KB User's Guide - General Info - Live Search Results Screen and Its Features

After performing a Search, a Search Results table appears on your screen. The Search Results table is properly marked for accessibility. This document will discuss what happens when a search is performed, the features that appear on the results page and other things to factor in when performing a search.

Performing a Search on a KB Site

To find a document, enter one or more keywords in the Search field. When a user submits a query:

  • The KB searches for all documents that contain those specific keywords.
  • The Case of keywords is ignored.
  • Document keywords are specified by the document owner when the document is created.
  • Document titles are also considered keywords and searched during the query process.
  • The default sort order for search results is based on its relevance to the Default Search Mode assigned by the KB Admin. Relevance is determined by the similarity between the search term itself and the Default Search Option.

For more general help with searching, see our KnowledgeBase Search Tips.

The KB Search Results Page and the Additional Search Options

After performing a Search you will see a table with your Search Results. In the image below, we have the Search Results for "Profile" in the KB User's Guide. This image has the Additional Search Features circled in red. We will review each one.

Above the search results table, the search mode and sorting dropdowns are highlighted, followed by links for XML and JSON. Below the table, a link that reads "UW-Madison Unified KnowledgeBase" is highlighted.

Search Mode Dropdown

The first dropdown above the list of search results allows you to change your search mode. Most sites default to a "Title + Keywords" search. If there are no results, the KB will automatically switch to an increasingly broader search mode until at least one result is found.

You have the option to manually change your search mode if you would like to see more or fewer results than the default search mode provided. You can use this dropdown to choose from any of the following search modes:

  • Keywords+Title
  • Title
  • Keywords
  • Fulltext
  • Attachments (see note below)
  • Title + keywords + attachments
  • Fulltext + attachments

Note: The KB indexes text-based attachments, such as Word documents and certain PDFs, if they are actively linked in documents. The attachments themselves will be returned in a search if you are using one of the last three search modes. This will not happen for PDFs that are image-based rather than text-based, for example, a PDF of a scanned paper document.

Sorting Dropdown

This dropdown will initially be set to "Relevance", which is the KB's default sorting mode. "Relevance" includes a combination of factors, such as search priority, recent views, and updated date.

If desired, you can choose from the following alternative sorting options:

  • ID
  • Title
  • Updated date
  • Views

Alternative Output Formats

Above the search results list, on the right side, you will see two links that allow you to view the results in XML or JSON format. This is generally intended for cases where you wish to embed the results in a different application or system.


Keywords:
find documents kws fts index keyword search key word full text search sort order exact match relevance limit exclude advanced rss cross internal site search xml json OL ordered list case keywords default search option limiting results exact match excluding documents advanced search strategy show relevant topic filter search priority relevant topics filter keywords dropdown box sort by relevance group owner updated hits OS detection See Unified link 1 2 3 pagination TOC Search Partner public sites operating system search for numerals search for numbers 
Doc ID:
15404
Owned by:
Leah S. in KB User's Guide
Created:
2010-10-25
Updated:
2026-06-10
Sites:
KB Demo, KB Demo - Child Demo KB, KB User's Guide