ARCHIVED: As a Microsoft SharePoint FAST Search administrator at IU, how do I narrow the scope of my search to specific web sites?

Search scopes let you control the content of search results for your Microsoft SharePoint FAST Search (FAST) site. A FAST search scope is a set of rules specifying which URLs and patterns should included in or excluded from your site's search results. Search scopes control only what appears in your search results, and do not affect crawling or indexing.

If you have questions or comments, email the IU Search team.

On this page:

• Creating a search scope
• Defining rules for a new scope
• Setting your new scope as the default

Creating a scope

To create a FAST search scope:

1. Go to your search site. At IU, if you are not already logged in, in the top right, click Sign In, and log in with your Network ID.
   
   
2. In the top left, from the Site Actions drop-down list, select Site Settings.
   
   
3. Under "Site Collection Administration", click Search Scopes. Here, you can view available scopes, create new scopes, and edit existing scopes.
   
   
4. Click New Scope.
   
   
5. Add a title for the scope. You should limit it to one word, and make it as short as possible. (e.g., uits).
   
   
6. Provide a brief description for the scope.
   
   
7. Select both options in the "Display Groups" section.
   
   
8. When you're finished, click OK.

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Defining rules for a new scope

After you've created a search scope, you can define its rules:

1. On the View Scopes page, locate your scope, and click Add rules.
   
   
2. Under "Scope Rule Type", leave Web Address selected; under "Web Address", select Folder.
   
   
3. Enter the URL of the site to which you want to restrict search results (e.g., uits.iu.edu).
   
   
4. Under "Behavior", leave Include selected. If you are trying to prevent certain URLs and documents from appearing in your search results, select Exclude instead.
   
   
5. Click OK.

You will see the current status listed next to your new scope. It may take up to 15 minutes for the system to finish updating the scope. Afterward, you can begin using your scope to configure a custom search box; see ARCHIVED: As a web site manager at IU, how do I configure a search box to use Microsoft SharePoint FAST Search?

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Setting your new scope as the default

If desired, you can set the scope you created as the default for your search site's results:

1. On the main search page for your site, type in a basic search term (e.g., jaguars, and click the Search (magnifying glass) icon.
   
   
2. On the resulting default search results page, click Site Actions, and then click Edit Page.
   
   
3. Scroll down to the area where search results are listed. Mouse over the right side of Search Core Results, click the black arrow, and then select Edit Web Part.
   
   
4. At the top right, in the options box, click the plus sign (+) next to "Location Properties".
   
   
5. Under "Scope", type the name of the scope you want to set as the default scope for your results page.
   
   
6. Click Apply.
   
   
7. At the top, click Publish, and then click the Publish icon (a blue arrow).

For instructions on customizing your search form to target this scope, see ARCHIVED: As a web site manager at IU, how do I configure a search box to use Microsoft SharePoint FAST Search?

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