Sorting global search results

Hi Bud Hartley,

Global Search results are ordered based on strength of match. While you cannot sort based on date modified, you can selectively prioritize or deprioritize certain fields so that search terms more closely align with what users typically search. To change whether a field is more important or not, you change its 'Boost Value' in Studio. I highly recommend surveying your users to see what they are most commonly using global search to find before making any changes to this setting.

For instance, if users commonly search by account name but they use account name commonly in other modules (e.g. opportunity name and case subject), you could either:

1. Increase the boost value of account name (1.91 default value), or
2. Decrease the boost values of opportunity name and case subject (1.65 and 1.53 default values respectively)

Any value over 1.00 gives a field more importance. If you want a certain field to be deprioritized below the standard 1.00 setting, use a value between 0.01 and 0.99. 

After you make changes to all the desired fields, you will need to re-index your search database. You can do this by going to Admin > Search > Schedule System Index > Ok. From the resulting screen, ensure 'All' is selected for modules, check the box at the bottom to delete the existing data, and then click 'Index'.

While this isn't a direct solution to your use case, it may help with cleaning up search results to be more relevant as you determine some global search fields to be less important than others based on how your users most frequently use the functionality.

Chris

Thanks Chris,

I'll be playing with the boost value and will be doing the indexing overnight knowing that process impacts performance.  I appreciate the insight!