Configure Search Types on SharePoint Content Sources

Olivia Hardy

Updated July 01, 2026 08:46

Enterprise+, Proposal Pro, QPilot Essential

As a QorusDocs Admin, you can configure which search experiences are available for each SharePoint Online Content Source.

There are two Search Type options for SharePoint Online Content Sources:

Find only
Find and Ask

Find is available for all searchable Content Sources. Ask is available only for Content Sources where an admin has enabled Ask.

Use Find (Keyword Search) when you need to search by keyword, exact phrase, file name, product term, clause, or acronym.
Use Ask (Smart Search) when you need to Ask a question or enter a requirement in natural language. If users also have access to QPilot, Ask can generate an AI answer based on the top results from the Content Source they open.

Configuring Search Types helps you tailor the end-user search experience based on the type of content in each Content Source and the way your users need to work with that content.

You can learn more about the different Types of Searches users can perform in QorusDocs here.

In this article, we’ll cover:

Steps to enable ‘Find Only’ or ‘Ask and Find’
How the Search Type impacts the Search user experience
Warning on Search Type Change
Newly added content must be indexed before it is searchable in Ask
Availability of QPilot in Ask
Configuring the Default Search Type

Steps to enable ‘Find Only’ or ‘Ask and Find’

When you create a new SharePoint Online Content Source, the option having “Both Find and Ask” is the default Search Type.

You can switch the search type to “Find Only” at any time.

Assuming you wish to edit the Search Type option for an existing SharePoint Content Source, locate the one you want to edit, click on the Gear icon and then on “Edit”:

Then click on “Edit” again at the top right of your screen:

Click on “Show advanced options”:

Click to set the "Search Type" to 'Find' or 'Both Find and Ask':

Enabling QPilot

Although QPilot is not a Search Type, it affects what users see when they use Ask.

For users with a QPilot license, Ask can generate an AI answer based on the top results from the Content Source they open.

For users without a QPilot license, Ask returns relevant search results only. They will not see an AI-generated answer.

The QPilot configuration option appears immediately below the Search Type settings.

Click here to learn more about configuring QPilot for your organization.

How the Search Type impacts the Search user experience

As you configure the Search Type on SharePoint Content Sources, here’s what you should know:

All searchable Content Sources can be used with Find.
Content Sources configured as Both Find and Ask display a sparkle icon in the Search UI. This helps users identify which Content Sources are available for Ask.
Content Sources without a sparkle icon can still be searched using Find, but they are not available for Ask.

When users choose Ask:

Content Sources that are not enabled for Ask are greyed out.
Greyed out Content Sources cannot be selected.
Select All selects only the Content Sources that are enabled for Ask.

When users choose Find:

All available searchable Content Sources can be selected.
Find returns search results only.
Find does not generate an AI answer.

To learn more about Ask and Find, click here to read the Search FAQs article.

Warning on Search Type Change

If you have a Campaign or favorite search configured for a Content Source, you will receive this warning message upon changing the Search Type of that particular Content Source:

This warning appears because changing Search Type settings can affect existing Favorites and Campaigns. Search results may differ depending on whether the Content Source is available for Find only or for both Find and Ask.

If there are existing Favorite Searches, consider notifying users who may be impacted. Your OData feed can help you identify those users.
If there are existing Campaigns, check that each Campaign is still returning the results originally intended. Edit the Campaign if necessary.

Newly added content must be indexed before it is searchable in Ask

For content sources configured as Find and Ask, newly added content must be indexed before it can be returned in Ask results.

QorusDocs indexes content automatically twice per day to keep Ask results up to date. If you do not want to wait for the next automatic indexing cycle, you can manually index new content to make it searchable sooner.

Content that has not yet been indexed may still be present in the connected SharePoint content source, but it may not appear in Ask results until indexing is complete.

You can learn how to manually index new content here.

Availability of QPilot in Ask

For users with a QPilot license, Ask can generate an AI answer based on the top results returned from the Content Source the user opens.

Ask can search multiple Ask-enabled Content Sources and show users how many results were found in each one. However, the AI answer in Ask is generated for one Content Source at a time.

To generate an answer across multiple Content Sources, users should use QPilot Chat instead.

Configuring the Default Search Type

As Admins, you can also choose whether users land in Ask or Find by default when they open Search.

To set the default search type, follow the steps:

From your Hub Central, go to Settings
Click on Hub management
Go to the Settings Tab
Set the Default Search Type for your Hub

This setting controls the default Search experience for users in your hub, but users can still switch between Find and Ask when both options are available.

For example:

If your users primarily Ask RFx-style questions and use Ask-enabled SharePoint Content Sources, you may want Ask to open by default.
If your users primarily search by keyword, file name, clause, product term, or acronym, you may want Find to open by default.