6/18/2012

SharePoint: Attachments to list items do not appear in search results???

 

True or Not?

Microsoft's documentation for SharePoint Server 2010 states "Attachments to list items do not appear in search results" in both the site's help form (screen below) and the online documentation. But in my tests I can find documents that are list attachments!

The SharePoint Server 2010 help page:
    image 

 

My Test

The attachment in my test:

    image

The search results showing the attachment contents:

    image

 

Homework assignment!

I've always been able to search for and find attachments, but as I'm working on a little book on SharePoint search I want to make sure I'm right and the documentation is wrong! Will you check this in your installation and post back what you find? Just create a Word document with a unique term, attach it to a list item and wait until your content is indexed. To confirm that the content has been indexed you may want to also upload the same file to a library in the same site and then check search for both copies.

If you post back, please list:

  • SharePoint version: 2007, 2010, SharePoint Online (Office 365)
  • SharePoint edition: 
    2007: WSS, MOSS Standard, MOSS Enterprise
    2010: Foundation, Server Standard, Server Enterprise
    or the Office 365 subscription.
  • Service Pack level if you know it, or the version

Thanks,
Mike

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, .docx and .xlsx document internals are found through search.
SP 2010, Server Standard, SP1, not sure of the patch level.
- Robin

Anonymous said...

I believe the Microsoft documentation is trying to say that the search results will not point to the attached document itself. The results point to the list item. You have to figure out which attachment contains the searched phrase.

vasu moss said...

HI Looks good how to get the documents in the result page i have created a custom scope to specific list and able to get the results but what about the attachments items, how can i create managed propery and get that in the result page can you provide some information i need to get all the attachments in a single list

Mike Smith said...

vasu moss,

Instead of using attachments, upload the document to a library and then link to it using a Hyperlink column or adding a hyperlink to a rich text field. You then get the best of both worlds.

Mike

srinivas said...

HI Mike Smith,
thanks for your response i have custom list form, from where the user fill the data like name salary experience and upload his document using attachment file link, so i have the entire data in one single list thats why i need to get that attachment from that list and allowe the author to download that attachment, how can i do it can provide any solution using sharepoint designer or out ogf the box functions in sharepoint i should not develop any custom code for this

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