SharePoint: Using Content class property to refine search result

In the enterprise level SharePoint instance, Search Plays a very important part. Yet, due a large quantity of data, search results can be diluted to the extent that it is almost unusable.

Using content class to refine the search results can be very helpful. Here is an example. Let us suppose that in your organization, many users search for Announcement (SharePoint announcements) on a daily basis. However due to common keyword used in many sites, documents and announcements, your search results are cluttered with unwanted results of sites and documents. This is what you can do:

1.       On the search site, go the Site Actions > Site Settings > Search Scope (Site Collection administrator)  

2.       Click on “New Scope” to create a new scope. While creating the scope, choose check box “Search Dropdown” to make sure your new scope is available in the dropdown.

3.       On the view scope page, click on the scope just create and choose “Edit properties and rules”

4.       In the page opened, click on “New rule” link.

5.       In the new rule page, choose “Property Query” in the “Scope rule type” section.

6.       In the property query drop down choose the value as “contentclass” and in the text box provide the value as “STS_List_Announcements”

7.       Click ok and wait for the time till the Scope is ready to use. (this depends on how search is configured)

Once the scope is ready to use, users can search for just announcements when the choose the new scope.

Here are few other contentclass values that you can use for creating new search scopes to refine the results:

·         Search Query: urn:content-class:SPSSearchQuery

·         News Listing: urn:content-class:SPSListing:News

·         People: urn:content-class:SPSPeople

·         Category: urn:content-classes:SPSCategory

·         Listing: urn:content-classes:SPSListing

·         Person Listing: urn:content-classes:SPSPersonListing

·         Text Listing: urn:content-classes:SPSTextListing

·         Site Listing: urn:content-classes:SPSSiteListing

·         Site Registry Listing: urn:content-classes:SPSSiteRegistry

·         Site: STS_Web

·         List: STS_List

·         List Item: STS_ListItem

·         Events: STS_List_Events

·         Tasks: STS_List_Tasks

·         Announcements: STS_List_Announcements

·         Discussions: STS_List_DiscussionBoard

·         Contacts: STS_List_Contacts

·         Links: STS_List_Links

·         Document Library: STS_List_DocumentLibrary

·         Document Library Items: STS_ListItem_DocumentLibrary

·         Picture Library: STS_List_PictureLibrary

·         Picture Library Items: STS_ListItem_PictureLibrary

   ·        Site Collections: STS_Site