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WSS 3.0 Search Metadata

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jd77

Programmer
Jan 2, 2001
33
US
I have created a WSS 3.0 SharePoint site with custom columns (metadata). I'd like to use the search function to search for items that have been checked into the document libraries by their associated metadata. So far, I can't seem to find any way of doing this. Is it possible? In fact, I'm having a terrible time getting the search facility to return anything! Either the search function is very poor, or I'm not setting something up correctly. Thanks!

 
The WSS 3.0 search facility is a bit restricted in scope (you can only search one site collection at a time), but once it is configured correctly it should work well within that restriction.

Have you checked that your Search (Indexing) service is running properly? You will need to be a farm and/or server administrator to perform these checks.

The indexing service runs as the "Windows SharePoint Services Search" service on the web server. It is the one that populates the search database, which the user search box then refers to.

It is configured through the admin console under Operations -> Services on Server (look for the Windows SharePoint Services Search entry - you can click it to get to the configuration page).

You can also check the status of the index job through Operations -> Timer Job Status (look for the SharePoint Services Search Refresh line). If that shows a failure, you may need to check the server log (normally held in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\LOGS).

I hope this helps. Sorry if it represents troubleshooting steps you have already taken.

Post back if you discover any problems you can't solve, and I or someone else may be able to help.
 
One more thing (no, I'm not wearing a dodgy mac...)

I have just remembered a key aspect of the WSS 3.0 (and MOSS) search facility. Search results are always filtered using the user's permissions. So if the search returns results from a subsite/library/item that the user cannot read, the result is not shown. Worth bearing in mind when dealing with search queries.
 
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