The Unified Experience search tab allows your employees to search SharePoint content. It is available from any site page through the Unified Experience.
This article describes what your employees see, followed by how to configure search in Jint Portal: activation, scope, results, and advanced search.
📋 Table of contents
- Search overview
- Accessing the settings in Jint Portal
- Activating the search tab
- Configuring search
- What your employees see
- Best practices
- What has changed from the previous version
- Useful resources
- Need help?
1. Search overview
Search is a tab in the Unified Experience bar. Your employees enter their query and immediately get a list of results without leaving the site they are on. It relies on SharePoint search.
Use cases
- Find a document (PDF, Word, or Excel) without knowing which site contains it.
- Find a SharePoint page, such as a procedure or news article.
- Find an intranet site.
- Limit the search to a few specific sites for more relevant results.
2. Accessing the settings in Jint Portal
Settings are configured in Jint Portal. Your account must have the Global Administrator or Unified Experience role.
- Sign in to Jint Portal.
- From the menu, open SharePoint, then Unified Experience.
- Click the Search tab.
The Unified Experience page has seven tabs: Activation, Alert, Search, News feed, Events, Navigation, and Viva Engage.
3. Activating the search tab
At the top of the tab, the Show search tab toggle adds the search tab to the Unified Experience.
| Setting | Values |
|---|---|
| Show search tab | Enabled / Disabled |
As long as this toggle is disabled, your employees will not see a search tab.
4. Configuring search
The settings are grouped into three sections: Search scope, Results, and Advanced search.
4.1 Search scope
The scope defines where the search looks.
| Setting | Values |
|---|---|
| Search in all site collections | Enabled: the search covers all site collections. Disabled: the search covers only the sites you choose. |
| URLs of the sites to search | The SharePoint sites to include. This field appears when the previous toggle is disabled. |
To choose the sites, disable Search in all site collections, then use the Search for a SharePoint site field to add each site you want.
If you disable Search in all site collections without adding a site, the search will not cover anything. The “No sites yet” message reminds you of this.
4.2 Results
| Setting | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of search results to display | A number: the number of results displayed. |
| Result types | Checkboxes: Documents, Pages, Sites. |
- Number of search results to display: adjust it according to the volume of content on your intranet. A lower number produces a shorter list, while a higher number produces a more complete list.
- Result types: select the types of content that the search should display. Documents includes PDF, Word, and Excel files, Pages includes SharePoint pages, and Sites includes sites.
4.3 Advanced search
| Setting | Values |
|---|---|
| Advanced search URL | The address of an advanced search page, for example https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/intranet/SitePages/Recherche-avancee.aspx
|
When a search returns no results, your employees can access this page to refine their search.
Jint recommends entering the address of a Research Center in this field. It provides filters that help your employees refine their search.
4.4 Saving your changes
Click Save at the bottom of the Search tab to apply your settings. Cancel discards your changes. Each Unified Experience tab is saved independently of the others.
5. What your employees see
Each setting has a direct effect on search.
| Setting | Effect for your employees |
|---|---|
| Show search tab | The search tab appears in the bar only when the toggle is enabled. |
| Search in all site collections | The search covers all sites or only the sites you have added. |
| Number of search results to display | The list displays this number of results. |
| Result types | Only the selected types (documents, pages, and sites) are offered in the results. |
| Advanced search URL | When no results match, a message appears with a link to this page. |
6. Best practices
Target useful sites
A search limited to the sites that contain your reference content provides more relevant results. Keep Search in all site collections enabled if your employees search everywhere.
Adjust the number of results
Choose a number suited to the volume of content on your intranet: a list that is too short requires searching elsewhere, while a list that is too long buries the information.
Provide an advanced search
A link to a Research Center prevents your employees from having nowhere to turn when no results match. This reduces frustration and saves your teams time.
Verify with an employee account
After saving, open search with an employee account to check the scope, result types, and advanced search link.
7. What has changed from the previous version
The article Search in the navigation bar describes search as configured in the Configurator. It remains valid for customers who still use the Configurator.
| Configurator (previous version) | Unified Experience (this article) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where search is configured | In the Configurator, Search menu | In Jint Portal, the Search tab of the Unified Experience |
| Scope | All site collections or a single site | All site collections or the sites you choose |
| Result types | Documents, SharePoint pages, sites | Documents, Pages, Sites |
| Advanced search | A configurable link in the message displayed when there are no results | The Advanced search URL field |
📌 For more details about the previous search, see the article Search in the navigation bar.
8. Useful resources
- New Unified Experience - Feature overview
- Unified Experience - Alert
- Unified Experience - News feed
- Search in the navigation bar
9. Need help?
If you encounter an issue with Unified Experience search, contact our support team through our contact form.
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