5. Search Later from Windows Explorer
The Search Action Links Web Part option
provides the ability to search a location later from Windows Explorer
in Windows 7. This allows for a user to establish federated search
connections between the SharePoint 2010 Search Centers and the user's
local machine. Once this connection is made, a user does not need to
open SharePoint to search within the scope of the connection.
To establish a federated connector for the
scope of the current search query, first execute the search query
within the desired scope. On the search results page, select the search
action on the far right as shown in Figure 16.
Figure 16. Windows Explorer connection button location
This action will download the connector and
provide a prompt, asking if the user wants to establish the connection.
The Add Search Connector prompt is shown in Figure 17. Choosing to add the connection will complete the handshake and open Windows Explorer on the local machine.
Figure 17. Adding the connector
By entering a search query into the Windows
Explorer search box, queries can now be run against the established
scope. When a query is executed, Windows passes the federated search to
SharePoint 2010 and returns results in much the same way they would
return in a SharePoint search center. Results return with actionable
titles, keywords highlighted within the content snippets, and
associated metadata. Figure 18 shows a set of federated search results with previews enabled in Windows Explorer.
Figure 18. Federated search results in Windows Explorer
Double-clicking a result will perform actions
similar to clicking a result title in a search center. Microsoft Office
documents will be opened in their corresponding programs. PDFs will
open in Adobe Reader or other PDF viewer, and SharePoint sites will
open in a new web browser window.
By default, the search result set in Windows
Explorer will display only the first 20 results. To view the entire
search results set, the search must be executed within SharePoint. A
shortcut to executing the current query in SharePoint can be found at
the top of the Windows Explorer Window. Selecting “Search on website”
as shown in Figure 19 will open SharePoint in the browser and provide the full search result set in the corresponding search center.
Figure 19. “Search on website” button
If multiple
federated search connections have been established on the local
machine, they can be accessed by selecting the desired scope on the
left side of Windows Explorer under Favorites.
Best Bets
Best bets are result suggestions pushed to
users based on their search queries. Unlike the search suggestion
functionality, which suggests a query, the Best Bets feature suggests a
result. Best Bets suggestions occur based on specific keywords entered
into the query and are presented as the first result(s) in a search
result set. This result is slightly offset and marked with a star to
stand out from the rest of the result set. For users, actioning a Best
Bets result suggestion functions as any other search result of the same
content type. The usefulness of the Best Bets feature for users is that
if well managed, it drives the most relevant result to the start of a
result set. Figure 20 provides an example of a best bet.
Figure 20. Search results page with a best bet
The Best Bets feature allows administrators to
determine which results are most relevant for keywords. The goal of
these is to feed content to the user based on the results that the
administrators want the user to find first. Administrators can manually
associate keywords with a Best Bets result. These are usually
determined by analyzing the analytics for a given environment.
SharePoint 2010 can also provide administrators with suggestions for
Best Bets in a periodic report that factors in likely desired
suggestions based on the aggregated metrics of an environment.
Note
SharePoint 2010 Best Bets do not include HTML. For graphical best bets
that use HTML, a third-party solution such as Ontolica Search or FAST
for SharePoint 2010 is necessary. Public-facing SharePoint sites or
those heavy on branding and marketing may want to consider this option.
