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How to NOT include people in search results:

August 28th, 2006 by Gavin Clabaugh

Sharepoint - how to NOT include people in search results:

I modified the default SearchResults web part so that it displayed the TITLE instead of the filename.  Doing this caused PEOPLE searches to look funny.  Since I didn’t care about searching for people — and in fact wanted to eliminate that from the search results, I set about to do that.  Here’s how:

First lets make sure you have all the prerequisites:

  1. You’ve created an SPS portal site.  Let’s be clear, I am NOT talking WSS.
  2. You’ve installed/configured all the necessary ifilters to include additional content like pdf’s.
  3. Sharepoint search is configured, and is working, but the results are not to your liking.

Step 1:

From the homepage, click on Site Settings

From the Site Settings Page, click on Configure Search and Indexing  (under Search Settings and Indexed Content)

From the Configure Search and Indexing Page, click on the link for Portal_Content (under Content Indexes)

You should now see a "Properties Page" entitled "Manage Index Properties"  At the bottom of the page, locate the section entitled "Rules to Exclude and Include Content" and click on the link labeled "Manage Rules to Exclude and Include Content."

You should now see a page entitled "Exclude and Include Content for Portal_Content.  Click the link entitled "New Rule"

In the PATH field, enter this path exactly:  sps://<ServerName>/site$$$people

substituting your server’s name where it says "<ServerName>" and click the radio-button labeled: "Exclude all items in this path.

When done, press the OK

Finally, you should be back on the page labeled "Exclude and Include Content for Portal_Content."   Using the drop-down context button, move the rule to the top of the listing. 

Now, go back to the Manage Content Indexes page, and use the drop-down context button to do a full update of your indexes.  Your search results should no longer include any "people," including personal sites.

Fallout:

None so far.  Cross your fingers.

Gavin Clabaugh - August 2006. 

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