Tips doc for the KB User's Guide KB.
Site Map Button
A button that appears alongside the Search leading to the Site Topics Map. Both Internal and External are disabled by default.
The Site Map is a file that is button leads to a KB page displaying your Topics Map. Clicking on each link in the Topics Map will lead you to a list of documents that have been assigned to that specific topic. The Site Map button appears on the same row as the and Search button and text field.
When you click on the Site Map button, the Topics Map will be displayed. Below is an example from our Demo KB site. You will see the Topic parent/ child structure is clearly demarcated.
To enable or disable this feature, click on the box(es) in the internal or external columns, depending on which site(s) you would like the Topics Map to appear.
QuickView/ Module Toggle
Those using screen readers may choose to disable the QuickView and Module collapse/expand toggles. Both Internal and External are enabled by default.
You may toggle between expand and/or collapse while viewing the Content and Side Modules by clicking on the chevron on the upper right corner. Also, from any of the document queues (e.g. Active, In Review, In Progress...), the Document Quickview allows you to see a full read-only view of your document and toggle between open and closed by clicking on the upward pointing arrowhead. To enable or disable this feature, click on the arrowheads in the circled in green.
