Configure Content Sources Linked to a Search Client

Adding and installing a search client are essential but not sufficient to set up search. The Edit function completes the trinity. In Edit, the Content Sources tab is arguably the most important one. It is here that you can connect content sources and search clients and configure much of what goes into the search results page, including filters, URLs, and icons.

Content Sources provides many options for working with the content sources. All the content sources connected with the search client are highlighted here. This article defines role of each column on the content fields (object properties) screen.

Fig. A snapshot of the fields for the content source "Help Docs" and content type "Docs".

Get to Content Sources

A SearchUnify admin configures content sources for each search client individually.

  1. FromSearch Clients, open a search client for configuration.
  2. Go to Content Sources.
  3. To view the content fields, click on a content source and then a content type. In the previous image, you can see the fields for the content source "Help Docs" and content type "Docs".

Remove a Content Source

To remove the results from a content source, uncheck all the content source objects. For example, no results will be returned from the content source "Demo" because all its objects have been unchecked.

Fig. A snapshot of the unchecked content source "Demo". No results from the unchecked content source will be displayed.

Content Fields and Columns

The first column, Field, lists all the content fields. The number of fields in a content source depends on two factors: 

  • The platform's internal structure. If there's no field named url in your Salesforce org, then you will not see it in the column.

  • The crawl settings. If you didn't select a field named url while configuring the Salesforce content source, then you will not see the field in the column.

Next is a summary of all the columns.

Summary

A summary is the text below the title on a search result. Data from the checked fields appears in result summaries.

You can multiple fields in search result summaries. In the default setup, data from multiple fields appears one after another until the maximum summary length is reached. This behavior can be changed from Set Default Preferences.

Searchable

A searchable field is where the search client looks for data. In the next image, Author Email is searchable but Author Name isn't. It means you cannot find a document through its Author Name because the search client looks for matches only in the Author Email field.

Filters

Filters are the clickable menus. They allow users to narrow the scope of a search.

To add a filter, check a field in the Filters column. Immediately after checking the field, a gear button appears.

Click it to view a dialog with two dropdowns: Number of Values and Default Sorting.

If you have toggled on Pre-Selection of Facets, you will see an additional option - Include in auto learning. Toggling it on helps show end users search page results based on their past facet selection behavior.

Number of Values controls the number of field values that show up on the search results page.

Four sorting schemes are available in Default Sorting: 

  • Alphabetical (A-Z). Display all the filters alphabetically.
  • Alphabetical (Z-A). Display all the filters in reverse alphabetical order.
  • Count (desc). Display the filter value with the most results for a query at top. This is the default setting.
  • Count (asc). Display the filter value with the least results for a query at top.

Sorting is applied to all the filters values, not just the ones a user sees on the search results page.

Title

The checked fields appear in the result titles on a search results page. As with Summary, it is possible to check multiple fields to assemble a Title.

To create a title from multiple fields, click on Settings next to a field.

Use the Compose Title screen to generate a title template.

Metadata

The supplementary information sometimes accompanying search results is Metadata. It has a uniform appearance: {{field name}}: {{field value}}.

Autocomplete

Results are suggested the moment a user start typing in the search box. You can decide which fields those suggestions are based upon.

Exclude

Exclude is related to Filters. When a field is picked as a filter, the Exclude button appears for that field.

Click Exclude. Then enter the values that shouldn't appear in filters. Finally, click Save.

More information: Exclude Values from Filters

Preview

NOTE.

Enable Preview Search Results before configuring the Preview column. For more information, see Preview Search Results.

The Legacy is the default state of the Preview pane. In this state, the Preview pane provides a sneak peek into the document while maintaining the document's original look. The typefaces, images, and other multimedia elements are displayed in the Preview pane as they do in the document. The Legacy preview works only when:

  • The content source is either YouTube or Vimeo

  • The content source and the search client are hosted on the same domain.

If those conditions are met, then it’s recommended to use the Legacy view.

Admins can select an alternative view of the Preview pane, known as Plain Text. In this view, the focus is on the information. The images and other multimedia are excluded and the Preview is displayed simply as text.

Plain Text view supports result reviews when the content source and the search client are hosted on different domains.

Given below is an image of a document displayed in the Preview pane using the plain text view.

Fig. A snapshot of the Preview Pane in Plain Text view.

Select Legacy or Plain Text

  1. Navigate to Search Clients > Edit > Content Sources.

  2. Select a Content Source and a Content Type.

  3. Click the settings icon on the Preview column.

  4. In the Preview Configurations, select Legacy or Plain Text. If you have selected Plain Text, then move to the next section to configure it.

  5. Click Proceed.

    Fig. A snapshot of the Preview Configurations dialog.

Select Fields for the Preview Pane

This configuration is available when you have selected the Plain Text view in the previous section.

  1. Navigate to Search Clients > Edit > Content Sources.

  2. Select a Content Source and a Content Type.

  3. In the Preview column, select the fields to show in the Preview Pane.

    Fig. A snapshot of the three fields selected for the Preview Pane in the Preview column.

  4. Click Save.

Change Display Order in the Preview Pane

  1. Navigate to Search Clients > Edit > Content Sources.

  2. Select a Content Source and a Content Type.

  3. Click the Settings icon on the Preview column displayed in the image of the above section.

  4. Use the arrows in the Re-arrange Preview Order to change the order of the fields. Also, the value in the first field is displayed as a header in the plain text preview.

  5. Click Proceed.

    Fig. A snapshot of the Re-arrange Preview Order.

Track Analytics

The checked fields are used to track conversions for auto-tuning and advanced reporting.