Search Suggestions

Portfolio provides the ability to display a list of suggested search terms to patrons when they enter search words or phrases in Searching. If a patron stops typing while entering a search word, Portfolio displays a list of up to 10 possible search suggestions, ordered by local search popularity (or the frequency with which the search term has been entered previously by other patrons), that match the terms that the patron is entering. You can determine in each search profile whether or not search suggestions will display for patrons with that search profile. By default, search suggestions are enabled for all search profiles in the Portfolio system.

The search suggestions that display to the patron are filtered based on the search term that the patron enters, with the search term matching the beginning characters of the suggestions.

Patrons can click an entry in the search suggestion list to launch a search based on that search term, or use the up and down keys to highlight suggestions in the list. When patrons highlight a search suggestion in the list, Portfolio replaces the search terms in the Search box with the search suggestion. Patrons can press ENTER or click Search after highlighting the search suggestion to perform a search based on that search term; pressing ESC will display the original search terms that the patron entered.

Portfolio lets administrators manage which words appear as search suggestions to patrons by search profile. Managing search suggestions for a search profile involves monitoring those words that are used as search suggestions, as well as designating the words that are blacklisted specifically for the search profile. Blacklisted words are words that are prevented from ever being used as search suggestions.

Blacklisting a search term for a search profile only prevents the search term from appearing as a search suggestion for the selected search profile. It does not affect how patrons search for items or limit their search results, nor does it affect searches by patrons using other search profiles.

If the updated list of search suggestions for a search profile contains new search suggestions, Portfolio can be configured to notify administrators or other users of the new search suggestions. You can notify users about any changes to the search suggestion list for all search profiles, or for individual search profiles.

If you are running Portfolio with the Symphony Accountability module enabled, the Searching interface will not provide search suggestions to patrons. None of the changes you make in Search Suggestions go into effect until you remove accountability for the system.

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