Manage search scopes

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A search scope defines a subset of information in the search index. Users can select a search scope when performing a search in order to restrict search results to within the search scope. Typically, search scopes encompass specific topics and content sources that are important and common to users in the organization. For example, a search scope can be created for all items related to a specific project or for all items related to a specific group in the organization such as Finance or Marketing. You can also create a search scope that encompasses several other scopes.

Search scopes can be set at both the Shared Services Provider (SSP) level and at the site administration level. Search scopes set at the SSP level are available to all sites within the SSP, but these scopes cannot be modified or deleted at the site administration level.

To manage search scopes, you must first open the View Scopes page:

1. Open the administration page for the SSP.

   To open the administration page for the SSP, do the following:

   1. On the top navigation bar, click Application Management.

   2. On the Application Management page, in the Office SharePoint Server Shared Services section, click Create or configure this farm's shared services.

   3. On the Manage this Farm's Shared Services page, click the SSP whose administration page you want to open.

2. On the Shared Services Administration Home page, in the Search section, click Search settings.

3. On the Configure Search Settings page, in the Scopes section, click View scopes.

What do you want to do?

Create a new scope

Copy a scope

Delete a scope

Create a new scope

1. On the View Scopes page, click New Scope.

2. On the Create Scope page, in the Title and Description section, in the Title box, type a title for the scope.

3. In the Description box, type a description for the search scope that informs administrators what the purpose of the scope is.

   Note: Descriptions are not visible to users.

4. Your credentials are automatically entered in the read-only Last modified by box.

   Note: Last modified by settings are not visible to users.

5. In the Target Results Page section, select one of the following:

   • Use the default Search Results Page. Select this option if you want search results from this search scope to be presented by using the standard Search Results page.

   • Specify a different page for searching this scope. Select this option if you want search results from this search scope to be presented on a custom page. If you select this option, type the URL for the custom search results page in the Target results page box.

6. Click OK.

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Copy a scope

When you copy a search scope, the copy is always a shared scope. Therefore, you can copy a site scope to make it available to other sites.

• On the View Scopes page, in the list of scopes, from the menu for the scope that you want to copy, select Make Copy as Shared.

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Delete a scope

1. On the View Scopes page, in the list of scopes on the menu for the scope that you want to delete, select Delete.

2. In the message box asking whether you want to delete the scope, click OK.

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