Each Gradual community has a search engine available to all users, whether they are logged in members or just visiting your community. This allows users to search the entire environment for keywords or phrases, and find people, content, events, pages, discussions, and more, related to what they're searching for.
Search result display settings
Community admins can choose how search results appear in their community.
To update this setting:
Go to the admin dashboard
Open Customization
Find Global Search Result Display
Select either Default Categorized View or List View
Default Categorized View keeps the existing search experience, where results are grouped by feature type.
List View shows all matching results in a single list ranked by relevance, instead of grouping them by feature. In List View, results load 20 at a time, and users can click Load More to continue viewing results.
User Experience
Users can enter a word or phrase in the search bar at the top of the community. The system will display results for matching items across the community. Search results can appear in either the default categorized view or List View, depending on your community settings.
When browsing categorized search results, users can sort certain types of results to find the most relevant, recent, earliest, or popular results. Events can also be sorted to show current and upcoming events first.
Page results display the page title and a short snippet from the page content that includes the matching keyword or phrase, so users can quickly understand why the page appears in search.
Space-restricted assets, or items within a secret club, will only appear to those who are part of the space or club.
The search function will return relevant results from:
The search function shows the total number of results for that word or phrase in the community. In the default categorized view, results are also organized by item type.
Sort search results
In the default categorized view, users can change how results are sorted within each supported result type.
The available sorting options depend on the type of result:
Content
Most Relevant — Displays the results that most closely match the search. This is the default.
Latest — Displays the newest results first.
Earliest — Displays the oldest results first.
Most Popular — Displays the most popular results first.
Courses
Most Relevant — Displays the results that most closely match the search. This is the default.
Latest — Displays the newest results first.
Earliest — Displays the oldest results first.
Most Popular — Displays the most popular results first.
Events
Now & Upcoming First — Displays current and upcoming events first, following the same order used on the Events page. This is the default.
Most Relevant — Displays the events that most closely match the search.
Latest — Displays events with the latest start times first.
Earliest — Displays events with the earliest start times first.
Forum Posts
Most Relevant — Displays the results that most closely match the search. This is the default.
Latest — Displays the newest posts first.
Earliest — Displays the oldest posts first.
Most Popular — Displays posts based on their overall engagement.
Forum Comments
Most Relevant — Displays the results that most closely match the search. This is the default.
Latest — Displays the newest comments first.
Earliest — Displays the oldest comments first.
Most Popular — Displays the most popular comments first.
When viewing All results, each type of result follows its default sorting order. Events show current and upcoming events first, while content, courses, forum posts, and forum comments are sorted by relevance.
Visitor Search Bar
Visitors to your community (users who are not logged in) can now use the search function to find relevant forum posts, content, events, and more.
Events, content, pages, forum posts, etc. that are marked as 'All Members' or 'Restricted to Spaces' will not display in the visitor or public search as users must be logged in to see these items.
The People section is blocked from public search for users who are not logged in; visitors cannot search for members or details of members from their profiles.
If the community is set to private, visitors will not be able to see the search bar or function, and must log in to search.
Notes & Considerations
When Most Relevant is selected, the system considers where the search term appears when ordering results. Matches can include:
The title or member’s name
The member’s company or job title
The subtitle
The description
The member’s bio
The agenda
The speakers or authors
The tag
This search engine does not identify or suggest terms when the entry is misspelled
The URL will include parameters such as the query string and type
This is great if you need to guide users to all results with that term or phrase